SASE – It’s revolutionising network and security architecture. It’s shaking up how we connect. But what exactly is all the talk about? What does it mean for your organisation? Is your organisation sassy enough to conquer a SASE makeover?
Focus Points
- The future of our network and security infrastructures being cloud-centric is imminent.
- SASE has several advantages over traditional architectures, not the least of which include greater scalability and flexibility for your organisation
- Now is the perfect time to assess where on the SASE journey your organisation is at and what this means for your existing networking infrastructure.
What’s sassy about SASE?
Disruptive and transformational are just a few words that come to mind. Gartner defines SASE – pronounced “sassy” and shortened for ‘Secure Access Service Edge’ – as ‘an emerging cybersecurity concept combining comprehensive WAN capabilities with comprehensive network security functions…to support the dynamic secure access needs of digital enterprises’.
Unlike the legacy WAN, SASE shifts the focus from a network where each branch connects to a central office to access data and security services to the concept where an entity (e.g. user, group of people (branch), a single device, IoT system or edge computing location) is connected directly from the edge to cloud-based services bypassing the need for a centralised WAN.
SASE has several advantages over traditional architectures, not the least of which include greater scalability and flexibility for your organisation, potentially reduced network costs, and better performance for the end-user. SASE done right will open the door to enhanced security features, moving the management of your security to a cloud access security broker (CASB) whilst:
- protecting your users, regardless of where the device or user is located, from threats through secure web gateways (SWG) and remote browser isolation,
- securing your applications and data through zero-trust network access (ZTNA), firewall as a service (FWaaS) and protecting your web API’s (WAAPaaS).
Why is it the trend?
The era of centralised network and security architectures is fading. Today’s enterprises are hyper-distributed. More and more businesses are moving to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud-based services and edge compute platforms, where there is an increased reliance on SDWAN connectivity, and remote user access is the new normal. As a result, the traditional reliance on enterprise data centres for routing and security is becoming obsolete.
We are at the forefront of a new transformation. We are shifting from relying on location as the core of networking and security to the end-user. With 2020 being a tumultuous year, with a massive exodus of users working from home, the need for such change has never been so evident. Whilst 81% of the population is now working from home, Gartner has predicted post-COVID that 41% of employees will remain working from home. The question is – is your security prepared for this – are you getting sassy with SASE?
The future of our network and security infrastructures being cloud-centric is imminent. Users need to have more confidence in a consistent and secure experience everywhere, anywhere.
If you are ready to get sassy with SASE, now is the perfect time to assess where on the SASE journey your organisation is at and what this means for your existing networking infrastructure.
Are you the sassy-type?
Ask yourself – Are you ready to revolutionise your network? Are you willing to embrace disruption to stay relevant? If so, you are ready to get sassy with SASE.
Enterprises of all sizes are discovering their reasons for needing to transform to SASE, including;
- Corporate services are changing to cloud-based providers
- The move from centralised MPLS networks to the Internet at the edge
- More user traffic from branches directed to public clouds, detouring the data centre
- The need to protect remote users as they perform work outside of the enterprise network and on their own devices
- Consolidating network and security
- Optimising cloud-based applications that are being accessed from the edge
If you tick any of the boxes above your organisation is also ready to embrace the change.
Get your SASE-on?
Adopting SASE should be part of your organisation’s IT journey. It is not something that has to be deployed all in one go. The goal is to ensure that you integrate it seamlessly, and you provide an optimal experience for the user.
The first step should be to identify the journey and the different phases within. Determine what is already in place and are already performing well, and what needs transforming.
Once you have done this, you will need to consider how to;
- Position the adoption of SASE as a digital business enabler to ensure speed and agility.
- Change focus from managing security boxes to delivering policy-based security services.
- Engage with network architects to discover your SASE capabilities. Use SD-WAN, and MPLS offload projects to evaluate integrated network security services.
- Identify ways to reduce the complexity on your network security
To help your organisation map out its journey to SASE contact Oreta today.
