Netskope today unveiled the Next Gen SASE Branch, a major step forward in infrastructure that uses Netskope’s award-winning Borderless SD-WAN, to transform how organisations manage their most critical networking and security functions and optimise enterprise branches everywhere.
Information technology teams today seek cloud-centric infrastructure solutions that elegantly converge network and security capabilities, reduce legacy technology maintenance, and support the performance demands of hybrid work environments. SASE has emerged as a leading framework already influencing these enterprise buying decisions; according to Gartner®, by 2026, 60% of new SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single-vendor SASE offering, up from 15% in 2022.
But current branch infrastructure is often rife with challenges. To date, most branch solutions:
– Rely on legacy SD-WAN and multiple disjointed network security technologies that were not built to extend performance to cloud-first, hybrid work environments.
– Can’t accommodate the explosion of cloud applications or IoT devices now in use throughout the enterprise.
– Struggle under collections of security point products and connectivity services that aren’t cleanly connected or integrated but incur significant ongoing maintenance costs.
– Contribute to an overall status quo of inefficient, un-optimised branch infrastructure and inadequate security controls.
The new Netskope Next Gen SASE Branch, powered by Borderless SD-WAN, converges a unified SD-WAN and security appliance, the Netskope SASE Gateway, with a context-aware SASE fabric, zero trust-based security, and a SkopeAI-powered cloud orchestrator. Available as a single, cloud-delivered offering, the solution also includes a thin branch that optimises and secures traffic from all locations and users to cloud and on-prem locations.
“We’ve designed the Next Gen SASE Branch with the biggest needs of enterprise businesses in mind, both today and in the future,” said Parag Thakore, SVP, Borderless SD-WAN at Netskope. “Organisations no longer need to manage a complex stack of solutions to properly operate their enterprise, nor do they need to sacrifice performance for security. With Next Gen SASE Branch, they can take full advantage of a one-platform, one-software, one-policy approach that’s uniquely and fully enabled by Netskope Borderless SD-WAN.”
“As a full-service managed service provider, we’ve partnered with Netskope and deployed their fully integrated SASE solution to modernise the branch and VPN infrastructure of many customers,” said Darren Carlson, CEO Halo Global. “Utilising Netskope’s platform, we can expedite customer onboarding to provide a technology that streamlines infrastructure while enabling them to grow and secure their business.”
“The era of the hyper-distributed enterprise – where workers can be anywhere and applications are everywhere – is causing organisations across the globe to transform their network and security strategies,” said Brandon Butler, IDC Research Manager, Enterprise Networks. “Key capabilities for next-generation architectures include deeply integrated networking and context-aware security, cloud-based management, and advanced automation enhanced by AI/ML. Netskope’s Next Gen SASE Branch exemplifies the company’s approach to SASE by combining the important elements of Borderless SD-WAN via NewEdge with a portfolio of cloud-native and context-aware security capabilities.”
Netskope Next Gen SASE Branch includes:
– A Context-Aware SASE Fabric that supports more than 75,000 applications and cloud confidence index (CCI)-based smart QoS (quality of service) defaults, as well as AI/ML-based IoT device intelligence for traffic engineering, and VRF (virtual routing and forwarding)-aware segmentation and advanced routing delivered end-to-end across data centres and clouds. In addition, Borderless SD-WAN available on Netskope NewEdge delivers optimised Global WAN connectivity across transcontinental branches and high-performance cloud on-ramp from any branch, data centre, or remote user to any SaaS, private application, or transcontinental region.
– Zero Trust Hybrid Security, which seamlessly integrates cloud-delivered Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) capabilities, alongside on-premises Application Firewall, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)/Intrusion Detection System (IDS), and Device Intelligence capabilities. In addition, Netskope ZTNA Next combines SD-WAN optimisation capabilities with a converged zero trust network access solution that enables full retirement of legacy VPNs.
– SkopeAI-powered Cloud Orchestrator, which streamlines network and security management using a unified console and the enforcement of consistent policies across branches, remote locations, and various cloud environments. It further provides end-to-end path visibility and top-notch application performance using Netskope Proactive Digital Experience Management (P-DEM).