London UK. 10th November 2021- AT&T is expanding its global, managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) portfolio to include a new offering. AT&T SASE with Cisco is a converged network and security management solution that connects and protects enterprises with software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) technology and security capabilities.
The comprehensive solution includes expert policy design and configuration, and 24/7 network management. With AT&T SASE with Cisco, organisations can accelerate adoption of cloud-based applications through optimised, highly secure, and reliable digital experiences.
Why is this important?
Business connectivity needs are changing. Whether supporting the remote workforce during the global pandemic or connecting and protecting branch offices, labs or manufacturing facilities, workers are connecting from more places and devices while expectations on experiences are rising and IT teams are stretched tight. Networks must be able to keep up with rising bandwidth requirements, primarily driven by new cloud applications and edge computing. At the same time, businesses must be able to track and protect sensitive data across the network, while delivering an exceptional user experience.
With this new hybrid work environment, businesses must still be able to innovate. This means giving users the freedom to connect and collaborate at any time, from any place.
What makes this new SASE solution different?
The combined networking and security expertise of AT&T and Cisco provide a unique perspective, offering a future-ready, unified solution through one provider. AT&T SASE with Cisco provides flexibility to optimise the network on a site-by-site basis, and dynamically routes traffic across multiple wide area network connections. These capabilities combined with unified security controls help organisations reduce the time and cost to provision, manage and scale new connections to meet business demands.
Centralised visibility allows organisations to control access for any device, connecting from any network. This capability is critical in industries such as healthcare for authenticating user access to patient data. The AT&T SASE with Cisco solution provides precise, identity-based permissions to validate the health of devices for every session.
AT&T SASE with Cisco provides highly secure, direct connections to the web and SaaS applications for the hybrid workforce. Performance optimisation at the edge gives remote users a fast, reliable path to the cloud for better computing experiences. AT&T Cybersecurity Consulting offers professional services to help customers navigate through their SASE journey. AT&T SASE with Cisco is immediately available through AT&T Business.
John Grady, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group says, “While SASE continues to generate significant interest in the market, the nature of the initiative leaves many users wondering where to begin and which vendors to engage with. Choosing proven network and security technologies is a good start, but working with managed service providers, especially those offering strategy, design, and implementation services, can help organisations accelerate their adoption of SASE and ultimately reduce time to value.”
Rupesh Chokshi, VP, AT&T Cybersecurity says, “As a leading MSSP and trusted advisor, it’s important to provide customers with a choice of managed SASE solutions to meet their unique needs. Through our collaboration with Cisco, we’re offering an integrated, modern solution that addresses the connectivity and security demands of a multi-cloud, network environment while enabling innovation.”
Shailaja Shankar, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Security Business Group says, “The shift to remote work has accelerated the need for SASE solutions, so that users and devices are secure anywhere they work. The AT&T SASE with Cisco offer will provide customers with an innovative way to gain seamless, secure access to any application, from any location in a way that is straightforward to procure, easy to set up, and simple to use and manage through a single cloud dashboard.”
Learn more about how AT&T and Cisco are working together on SASE here.
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