Cato Networks, the leading provider of the world’s single-vendor SASE platform, has been recognized as a “Leader” in The Forrester Wave™: Zero Trust Edge Solutions Q3 2023 Report. The report focuses on Zero Trust Edge (ZTE) solutions, or what Forrester refers to as SASE, and highlights Cato’s exceptional performance across subcategories that align with three key areas for considering ZTE: unified and centralized cloud management, a resilient backbone with sophisticated controls, and Zero Trust Network Access for remote access.
The Forrester report emphasizes Cato Networks’ standout position in the realm of ZTE and SASE. With its strong security background and a global platform of distributed PoPs, Cato Networks has built a reputation for delivering security as a service. The company’s single-pass architecture platform has garnered recognition for its exceptional security innovation and its ability to provide a unified networking and security solution, ultimately making it an ideal choice for customers.
In response to the recognition, Shlomo Kramer, CEO and co-founder of Cato Networks, expressed his honor and satisfaction, stating that Cato’s platform was purpose-built for ZTE and SASE. Additionally, he emphasized the platform’s simplicity, agility, security posture, and optimal performance, all qualities that have been highly valued by their thousands of customers and partners.
The Forrester report also highlights the significance of Zero Trust edge architectures, which bring together networking and security functions as a unified service. The report recommends customers to look for ZTE solution providers that meet three specific criteria:
1. Unified and centralized cloud management: Achieving higher levels of trust and automation requires standardization. For ZTE solutions, it is crucial for customers to ensure that their chosen provider offers a single, cloud-based interface that provides consistent methods for creating and deploying network and security policies. This standardization eliminates data duplication, redundant security policies, and collaboration challenges.
2. Resilient backbone with sophisticated controls: ZTE vendors understand the importance of optimizing and conditioning application traffic throughout its journey. To achieve this, they include managed backbones as part of their offerings. These backbones provide additional control points, such as traffic optimization and virtual firewalls, which can vary greatly depending on the vendor. Some ZTE vendors have developed backbones with richer sets of controls compared to those offered by infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) networks exclusively.
3. Utilize Zero Trust network access for remote access, replacing VPNs: ZTE solutions typically combine Zero Trust network access (ZTNA), secure web gateways (SWGs), and cloud security gateways (CSGs). Customers should seek providers that offer strong ZTNA capabilities to reduce their organization’s threat surface and secure critical data. Leading solutions can also help customers discover the applications that need protection.
Cato SASE Cloud, provided by Cato Networks, excelled in these three areas according to Forrester’s evaluation. Cato’s management capabilities offer a centralized, cloud-delivered portal with a clean, intuitive interface that unifies network and security capabilities. Its administrative experience provides a superior user experience with streamlined workflows and intuitive policy management.
In terms of the backbone, Cato Networks boasts more than 80 sites hosting ZTE services, allowing for optimized traffic routing. The company also employs site reliability engineers to oversee the backbone’s continuous evaluation and ensure its reliability.
Regarding ZTNA for remote access, Cato Networks offers a comprehensive range of features with its agent, including universal ZTNA, interception of all ports and protocols, TCP acceleration, application discovery, and micro-segmentation or auto quarantine.
The recognition of Cato Networks as a “Leader” in The Forrester Wave™: Zero Trust Edge Solutions Q3 2023 Report further solidifies the company’s position as a leading provider of ZTE and SASE solutions. Customers in various sectors, such as multinationals and financial institutions, have already found Cato’s SASE Cloud to be a compelling choice, particularly for consolidating security functions and replacing MPLS.
To access more information about Cato Networks’ ranking and its performance in the report, readers can download The Forrester Wave™: Zero Trust Edge Solutions Report, Q3 2023 through this link.