SASE - An Emerging Enabler of Enterprise Edge Networking

First identified by Gartner in 2019, Secure access service edge or SASE is a new model for networking and security designed to meet the growing demand for network architectures that are more fluid, secure, and easy to manage.

The SASE concept addresses the network complexities associated with distributed enterprises. It is a response to the constraints of traditional hub-and-spoke architectures, tool proliferation, siloed solutions, and manual processes that prevent organisations from moving at cloud speed. A SASE network merges networking and security capabilities, is built using cloud-native principles, is delivered in the cloud on an ondemand, SaaS basis and relies on DDI as a foundational, unifying layer.

It is anticipated that in the future, we might see AI playing a crucial role in SASE network security by enabling real-time threat detection and response, as machine learning algorithms can soon be able to train itself to detect anomalies and patterns in network traffic, allowing organisations to respond quickly to potential threats or even trigger an automatic remediation on both security and network levels.

SASE: simplifying the network edge

Using cloud-native architectures, SASE unifies networking and security into a single platform, informed with the user’s network context. Organisations deploy and manage a SASE network from the cloud as SaaS-based capabilities.

In a SASE framework, the burden of managing and securing a network moves from labor-intensive, serverbased appliances in the data center to virtual and containerised applications in the cloud. As a result, SASE networks enable organisations to:

• Simplify management

• Scale elastically

• Dynamically deploy networking and security capabilities as needed

• Consume versatile network and security capabilities as cloudbased applications

Key integration capabilities missing from SASE implementations

You might be forgiven for assuming that if you deploy a unified SASE platform, your network would consequently be enterprise- grade at the edge. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, SASE implementations currently lack essential integration necessary for enterprise-edge networking. That should come as no surprise. After all, the vital integration we’re referring to here involves the same core network services that most IT, networking, and security organisations consistently undervalue.