The concept of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) promised a revolution in network security. Its core intent: to simplify the deployment and consumption of both networking and security functions. However, does the reality really live up to the initial hype?

Managed service providers tell us they see great opportunity from so many businesses migrating to SASE. But many struggle to take advantage of it. Why is that? In this post, we’ll examine why service providers can find it hard to build a Managed SASE (MSASE) service, and four things they need when launching one.

Written by Jaye Tillson, Field CTO, Distinguished Technologist, HPE Aruba Networking The retail industry is undergoing a digital revolution. From online shopping with one-click purchases to in-store kiosks offering personalized recommendations and mobile point-of-sale systems allowing for seamless checkout. As a result of this interconnectedness, customer data is flowing across a complex and ever-expanding network, which is beneficial for convenience and customer experience.

Over the years, several security defense architectures have merged into a single solution. Endpoint detection tools can perform sophisticated detections and correlations that used to require a Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS), Web Proxy, and SIEM. Application Firewalls often provide features like Proxy, antivirus, and NIDS, and now we have Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), which promises to be the next multi-tool security solution. Let’s give SASE a closer look.

A paradigm shift away from traditional network and security architectures towards a more flexible and highly scalable cloud-native SASE Cloud architecture can be stomach-churning for many CxOs today. However, taking a holistic view of the drivers of this shift will help put things into perspective. Realizing desired outcomes like the reallocation of resources to more strategic initiatives, agility, speed, and scalability can bring about child-like anticipation of how this new world of SASE will feel.

Distributed networks, including software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN), content delivery networks (CDNs), and secure access service edge (SASE) architectures have become integral to modern IT landscapes. They provide unparalleled performance, scalability, and flexibility, empowering businesses to operate seamlessly across geographical boundaries.

It’s not uncommon for enterprises to find themselves in a situation where they’ve purchased new technology but are then faced with the hurdle of understanding what they’ve acquired and how to deploy it. This can often lead to confusion, deployment delays, and frustration with the new technology. Deploying the Cato SASE solution can be both simple and quick if you follow this checklist.