The COVID-19 pandemic has indelibly changed the way we all work. As the world has opened back up and organizations have begun making the return to the office, many employees still want a hybrid work model. In an ideal hybrid working model, employees feel empowered and more productive given the freedom to do their work from any location or device, whenever it’s most convenient. Users need fast, secure access to their data, regardless of where their applications are located.

Today, Netskope announced it has been awarded, through SEWP Prime Anacapa Micro and distributor Merlin Cyber, the industry’s first Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) U.S. Federal Civilian Government contract in history, led by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This is a significant industry milestone as traditional, perimeter-based approaches to security will no longer work in a mandated cloud-first environment where data can be accessed from anywhere.

Recently the architecture model known as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) has been gaining momentum. Not surprising, when the model provides benefits - including reduced complexity of management, improved network performance and resiliency, security policy implemented consistently across office and remote users and lower operational expense. In fact, according to a recent ESG survey, 70% of businesses are using or considering a SASE solution.

I’m not big on acronyms or buzzwords. Like many executives, my eyes glaze over when I’m being prospected with an alphabet soup of technology terms I supposedly “need” to care about. So why, then, does the title of this article include Security Service Edge (SSE), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), and Zero Trust? Despite our justified disdain for acronyms, the ideas behind these terms hold genuine importance for business leaders.

The origins of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) can be traced back to 2019, when legacy network security systems were extensively used in workspaces. Gartner defined SASE as the combined deployment of cloud-based cybersecurity functions, including Firewall as a Service, a cloud access security broker (CASB), a secure web gateway (SWG), Zero Trust network access (ZTNA), and software-defined WAN (SD-WAN).

If you work in networking or security, you have probably gotten used to the acronym stew that makes up the technology industry at times. By now you have surely heard the latest buzzword and what industry analysts have coined as security service edge (SSE). SSE is essentially the consolidation of Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS), secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) delivered as a cloud service.

As organizations have accelerated their plans to better enable dispersed workforces in a post-pandemic reality, many technology decision-makers are broadly rethinking their network architectures. Inevitably their discussions lead to comparisons and debates over both software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and secure access service edge (SASE) technologies.

Whether organizations call it digital transformation or just using technology to create opportunities for new, easier ways to work, one thing is certain. Businesses increasingly need to find simpler ways to securely build and manage new kinds of connections that support an era of: This is exactly the drive behind the latest collaboration between the cybersecurity and networking experts at AT&T and Cisco.