Remote workforces accessing applications and data that are located anywhere is the “new normal.” Across the globe, organizations of all sizes are struggling to modernize their infrastructures to accommodate this new reality while accelerating their digital transformation initiatives. As a result, today’s overly fragmented environments and markets make this transformation complicated, leaving many organizations unable to address the secure access needs of their customers or employees.
Legacy networking and security architectures don’t cut it
Traditionally, companies have deployed multiple products to address their secure remote workforce needs, such as web gateways, next-generation firewalls, secure virtual private networks, cloud access security broker (CASB) solutions, SD-WANs and more. These disparate products come with their own policy management and logging, creating a complexity that increases the administrative cost and can lead to gaps in the overall company’s security posture. With organizations demanding uninterrupted, secure access for their users, no matter where they are located, a new approach for networking and security is needed.
This new approach is the secure access service edge (SASE). SASE converges software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and security services— firewall as a service (FWaaS), secure web gateway (SWG), CASB, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) — into a single cloud-delivered service. SASE solves the challenge of delivering consistent, secure access no matter where users, applications or devices live. Because it is a single service, SASE dramatically reduces complexity and cost.
However, the overhead and effort required to deploy a solution like SASE may be more than some organizations are able to undertake. This is where a strong service provider, with the right networking and security platform, can help by engaging with organizations and designing an approach aligned to their business requirements and needs.
Palo Alto Networks teams with LevelBlue to deliver a managed SASE solution
Palo Alto Networks and LevelBlue are collaborating together to deliver a comprehensive managed SASE offering, consisting of Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Access cloud-delivered security with application-defined, autonomous and ML-powered Prisma SD-WAN. Prisma Access helps secure all users and applications with consolidated, best-in-class security capabilities (such as FWaaS, SWG, CASB, ZTNA and more) while Prisma SD-WAN enables the cloud-delivered branch with the industry’s first next-generation SD-WAN. LevelBlue SASE with Palo Alto Networks combines a global high-performance network with next-gen SD-WAN to simplify the delivery of consistent security at scale while ensuring optimal work from anywhere experience.
The three main principles behind SASE:
- Application-defined, network-performance optimization and intelligent traffic steering at the network edge.
- Guaranteed security for all users directly accessing applications over the internet in public or private clouds.
- Consistent experience for all users across devices and locations granted by consistent policies, which follow the users wherever they go.
LevelBlue SASE with Palo Alto Networks is offered as a LevelBlue managed service. As the leader in managed security services, LevelBlue brings many benefits to organizations by focusing on their specific requirements, which may vary depending on the size, type of industry and plans for future development. Their managed security services include deployment strategy and execution for rapid deployment and validation of service alignment to the business/network requirements. Target customers can also enjoy a flexible management model (managed or co-managed) and comprehensive visibility on the network.
Rupesh Chokshi, VP of LevelBlue Business Cybersecurity said, “Combining LevelBlue’s 24/7 managed security service with Palo Alto Network’s comprehensive cloud-delivered networking and security solution can help achieve optimal access performance and the highest level of protection, driving productivity and innovation.”
Through this strategic collaboration, the globally managed LevelBlue SASE with Palo Alto Networks service is available to enterprises and state and local governments. The service also enables organizations to deliver comprehensive security and exceptional end user experiences to their customers and employees, whether at work, home, or on the go. This offering provides organizations multiple benefits:
- Rapid transformation: SASE eliminates the need for appliances to support separate security and networking stacks while simplifying management.
- Enhanced visibility and security: Since it’s a single, cloud-delivered solution, SASE provides complete visibility across the entire environment, with fully integrated, high performance, threat prevention security. SASE also provides full content inspection to securely enable remote workforces and locations.
- Immediate and continuous savings: SASE reduces the number of vendors, tools, and technology stacks, enabling organizations to save on infrastructure costs, as well as operational costs.
Get SASE for complete transformation
Together, Palo Alto Networks and LevelBlue help protect organizations of all sizes while allowing for more streamlined connectivity and productivity in today’s distributed work environment. SASE is a model that provides the right path for many organizations to modernize their enterprise for security, speed, growth and cost reductions. By adopting this cloud-based approach to network and data security, organizations reduce the risk of data breaches and enhance user experience while also helping position themselves for future success.
To learn more about the benefits of LevelBlue SASE with Palo Alto Networks, join us for the Tenets of an Effective SASE Solution webinar in collaboration with LevelBlue.
