It’s been a long journey toward securing and optimizing the enterprise branch, from the days of rigid MPLS networks to the agile era of SD-WAN. Now comes the next stage of that journey: Secure access service edge (SASE), which, when architected correctly, converges the most important network and security capabilities into a single cloud-delivered service. Before we talk about how, though, let’s examine why SASE’s moment is now.

Many AWS customers have security requirements that are well beyond what AWS Security Groups or AWS Network Access Control Lists can offer in terms of scalability and security. That’s why many of them turn to AWS Network Firewall as a common solution.

‍ When organizations were forced to shift to remote work during the pandemic, they needed a quick-fix solution that would enable their remote employees to securely access work resources. For many, this solution came in the form of VPNs. However, VPNs were not designed for the bring your own device (BYOD) and cloud app security use cases. While VPNs can provide remote access, it may come as a surprise that they fall short when it comes to security.