Verizon Business today launched Advanced Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), an offering that combines SD-WAN capability with hybrid network connectivity and security services.
SD-WAN services have been gaining popularity, enabling customers to use multiple wide area network connections that are managed together, with traffic shifting from one link to the other depending on priority and network conditions.
A typical SD-WAN installation might combine an MPLS link with dedicated internet access. Some customers buy both connections from a single provider with SD-WAN management as a single service.
SASE enhances SD-WAN by adding security to SD-WAN offerings.
“Advanced SASE makes it easier for companies to focus on their business growth and operations, while we manage their networks and security,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business, in a press release about the Verizon Advanced SASE offering. “By merging SD-WAN capabilities with network security services, we’ve created a solution that fully leverages our expertise and helps customers securely and efficiently connect people, data and endpoints, from any location to any app or service.”
Verizon Advanced SASE
A Verizon white paper adds more detail, noting that SASE is “a network architecture that merges software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) capabilities with comprehensive network security services such as secure gateway, cloud access security broker (CASB), zero-trust network access (ZTNA) and firewall as a service (FWaaS) to create a unified, cloud-delivered service model that supports the dynamic secure access needs of digital enterprises.”
While traditional network security is location-centric, SASE is identity-centric, the white paper explains.
Key factors driving increased interest in SASE include the COVID-19 pandemic, which has driven a boom in work-from-home; growing online threats; the movement of applications to the cloud and the edge; and increased use of more dynamic applications.
In response to an inquiry from Telecompetitor, Vincent Lee, Director of Product Management for Verizon Enterprise Solutions said core vendors underlying the Verizon Advanced SASE offering are Versa and Zscaler, which work in combination with Verizon’s Software Defined Perimeter service.
“Customers can order this package as it is, or work with our solution architects to leverage other technology solutions to suit their needs,” Lee explained. “We will be augmenting Verizon Advanced SASE with other partners in the short-term as well.
“We are currently working on a single vendor solution, but launched with the multi-vendor approach first, as we are finding that our enterprise customers are looking to leverage existing technologies they have in place, or have requirements that single vendor solutions don’t currently meet.”
In the Verizon Advanced SASE press release, the company notes that it will continue to expand partners for the offering, “bringing together proven products from recognized network and security industry leaders whose technology and services integrate seamlessly with our own.”
The white paper cites a Dell’Oro Group forecast calling for the SASE market to grow at a compound annual rate of 116%, reaching a market value of $5.1 billion by 2024.
