SASE Explained: Network + Security for the Distributed Edge

Introduction: Defining SASE

The traditional network perimeter has dissolved. With users, devices, and applications distributed across homes, branch offices, and multiple clouds, securing access and ensuring performance requires a new approach. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), a term coined by Gartner, addresses this reality by converging networking (specifically SD-WAN) and a suite of security functions, known as Security Service Edge (SSE), into a single, unified, cloud-delivered service.¹³ SSE typically includes capabilities like Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS).¹³

SASE is not merely a repackaging of existing technologies; it represents a fundamental architectural shift. Instead of routing traffic back to a central data center for security inspection, SASE brings security enforcement closer to the user or device at the network edge. This model is gaining significant traction, with major analysts like Gartner and Forrester tracking its adoption and predicting substantial growth as organizations seek more agile, secure, and cost-effective ways to connect and protect their distributed environments.¹⁴ The move towards SASE is driven by its ability to address the inherent flaws of siloed networking and security tools in the context of modern hybrid work and cloud adoption.

The CATO SASE Cloud Platform: Architecture Deep Dive

Intelligent Visibility partners primarily with CATO Networks to deliver SASE solutions, leveraging their purpose-built, cloud-native platform.⁶ The CATO SASE Cloud architecture is distinguished by several core components that work in concert ²²:

1. Single Pass Cloud Engine (SPACE): This is the heart of CATO's security processing. Unlike solutions that chain multiple security functions together, SPACE integrates NGFW, SWG, IPS, NGAM, CASB, DLP, and ZTNA capabilities into a single, efficient software engine. All traffic passing through a CATO Point of Presence (PoP) is processed in one pass, applying relevant security policies based on identity and context. This architecture minimizes latency and ensures consistent policy enforcement across all traffic types. The SPACE engine also generates rich telemetry data about flows, devices, applications, and security events, feeding this information into Cato's data lake.²²

2. Global Private Backbone: CATO operates a global network of over 85 PoPs, strategically located in top-tier data centers worldwide.²⁴ These PoPs are interconnected by multiple SLA-backed Tier-1 carriers, forming a high-performance, resilient private backbone. This backbone optimizes traffic routing for both WAN and internet-bound traffic, providing lower latency and more predictable performance than relying solely on the public internet middle mile. This purpose-built backbone is a key differentiator, ensuring a consistent user experience globally.²²

3. Open Data Platform: CATO's platform is built around a data lake that ingests security and network events generated by the SPACE engines across all PoPs, endpoint events from the Cato Client (or third-party EDRs), and external threat intelligence feeds. This centralized data repository powers CATO's AI/ML-driven threat detection, network analysis, and incident response capabilities. Customers can also access this data via APIs for integration with their own SIEM or analytics tools.²²

4. Edge Connectivity: Sites connect to the nearest CATO PoP using Cato Socket appliances (physical or virtual), which provide SD-WAN functionality like link aggregation and dynamic path selection.²⁶ Remote users connect securely via the Cato Client (supporting ZTNA and EPP/EDR) or client-less browser access.²³

This architecture, built from the ground up as a converged SASE platform, avoids the integration challenges and performance bottlenecks often associated with multi-vendor solutions or security services simply hosted in a hyperscaler environment.²²

Key Benefits of CATO SASE vs. Point Solutions

Adopting a converged SASE platform like CATO Networks offers significant advantages over assembling and managing individual security and networking point solutions:

• Simplicity & Reduced Complexity: The most immediate benefit is the consolidation of multiple functions (SD-WAN, FWaaS, SWG, ZTNA, CASB) into a single platform managed through one console.¹³ This drastically reduces appliance sprawl, eliminates complex integrations between disparate tools, and simplifies policy management.²⁹ Contrast this with the operational burden of managing separate firewalls, VPN concentrators, web gateways, CASB solutions, and SD-WAN controllers.¹³

• Enhanced Security Posture: CATO enforces consistent security policies based on user identity and context, regardless of location or how the user connects.¹³ The full security stack inspects all traffic, minimizing gaps often found between point solutions. Real-time threat intelligence is integrated directly into the platform.²⁸ This holistic approach provides superior protection compared to managing fragmented security tools.¹³

