Aryaka Expands SASE Network with CASB

Aryaka today announced that it has expanded its secure access service edge (SASE) network-as-a-service offering, which it is now calling "Unified SASE as a Service."

The new capabilities, which were put on the roadmap last year, include native Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) capabilities as well as validated integration and interoperability with secure enterprise browsing and remote browser isolation (RBI) from Menlo Security. The company has also launched a way for customers to model the service with the Aryaka Interactive Product Experience (IPX).

With the new Unified SASE as a Service launch, Aryaka has shown a rapid-fire approach to new services and capabilities since new CEO Shailesh Shukla took over earlier this year. In June, the company announced Aryaka AI>Perform, a networking service specifically designed for AI services.

Trend Toward Integrating SASE

SASE technology represents a key focus of enterprises looking to secure networking traffic, and there is huge demand for consuming these services, especially when they are combined with networking, as demonstrated in our recent SASE services survey report.

Aryaka, which offers a global managed network with private layer 2 and 3 services with 45 access points of presence (POPs), has been on a path for deeper SASE offerings since it purchased Secucloud in 2021.

Aryaka's new additions will help differentiate the network services company in this escalating SASE battle, which involves dozens of companies with varied security portfolios and different architectures. Aryaka's value proposition is to sell fully integrated network services and security services, which can remove some of the hassle of piecing together network and security services from different vendors and network suppliers.

“As applications become more distributed and attack vectors get more sophisticated, organizations can no longer rely on a hodgepodge of point solutions to protect their networks," said Renuka Nadkarni, Aryaka's Chief Product Officer, in a company statement "Enterprises are increasingly looking to Unified SASE as a result, but they’re finding that most solutions are stitched together via acquisitions and ‘unified’ in name only.”

This trend has been ratified by some of the industry leaders in SASE. For example, Palo Alto Networks has itself acknowledged the industry challenge by announcing that it is moving towards a "platformization," or integration approach with its vast yet fragmented portfolio. Palo Alto has both on-premises firewalls and virtual firewalls, as well as services such as CASB and secure web gateway. But Palo Alto does not offer layer 2 and layer 3 networking services.

More SASE on the Roadmap

Aryaka is aiming to be the first to offer a deep SASE portfolio as well as the network itself, which it says can be more inherently secure and efficient by examining all traffic—a technical approach known as single pass-through (Aryaka calls its version OnePASS). Many cloud-based services from vendors such as Palo Alto or Zscaler require routing traffic out of a customer network to their own cloud services to secure traffic.

The CASB is an important addition, as it is frequently cited by security architects as one of the most important cloud security features, according to Futuriom survey data.

Aryaka says its CASB solution helps customers enforce security policies via Aryaka’s distributed data plane – on the edge device for on-site and branch users and at POPs for remote users. Key benefits include network and cloud visibility; granular access policy control (identity, device, location, and other contextual factors); and machine-learning-based threat protection (against malware, ransomware, and insider threats).

The company has more capabilities on the way, with zero trust network access (ZTNA) and digital loss prevention (DLP) slated next.