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Leading SASE services offer converged networking and security-as-a-service. It reduces the number of vendors IT teams have to manage and enables greater speed and agility. It can also help lower costs and complexity. SASE can enable Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) that focuses on the identity of users, devices and applications to deliver granular visibility and control.
Security Services
In a SASE solution, security services are moved to the network edge through a global infrastructure of PoPs. It eliminates the need for enterprise hardware and improves performance. It also enables organizations to deploy new networking and security technologies without impacting end users. This way, IT staff can focus on other priorities. With SASE, IT can deliver a better user experience to remote employees and customers. SASE allows companies to access applications and services from multiple locations, platforms, and devices.
To ensure a great user experience, choose a SASE vendor that offers a unified management platform and a single client. It will streamline administrative tasks and improve the effectiveness of network and security teams. In addition, a SASE architecture supports centralized visibility and consistent protection for users, devices, and data. It also supports Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), CASB, DLP, and advanced threat prevention. It will help businesses simplify their infrastructure and reduce total costs.
Unified Network Management
Unified network management decouples networking services from the underlying networks. It allows application traffic to be carried independently of the physical or transport components, delivering more efficient performance. It also improves end-user experience through network analytics, problem isolation and automated remediation. SASE includes WAN optimization, zero-trust network access and cloud web security and can be delivered as a managed service or self-hosted.
The SASE architecture enables users, branch offices and devices to connect directly to the cloud, enterprise applications and data through a WAN link, eliminating the need for security services in the data center. It reduces IT teams’ costs and complexity and increases business speed and agility.
SASE solutions should offer a unified UI and APIs to deliver consistent and automated policy control. In addition, they should provide rich telemetry and reporting visibility, including the ability to detect and prevent data breaches. SASE solutions should also support machine learning for IT operations (AIOps) to help solve problems more quickly and lighten the load on IT staff. It is especially important in hybrid cloud environments, where it is common for separate IT and security teams to be responsible for on-premises and cloud operations.
Scalability
As networks become more distributed, security must follow. With SASE, you can optimize your WAN, unify your protection and save money. SASE services are designed to secure highly distributed networks and meet the security needs of mobile workers, remote users and data centers. SASE provides key benefits, including enhanced performance on inexpensive broadband connections, simplified network architecture and management, and advanced security services like ZTNA and threat detection and response.
Some providers can offer these capabilities as a unified SASE suite, reducing the number of tools and vendors enterprises deal with. It also reduces hardware, software and maintenance costs. Check the vendor’s credentials, especially their experience with a multi-cloud strategy. Look for a cloud-native architecture with multi-tenancy for cost efficiency and speed of deployment. It should also support a flexible hardware stack, allowing organizations to deploy the relevant security components on their hardware of choice. It should also be scalable, enabling organizations to add and remove services as they grow or shrink easily.
Flexibility
SASE can adapt and deliver security services to your network edge, regardless of where remote users and applications are located. This unified approach can simplify your network and reduce operational overhead. The best SASE providers can offer enhanced security features like encryption and multifactor authentication. They can also provide granular inspection policies for public access networks, like public Wi-Fi. They can also offer more flexible performance and latency by routing traffic to the nearest Point of Presence (PoP) for faster and more consistent application replication experiences.
Additionally, SASE can provide centralized management for all the components of your security infrastructure. IT can spend less time on maintenance and more on strategic projects. However, ensuring your chosen vendors can provide all the functionality your organization needs is important. For example, some SASE offerings are designed by vendors focusing on networking or security and may need more experience in other areas. They could need capabilities such as advanced threat protection and comprehensive cloud security.
Cost
Whether your users work from home, a branch office or another location, SASE offers a simple way to access and secure corporate applications without requiring costly hardware appliances. The cloud-native model boosts the performance of inexpensive broadband connections, eliminates infrastructure investments and delivers network security as a service. It also simplifies and unifies edge-to-edge security, reducing operational expenses. In addition to having unified management, SASE can provide other benefits, such as remote browser isolation, AI and machine-learning integration for automated operations, self-healing for improved network efficiency, and IoT security.
However, while a single-vendor SASE approach can lower costs and reduce complexity, it may not be as seamless as it sounds. IT teams must consider whether a full-stack SASE solution is worth the investment, especially when it’s difficult to integrate with existing systems. They must also consider whether the full-stack vendor is a good fit for their networking and security needs. For example, some vendors offer stronger networking products than others but a smaller selection of security services. For this reason, some large enterprises choose to opt for partial-stack vendors.
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