• Improved Performance & User Experience: The global private backbone optimizes routing and minimizes latency for both cloud and data center applications, offering a more predictable experience than the public internet.²² Direct-to-internet breakouts at the PoP avoid inefficient traffic backhauling.³²

• Cost Effectiveness: While initial investment is a factor, SASE reduces overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).²⁹ It lowers CapEx by eliminating the need for multiple hardware appliances at each site and reduces OpEx through simplified management, automation, and potential reduction in expensive MPLS circuits.¹⁵ Calculating precise ROI requires analysis, but the consolidation benefits are substantial compared to managing a collection of point products.³³

• Agility & Scalability: The cloud-native architecture allows organizations to deploy new sites or onboard users quickly (often using zero-touch provisioning) and scale resources elastically.¹³ The platform is self-maintaining and self-healing, reducing the operational burden of patching and upgrades.²²

The core value proposition stems from convergence. By design, CATO integrates networking and security, eliminating the silos, complexity, performance issues, and security gaps inherent in trying to piece together multiple point solutions.¹³ This integrated approach delivers synergistic benefits that surpass the sum of its individual parts.

Integrating Secondary SD-WAN

While CATO provides robust, integrated SD-WAN capabilities as part of its SASE platform, some organizations may have existing investments in other SD-WAN solutions like VMware SD-WAN (VeloCloud) or Cisco Meraki MX appliances.³⁵ In such hybrid scenarios, CATO SASE Cloud can still serve as the primary security and global connectivity fabric. Traffic from non-Cato SD-WAN sites can be securely routed through the CATO Cloud via standard IPsec tunnels or other integration methods, allowing organizations to leverage CATO's security stack and backbone while potentially phasing out older SD-WAN solutions over time. Cisco also offers pathways for integrating Meraki and Catalyst SD-WAN management.⁴⁰ However, the most streamlined and functionally rich approach involves utilizing CATO's native SD-WAN capabilities within its converged platform.

Aegis NaaS: SASE Delivered as a Service

For many organizations, deploying and managing a comprehensive SASE platform like CATO's, despite its unified nature, can still represent a significant operational undertaking. Intelligent Visibility's Aegis NaaS addresses this by delivering the power of CATO SASE (along with Arista for campus networking) as a fully managed service.⁶

Aegis NaaS encompasses the entire lifecycle ⁴:

• Design & Deployment: IVI experts design the solution based on customer requirements, procure the necessary CATO Sockets/licenses, and manage the deployment and carrier coordination.

• 24x7 Management & Monitoring: IVI's Network Operations Center (NOC) provides continuous monitoring, proactive incident detection using advanced observability tools, and expert incident response.

• Optimization & Lifecycle: IVI handles ongoing policy tuning, software updates, security patches, and hardware refresh planning.

• Predictable Cost: The entire service – technology and management – is bundled into a predictable subscription, typically priced per site or per user, shifting network costs from CapEx to OpEx.⁷

Aegis NaaS essentially transforms the CATO SASE platform into a guaranteed business outcome: secure, high-performance connectivity, expertly managed around the clock.⁴ This allows internal IT teams, often stretched thin or lacking specialized SASE expertise, to offload the operational burden and focus on strategic initiatives that directly drive the business forward.⁶

Conclusion

SASE represents a necessary evolution for securing the distributed enterprise edge. By converging networking and security into a unified, cloud-native architecture, platforms like CATO Networks overcome the complexity, security gaps, and performance limitations of traditional point solutions. CATO's purpose-built architecture, featuring the SPACE engine and a global private backbone, delivers significant benefits in simplicity, security, performance, and cost-effectiveness. For organizations seeking to maximize these benefits while minimizing operational overhead, Intelligent Visibility's Aegis NaaS provides a fully managed service, transforming CATO's powerful technology into a reliable, outcome-based solution. In the next part, we will delve deeper into the SD-WAN capabilities that form a crucial component of the SASE framework.