If you’re like a lot of businesses, your knowledge workforce is just about everywhere while the applications they’re accessing to keep your business moving are just about anywhere. Some applications may be in your corporate data center, others are in a public cloud, and still others may be accessed using a SaaS provider. This shift has changed network traffic patterns. New network traffic flows are no longer under the control of your corporate networking and security teams, putting both network performance and security at risk.
To overcome the challenges of this new paradigm, IT requires a simple and reliable approach to protect and connect with agility. That’s why it’s time to get SASE.
What is SASE?
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) marks a shift from the data center as the center of the universe to a more cloud-centric model. A cloud-based distributed architecture, SASE provides IT security integrated with network connectivity at the point of access. This enables your workforce to securely connect and work from anywhere and empowers your in-house IT team to centrally manage that connectivity, no matter where those applications reside.
A SASE Business
Not every organization is the same; digital transformation is unique. But no matter your industry, size, or even cloud environment, SASE can benefit your business in a number of ways.
Secure applications anywhere
With the widespread distribution of applications—housed in your corporate data center, in your private or public cloud, or as a SaaS offering—security can go awry very quickly. SASE’s distributed architecture makes it easy to perform the security functions near the end user, while simplifying connectivity to the applications.
Integrate security and routing
Instead of managing a bunch of different security functions separately—zero-trust network access, data loss prevention, malware protection, secure web gateway—SASE integrates them into one system. SASE can also perform network behavior analysis to identify cases where malware is exploring and getting ready to attack, so you can stop it in its tracks.
Streamline network and security operations
Even if the endpoint your remote workers need to access is on a network out of your control, security is dynamically applied, with policies based on the role of the connecting entity. This centralized management of network and security policies helps you not only reduce your OpEx of maintaining the system, but also diminishes the likelihood human error creating gaps.
Enhance infrastructure efficiency
With distributed architecture that is centrally management, you can enhance system efficiencies. For instance, endpoints and branches can use dedicated CPE devices or connect to a cloud instance that provides the security mechanisms. This also enables network traffic flows to be optimally routed to their destinations.
Boost network latency
Traffic that has been secured, either through the CPE devices or the cloud security systems, is routed directly to its destination, without the slowdown of using a VPN to connect to your data center. With enhance network latency, users can not only connect faster, but you can also be assured that every connection is a secure one.
Reduce WAN costs
Since the routing component inherent to SASE functions is similar to SD-WAN, you can control WAN costs by reducing or eliminating the need for more expensive MPLS and leased circuits in favor of VPN connectivity over the public internet.
Get SASE with i-Virtualize and Cisco
At i-Virtualize, we’re uniquely qualified to help you bring your disparate workspaces together. It’s in our name. We’ve been virtual from the get-go and have experienced remote work success even before everyone was doing it.
We know not everyone is ready to go full cloud, but wherever you are on that path, we can help you deliver the secure network outcomes so you can maximize your existing investments, increase time to value, and offload complexity as you scale.
As a leading Cisco partner, we can help you build a SASE solution that suits your needs today and easily adapts to your needs in the future. Best-in-class networking and network security converge into one platform in the simplest way imaginable, taking the complexity out of every step of the enterprise SASE journey with open APIs for seamless integration across Cisco technologies and third-party systems. Download our Infographic
