Five Considerations for Single Vendor Zero Trust Edge Deployment

Customers are bombarded with acronyms; security buyers are used to fads and buzzwords; the market for security services is a skeptical one. Longtime attendees to RSA can play buzzword bingo with topics such as “actionable threat intelligence,” EDR, MDR, XDR… anything-DR and so on. Currently, the terms “Zero Trust” and “Edge” – ZTNA, ZTX, ZTE, SSE and SASE – are just as hyped but potentially with a little more substance. Security and networking, long uneasy playmates in the sandbox have to get along better. The security industry, fueled by the principles of “see a problem / buy a box” (aka. “expense-in-depth) has to modernize. Whatever you call it, the delivery of a converged set of networking and security services from a single cloud platform sounds like we’re moving in the right direction and that, for once, we should believe the hype. Is this right? What should security and networking buyers be wary of? Who is doing ZTE and SASE right? It’s such a new movement and major project for many customers that many people we speak to are tentative in their approach, picking one use case as their on-ramp to ZTE. Is this the best way or should IT leaders be thinking more about a composable ZTE deployment. Key Takeaways for Buyers: - What is ZTE/SASE, ZTX/SSE, ZTNA and how should they be thinking about this movement? - What are some onramps to ZTE and how would a customer decide what is right for them? - Should networking and security be a common investment or are these separate buyers and domains of expertise?