L-R: Bjarne Munch (Gartner), Craig Sims (CCNA), Sachin Verma (Oreta)
Additionally, just because security functions can be rolled into a SASE offering, it doesn’t always mean they should, and decisions whether to use SASE or not need to be taken on a case-by-case basis, Sims noted.
“Each network solution needs to be looked at and scrutinised; not all the functions need to be added to all architectures even though they are core elements of a SASE offering,” he said.
“Sometimes they are covered by other functions — threat prevention, web filtering, sandboxing, DNS security, credential theft prevention, data loss prevention and next-generation firewall policies.”
Credit: Oreta Verma holds the same belief, claiming that no solution, including SASE, fits every use case.
“Sometimes a standalone SASE model may not fulfill all the requirements of an organisation,” he said. “For example, an office that requires application and data to be locally hosted would require a hybrid approach to allow balance of on-prem and cloud networking/security requirements.
“However, there are certain businesses that rely on legacy MPLS [multiprotocol label switching] or on VPN [virtual private network] tunnels, where SASE may not be suited for them.”
Munch also recommended looking at the needs of the business, rather than slapping on a SASE solution and calling it a day.
“If there is a need to renew the WAN today, it is more important to ensure an SD-WAN deployment than waiting for the perfect SASE solution,” he said.
“Similarly, if the business is now allowing a large percentage of employees to work remotely then ZTNA should be a priority.”
In addition, Verma said, the emerging nature of SASE means the technology still has a “significant” room for improvement and with security services can be better suited with existing solutions.
“For example, organisations find limited features in automated configurations, network monitoring and device troubleshooting,” he said.
“In some cases where a business may have recently implemented SD-WAN, adding SASE can create duplication, introduce inefficiencies and make troubleshooting more difficult.”
Regardless, that room for improvement is something partners are looking at closely.
“SASE is still an emerging technology category of products and services that will continue to develop and become more widely acknowledged and skillsets sort after as cloud technologies continue to grow,” Sims said.
“This is just the start of SASE.”
