SASE: Theory vs. Reality

SASE Secure Access Service Edge

It’s astonishing to see how quickly the industry has adopted the secure access service edge (SASE) as the future of networking and security.  It was a little more than a year ago when Gartner first introduced the SASE architecture and already it’s become the successor to SD-WAN.  It’s no stretch to say that every major […]

SASE Vendor Summaries

SASE Vendor Summaries Consult an Expert SASE or Secure Access Services Edge, was introduced by Gartner in 2019.  In a short time, SASE has become a widespread force across the enterprise networking and security industries.  SD-WAN Experts contacted the vendors that we believe are leaders in SASE, as of the time of writing.  The information […]

Zero Trust: What To Consider When Evaluating SASE Solutions

ZTNA and SASE

One of the big changes in the network selection processes that I’ve been running of late has been the interest in remote access and in particular Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Once a poor step-child to the WAN, remote access has, of course, become the de facto approach for how many of us work every […]

SASE: Networking Capabilities in a SASE Solution

SASE Network

With so many companies claiming to offer secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, I’m frequently asked, “What exactly is a SASE offering?” We discussed the security part of the answer in our last post, now let’s take a look at the networking capabilities. As you’ll recall, SASE is intended to be one network for the […]

SD-WAN and SASE – Where is My SLA?

SASE SD-WAN SLA

What SLAs are in a SASE service? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself of late. As I look at the shakeups in the SASE space, understanding what you get in a SASE service is of utmost importance to my customers. Of course, the best way to understand what any provider delivers is to trial […]

Profile: How Persistence With SD-WAN Paid Off For Klӧckner Pentaplast

Persistence is, as they say, the key to personal success. It’s also the key to the success of any IT project particularly when that project is a new network architecture.  Just ask Jonathan Phillips. As the Group IT Manager of Network Services at Klӧckner Pentaplast (kp), Phillips was responsible for handling the global network of […]

How to Integrate SASE with Your Existing WAN and SD-WAN

We’ve spoken a lot about the emergence of Gartner’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). Gartner might not have been the first consultancy to describe how security and networking are converging together into a global cloud service, but its definition has certainly become popular. Already, we’ve seen several of our clients requesting SASE elements in their […]

Protecting the Network from the Edge to the Cloud

WAN Summit

I will be moderating a panel discussion at the NY WAN Summit on Monday, March 9, 2020, at the Hilton Midtown Hotel in NY.  As you know, security considerations are an important consideration when considering SD-WAN.  Gartner’s coining of the term SASE brings this subject to the forefront, though I have been emphaizing this area […]

SD-WAN, or SASE: Focus on the Biggest Picture

All too often, when our team gets called into an engagement, we spend time helping our client anticipating their networking and security needs of tomorrow. Too often, the IT leaders are focussed on one thing when it comes to SD-WAN —  getting off of MPLS. The cost savings of replacing MPLS circuits with SD-WAN and Internet bandwidth have […]