Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has been a hot topic in the cloud industry, to say the least. It seemed like it was on the horizon for a long time and in November of 2023, it finally went through. Since then, customers are understandably concerned about their investments in VMware after Broadcom implemented licensing changes around […]
Sarah
What Is a CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) and When is it Useful?
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) is comprised of many features which can be grouped into two buckets: WAN Edge Services and Network Security Services. The most common feature within the WAN Edge Services is SD-WAN, and the most common features we see on the Network Security side are CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker), ZTNA (Zero […]
Review and Summary of Gartner’s 2023 SASE Magic Quadrant
Gartner has officially released the first ever Single-Vendor SASE Magic Quadrant. The report specifically says it will replace the Market Guide for Single-Vendor SASE, so I think we can expect the SSE and WAN Edge Infrastructure Magic Quadrants to stay in place for the time being. I read through this report in its entirety and […]
Why Companies with Remote Employees Need SSE
More companies than ever are giving their employees flexibility around location. This can look like a hybrid model, where employees go into the office a few days a week, or a fully remote workforce. As a result, more job candidates expect this location flexibility and may consider it a deal-breaker if a potential employer doesn’t […]
Does a Network Backbone Within an SD-WAN or SASE Solution Really Matter?
If you’ve read my article on SD-WAN architecture types, you’ll know that the main difference between a gateway- and POP-based SD-WAN solution is a network backbone connecting the POPs. In that post, I gave a brief description of the scenarios in which this network backbone would be beneficial, but I’ll dive a bit deeper here. […]
SSE vs. Premise-Based Firewalls
In 2021, Gartner completed the SASE puzzle by introducing SSE as a standalone solution. SSE (Security Service Edge) is the network security portion of SASE (Secure Access Service Edge). Some companies don’t need the Access (mainly SD-WAN) portion of SASE, so SSE is what they should be looking at. The SASE Formula: SD-WAN + SSE […]
SASE Features and Who Can Benefit From Them
The term “SASE” started off as an allusive acronym that was hard to define and even harder to understand. SASE isn’t necessarily a product or a one-size-fits-all solution. SASE is a framework, and while it’s comprised of different network access and security features, those features may vary from provider to provider. It has always been […]
SASE VS. SSE: How Do They Differ?
If you thought the world of technology was out of acronyms to create, you thought wrong. Following SASE, Gartner introduced the term “SSE”, or Security Service Edge. In this article we’ll discuss how SSE differs from SASE and what types of companies should be considering it. Before I get started, if you aren’t familiar with […]
Work From Home Strategies to Consider in 2022
After being forced to accommodate remote workers, companies realized that their workforce is even more productive when working from home. Here are some technologies to consider for businesses’ remote work strategy.
UCaaS in a Retail Environment
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) can be deployed in just about any industry. As long as employees communicate with one another, there is a need for a UCaaS platform. However, the specific functionality required might differ between verticals. Let’s talk about the retail industry, specifically. Most retail brands have a corporate office somewhere. These […]
