Understanding SD-WAN and SASE

Modernizing Your Network: SD-WAN, SASE, and Co-Managed Services

The demands placed on enterprise networks have fundamentally changed. Traditional Wide Area Networks (WANs), often reliant on rigid Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) circuits, struggle to cope with the shift to cloud applications, the needs of a distributed workforce, and escalating bandwidth requirements. This evolution necessitates a move towards more agile, intelligent, and secure networking paradigms like Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and its successor, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). Navigating these technologies and choosing the right implementation strategy requires careful consideration and often, expert guidance.

The Limitations of Legacy WANs and the Rise of SD-WAN

Traditional WAN architectures, designed primarily to connect branches back to a central data center, encounter significant hurdles in the modern IT landscape.

Key limitations include:

Inefficient Cloud Access: Backhauling cloud-bound traffic through a central data center introduces latency, degrading user experience for essential SaaS and IaaS applications.

High Costs & Bandwidth Constraints: MPLS provides reliability but comes at a high cost, making bandwidth scaling expensive and often insufficient for modern demands.

Operational Complexity & Rigidity: Managing individual routers and firewalls across numerous sites is complex, slow, and hinders the network's ability to adapt quickly to business needs.

SD-WAN emerged as a direct response to these challenges. By abstracting network control from physical hardware, SD-WAN introduces several key principles:

Centralized Control: Network intelligence is managed via a central controller or orchestrator, simplifying policy deployment and management.

Transport Independence: SD-WAN can utilize various transport types (MPLS, broadband, LTE/5G) concurrently, creating a unified pool of bandwidth.

Application-Aware Routing: It identifies applications and dynamically steers traffic over the best path based on policies and real-time link performance.

Simplified Operations: Features like Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) accelerate deployment, while centralized management reduces operational overhead.

SD-WAN offers significant improvements over traditional WANs, particularly in cost efficiency, cloud access, and agility.

Beyond SD-WAN: The Emergence of SASE

While SD-WAN addresses many networking challenges, the evolving threat landscape and the need to securely connect users anywhere demanded further integration. SD-WAN solutions alone often lack advanced security features, struggle to inherently support mobile workforces, and don't typically provide a global backbone for consistent performance. This led to the development of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

SASE converges SD-WAN networking capabilities with a suite of cloud-delivered security services into a single, unified platform. Key security components often integrated within a SASE framework include:

Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS)

Secure Web Gateway (SWG)

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

SD-WAN provides the essential network foundation—the "connect" aspect—for SASE. SASE builds upon this by adding the integrated "secure" element, delivered via a cloud-native architecture. This converged approach simplifies management, enhances security posture consistently across all edges (sites, cloud resources, mobile users), and often improves performance compared to managing separate networking and security point solutions.

Choosing the Right Platform: VeloCloud SD-WAN and Cato SASE

Selecting the underlying technology platform is critical. Based on extensive experience and evaluation, Intelligent Visibility often recommends one of two leading platforms, depending on specific client needs and priorities:

VMware VeloCloud (Now part of Broadcom) for SD-WAN

For organizations prioritizing a robust, high-performance network foundation, VMware VeloCloud stands out. Recognized consistently as a Leader by Gartner in the SD-WAN Magic Quadrant, VeloCloud excels in:

Performance and Reliability: Features like Dynamic Multi-Path Optimization (DMPO) ensure superior application performance and high availability, even over commodity internet links. It effectively mitigates issues like packet loss and jitter, crucial for real-time applications.

Scalability: The architecture is designed for large, complex deployments, proven capable of handling thousands of sites.

Networking Fundamentals: VeloCloud possesses strong core networking capabilities, providing a solid base upon which security services can be layered, either through VeloCloud's offerings or integrated third-party solutions.

Cloud Optimization: With a distributed network of gateways, it optimizes connections to SaaS and IaaS platforms.

VeloCloud is an excellent choice when the primary objective is to establish a highly reliable and performant network overlay, serving as the bedrock for subsequent security integrations or as part of a dual-vendor SASE strategy.

Cato Networks for Unified SASE

Cato Networks presents a compelling option for organizations seeking a fully converged networking and security solution from day one. Cato is a true SASE "pure-play," having built its platform from the ground up with integration in mind.

