Complexity is common and growing in the network security and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) markets. Over the years, organizations have layered on firewalls, secure web gateways, VPNs, and cloud security tools, often from different vendors. The result is high costs, fragmented management, and policies that don’t line up.
The major vendors are responding to this complexity with buzzwords such as Unified SASE and platformization. SASE and its related functions, Security Service Edge (SSE) and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), are converging around three themes: simplicity, agility, and consolidation. Capabilities once sold as separate networking and security products are increasingly features of a single, unified platform.
To get to the bottom of what exactly is going on, Futuriom recently conducted our annual survey of end users for SASE and network security technology
How We Got Here
The drivers of consolidation in the SASE market are simple: practitioners are grappling with more security threats than ever before and they are somewhat overwhelmed with the explosion of tools.
To make things more complicated, AI is adding machines and data to networks at an unprecedented pace, and connected applications continue to multiply. Although most enterprise applications still live outside the cloud, the trend is toward applications running beyond the traditional “behind the firewall” perimeter. Users and workloads now span SaaS, public cloud, private cloud, and edge locations.
Traditional perimeter security wasn’t built for that. Policy now has to follow the user, device, application, and data flow wherever they go. The boundaries between enterprise, datacenter, edge, cloud, and AI infrastructure are blurring, and Zero Trust principles, which assume any connection could enable a bad actor, require security to be embedded across every network domain. That is why specialized functions like SD-WAN, CASB, and ZTNA are being absorbed into broader cybersecurity platforms.
Special thanks to our sponsor, Versa Networks, for supporting this research. Versa also recently came out with one of the highest rankings in the CyberRatings firewall test, which is worth a look.
What the Survey Found
Futuriom contracted with an independent survey provider to help build and send the survey to qualified professionals. All 144 respondents were individually qualified as technology professionals involved in IT or security operations.
The respondents were filtered to include only director-level or executive management. Director-level executives make up 5% of the sample, or 80 respondents, while 44%, or 64 respondents, identify as executive management/CxO.
The survey was conducted during late July, with results completed by early August.
Respondents show strong interest in consolidating vendors, management consoles, policy, telemetry, and analytics, with improved security effectiveness and simpler operations ranking ahead of cost reduction as primary objectives. At the same time, consolidation does not necessarily mean eliminating multivendor environments. Most respondents still view multivendor visibility as common, suggesting that successful SASE platforms will need to combine tighter integration with interoperability across existing infrastructure.
Some of the data does reflect conflicting signals among those that have achieved single-vendor status vs. merely aspiring to it as a strategy, but perhaps this reflects the reality of complex network environments. In general, the data shows that users are aiming to reduce complexity, including reducing vendor count and combining functionality wherever possible.
Here are some of the key highlights:
- Cybersecurity practitioners and network operators are demanding a more integrated approach to delivering Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Security Service Edge (SSE), and other security functions.
- 92% of those surveyed indicated they are looking to consolidate cybersecurity functions by pursuing a “single vendor” or platform strategy for SASE.
- 44% said they were consolidating toward a single strategic vendor and 26% said they were reducing vendors but maintaining a multi-vendor architecture.
- The top challenges cited in the survey include multiple management consoles (44%), performance troubleshooting complexity (42%), inconsistent policies across tools (38%), and vendor interoperability issues.
- The top perceived benefits of a consolidated SASE platform include improved security visibility and analytics (69%), reducing operational complexity (58%), and an improved user experience/performance (44%).
- This report includes a summary of the activities of these key vendors: Aryaka
Networks, Cato Networks, Cisco (CSCO), Cloudflare (NET), F5 (FFIV), Fortinet (FN),
Netskope, Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Versa Networks, Zscaler (ZS).
But of course, there’s much, much more!
What to learn more? Dig in and download this FREE report, which was sponsored by Versa. (Versa was able to give input into the survey questions and approach but did not dictate the end-goals or results.)
