SD-WAN is gradually progressing into SASE
According to a report published in 2019, around 69% of business entities are migrating the data accumulated for the purpose of Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) applications, onto the cloud. In view of this step, businesses are now facing exposure to security threats that are part and parcel of public cloud infrastructure. This is where Software-Defined Wide Area Networking(SD-WAN) steps into the conversation.
Being a software-driven methodology, SD-WAN is designed to create and operate networking functions that are responsible to establish a connection between different branch offices, located far-off from each other. Businesses are utilizing SD-WAN to replace conventional high-cost multi-protocol label-switching(MPLS) networks, firewalls or vendor hardware. However, there is a problem. SD-WAN employs a networking overlay or ‘SD-WAN fabric’, as it called. This fabric does not comprise any of the security and access controls that are essential for businesses to have in order to shield their network in a threat-induced cloud environment.
To surpass this hurdle, enterprises usually engage with several point solutions, intending to strengthen the security of web gateways, aid application firewalls, safeguard virtual private network remote access, and so on. As all of these solutions have their policy protocols governing the management, interfaces, and sets of logs, this can be an administrative nightmare. Not only it complicates management and is quite expensive, but it also creates gaping holes in the business’ security apparatus.
SASE
To tackle these issues, the world’s leading research and advisory firm, Gartner, demonstrated a fresh, cybersecurity ingratiated approach for networking in the cloud, naming it Secure Access Service Edge(SASE). This approach blended the potential of WAN, with all-round security solutions, like secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), firewall as a service (FWaaS), and Zero Trust network access (ZTNA). This combination secured network access within the cloud and mobile infrastructures.
As per expert predictions laid out by Gartner, at the very least, around 40% of the businesses will have a proactive policy to implement SASE by the year 2024.
As opposed to conventional WAN, where the branches are first connected to the head office, SASE directly connects the users and pieces of equipment to a core cloud-driven solution. The centralized data being the point of access just doesn’t work anymore, as more and more businesses are moving towards software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud services, and edge compute platforms. This indicates that in the wake of services moving onto the cloud, the enterprise data center is increasingly becoming redundant.
In the near future, the data center is likely to behave just like another branch, where several users are cobbled together in one place. It will not be any different than a single person who is working remotely, acting pretty much as a one-man branch.
As per experts working at Gartner, SASE comes with a bundle of benefits that far exceeds what the current technologies are offering, including better malleability for the user, alleviated functional complications, cost-effectiveness, and enhanced performance. The addition of SASE does not mean that you have to abstain from choosing SD-WAN services, however, SASE is an indispensable player in shaping the conversation around cloud networking and security. You can join this conversation by asking your SD-WAN vendors about SASE. Find out what’s their plan, if any, to implement this innovative model. Try to get an honest insight into their capability to adapt and provide security and networking services to users. It would especially be a challenge to provide satisfactory solutions to smartphone users.
