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The SD-WAN contract renewal period is an ideal time to review whether SD-WAN fits into your future plans. While SD-WAN is a powerful and cost-effective replacement for MPLS, enterprises need to make sure it answers their evolving needs, like cloud infrastructure, mitigating cyber risks, and enabling remote access from anywhere.
4 Things to Consider Before Renewing your SD-WAN Contract
Consideration #1: Security
Enterprises need to reduce their attack surface, ensuring that only required assets are accessible, and only to authorized users.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Does my SD-WAN solution include advanced security models like ZTNA?
- How does my SD-WAN’s security solution integrate with other point solutions?
- Does my SD-WAN solution offer threat prevention and decryption?
Consideration #2: Cloud Optimization
Traffic from and to the cloud needs to be optimized in terms of performance and security.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How does my SD-WAN solution manage multi-cloud environments?
- Does my SD-WAN solution provide migration capabilities?
- Can my SD-WAN solution scale according to my needs?
Consideration #3: Global Access
Enterprises need predictable and reliable transport to connect global locations to the cloud and data centers.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Does my SD-WAN solution provide a global infrastructure to ensure low latency and optimized routing?
- How does my SD-WAN solution ensure secure global access?
- Will my SD-WAN solution provide an alternative in case of a network outage?
Consideration #4: Remote Access
Remote access for employees and external vendors needs to be supported to ensure business agility.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How does my SD-WAN solution secure remote users?
- How does my SD-WAN solution ensure remote users get optimized performance?
- Does my SD-WAN solution protect from supply chain attacks?
SASE, the Next Step After SD-WAN
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) provides value in areas where SD-WAN lacks. SASE is the next step after SD-WAN because it provides enterprises with all the point solutions’ advantages, but without the friction of integrating and maintaining them. SASE is a single platform that converges SD-WAN and network security into a single, cloud-native global service.
In fact, according to Gartner, by 2024, more than 60% of SD-WAN customers will have implemented a SASE architecture, compared to approximately 35% in 2020.
How SASE Answers Network and Security Requirements
Let’s see how SASE provides a solution for each of the considerations above.
Security – SASE’s converged, full security stack extends advanced and up-to-date security measures to all edges.
Cloud optimization – SASE provides frictionless and optimized cloud service with immediate scaling capabilities everywhere.
Global access – SASE PoPs deliver the service to users and locations that are nearest to them, as well as accelerating east-west and northbound traffic to the cloud.
Remote access – SASE delivers secure remote access, with the ability to instantly scale to address the new work-from-anywhere reality.
SD-WAN vs. SASE
After SD-WAN solves the branch-data center-edge challenge, SASE enables enterprises to globally expand their environment to the cloud in an optimized and secure manner.
Let’s see how the two compare:
How to Get Started with SASE
Cato is the world’s first SASE platform, converging SD-WAN and network security into a global cloud-native service. Cato optimizes and secures application access for all users and locations. Using Cato SASE Cloud, customers easily migrate from MPLS to SD-WAN, improve connectivity to on-premises and cloud applications, enable secure branch Internet access everywhere, and seamlessly integrate cloud data centers and remote users into the network with a zero-trust architecture. With Cato, your network and business are ready for whatever’s next. Start now.
Eyal Webber Zvik
Eyal Webber-Zvik is Cato’s Vice President of Product Marketing. In his role, Eyal manages a global team of product marketing directors that are tasked driving the company's messaging, position, press and media relations, and more. Previously, Eyal ran Cato's product management organization, translating Cato's SASE vision into a global, successful cloud service. Throughout his years at Cato Networks, Eyal has been involved in dozens of SASE projects across various enterprises and markets. Eyal has more than 20 years of ICT experience in engineering, product management and product marketing.