Key strengths include:

Unified Platform: Cato delivers SD-WAN and a comprehensive security stack (including NGFW, SWG, IPS, CASB, ZTNA) managed through a single console, eliminating the complexity of integrating disparate products.

Strong Networking and Security: The platform demonstrates robust capabilities in both domains, ensuring neither aspect is compromised.

Global Private Backbone: Cato operates its own global network of Points of Presence (PoPs). Traffic is directed to the nearest PoP, where security policies are enforced, and traffic is optimized across Cato's private backbone, delivering predictable performance and lower latency compared to traversing the public internet.

Simplicity and Agility: The integrated nature simplifies management, reduces operational overhead, and enhances overall network visibility.

Cato Networks is ideal for organizations prioritizing a single-vendor, cloud-native SASE architecture that inherently combines advanced security with optimized global connectivity.

Operational Models: The Value of Co-Managed Services

Beyond the technology platform, organizations must decide how the solution will be managed.

Common models include:

DIY (Do-It-Yourself): The organization purchases the technology and manages everything in-house. Offers maximum control but requires significant internal expertise and resources.

Fully Managed: A provider (MSP or Telco) handles nearly all aspects of deployment, management, monitoring, and support. Reduces internal burden but offers less direct control.

Co-Managed: A collaborative approach where responsibilities are shared between the organization's internal IT team and a service partner like Intelligent Visibility.

Intelligent Visibility advocates for a co-managed service model as it often provides the optimal balance for many organizations.

In this model:

Leveraged Expertise: The client benefits from Intelligent Visibility's deep engineering expertise [60] for complex tasks such as initial design, architecture validation, platform deployment, complex migrations, advanced troubleshooting, automation implementation, and lifecycle management of the core platform.

Retained Control: The client's internal IT team typically retains control over day-to-day policy administration (e.g., application prioritization rules, user-specific access controls, basic firewall rule changes) and first-level support, aligning the network directly with immediate business needs.

Partnership Approach: Clear roles and responsibilities are defined upfront, fostering a collaborative partnership. Intelligent Visibility acts as an extension of the client's team, providing specialized skills and proactive platform management.

Addressing Skills Gaps:  Co-management effectively addresses the common challenge of internal teams lacking specialized skills in SD-WAN, SASE, and associated automation tools, without requiring complete outsourcing.

This model allows organizations to harness the power of advanced platforms like VeloCloud or Cato, managed with expert oversight, while maintaining the necessary control to ensure the network meets specific, evolving business requirements.

Intelligent Visibility: Your Partner for Network Modernization

Choosing the right SD-WAN or SASE platform and the optimal management model is crucial for successful network modernization. Intelligent Visibility provides the expert, vendor-agnostic *consulting* needed to navigate these decisions, coupled with deep technical expertise in deploying and managing leading solutions like VMware VeloCloud and Cato Networks.

Our approach includes:

Strategic Assessment: Evaluating your current network, understanding business drivers, and defining clear objectives for modernization.

Tailored Design: Architecting solutions based on platforms like VeloCloud or Cato, aligned with your specific performance, security, and operational needs.

Co-Managed Implementation: Collaboratively deploying the chosen solution, ensuring seamless migration and integration.

Ongoing Partnership: Providing expert co-managed services, focusing on platform health, optimization, automation, and advanced support, allowing your team to focus on policy and user needs.

We prioritize delivering tangible outcomes, leveraging automation and an engineer-led strategy to ensure your network transformation is successful, scalable, and aligned with your business goals.

Conclusion

The evolution from traditional WAN to SD-WAN and SASE offers significant opportunities to enhance network performance, agility, and security. Platforms like VMware VeloCloud provide a strong foundation for high-performance networking, while Cato Networks offers a fully unified, cloud-native SASE solution. Partnering with Intelligent Visibility through a co-managed service model allows organizations to leverage these powerful technologies effectively, combining expert platform management with retained internal control.

Ready to modernize your network with SD-WAN or SASE? Contact Intelligent Visibility to discuss your requirements and explore how our expert consulting and co-managed services, leveraging platforms like VeloCloud and Cato Networks, can accelerate your network transformation.