In today’s rapidly evolving digital environment, the intersection of security and networking presents both challenges and opportunities. “The biggest enemy of security is complexity,” said one prominent security expert. This statement highlights the urgent need to simplify how network security is delivered and embedded across increasingly complex technology stacks.
According to Enterprise Strategy Group, 73% of organizations believe their network environment is more complex than it was two years ago.
Consider the impact this kind of complexity has on the digital world we live in today. Digital experiences in a hyper-connected world have a ripple effect throughout our lives. This impacts customer satisfaction, employee retention, and competitive differentiation. These digital experiences span locations, things, and applications, across people, teams, communities, and organizations, and rely on reliable, secure connections between everyone and everything.
In my last blog, I highlighted the growing talent gap that presents a huge challenge that IT leaders cannot ignore. Employee experience is just as important as customer experience, and convergence can be a catalyst to close the talent gap while transforming everyone’s experience.
The convergence of network and security is needed now more than ever.
In a world where digital transformation is a necessity, not an option, unifying network and security into a simple, integrated framework is more important than ever. As organizations struggle to scale connectivity, distributed workforces, and application issues across multicloud environments, complexity and risk increase, making an integrated network and security strategy essential.
“We don’t have time to manage our management tools,” said a customer we met at Cisco Live last year. This highlights the need for streamlined processes in an era where connectivity, dependencies, and potential threats are proliferating, making traditional network and security operations silos unsustainable.
Convergence is not just a technology adjustment, it is a strategic imperative that requires a shift to a unified and simplified IT framework. By enabling unified networking and secure access through Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), IT professionals can move from managing architecture to orchestrating platform blueprints, resulting in a streamlined, secure, and agile IT environment and ecosystem.
Embracing this convergence fosters innovation, ensuring strong security and optimal user experiences in an increasingly interconnected world.
Discover the new and exciting improvements coming to the Cisco Unified SASE Platform.
A trusted, integrated experience is central to what Cisco delivers through the Cisco Networking Cloud platform: Cisco’s vision to transform business and securely connect the world. Building on this foundation, Cisco Secure Connect seamlessly integrates software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) and the secure services edge (SSE) in a unified solution that easily provides customers with a blueprint for SASE. This single platform allows customers to easily manage secure connections for branch and remote connections and provide a seamless experience for hybrid users wherever they work.
This week, Cisco announced that it offers the most complete, integrated SASE solution with Cisco Secure Connect, based on Cisco Secure Access, a new embedded SSE engine. This convergence represents another step in combining Cisco networking and secure cloud to deliver a unified SASE fabric with advanced security features, starting with client-based Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). With these advancements, Secure Connect is advancing Zero Trust to better support remote workers and powerful hybrid work. This provides several key results for customers:
- Rich ZTNA features Secure Access delivers a better remote worker experience and strong security with high-performance zero trust access.
- Seamless end-user experience Users don’t need to take any additional steps to connect to your private app. Access is immediate and “just works”. These include:
- Supports Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) Provides mobile device support to give users instant access to apps from anywhere using a multiplexed application substrate via QUIC encryption (MASQUE) proxy.
- Integrated Cisco Security Client Automate connection brokerage on the backend to ensure a seamless user experience everywhere.
- Manage all your connectivity options in one place Streamline operations and improve user experience (VPN, browser, client-based ZTNA, and branch).
All of these new features are now available via: Efficient management through Meraki dashboard Make it easier for administrators to manage zero trust and policy enforcement across networking and security functions.
Ultimately, these advancements in the Secure Connect SSE engine with Secure Access provide users with a simple, complete, and integrated way to seamlessly connect to their personal and public applications wherever they work.
In addition to this exciting first step toward Secure Access integration, Cisco also announced the following Secure Connect updates:
- expanded space New data centers have been added to support global availability for secure, private access in more regions.
- Global tradability with Secure Connect Complete package Options give customers more flexibility in choosing the SASE path they want and need.
- Customers worldwide can now choose between the Secure Connect Foundation or Secure Connect Complete packages, depending on their needs.
- Secure Connect Foundation is designed for organizations looking to get started with integrated SASE and includes secure Internet access for sites and roaming users.
- Secure Connect Complete provides a full suite of integrated SASE capabilities, now including both clientless and client-based Zero Trust, including remote access and ZTNA.
- EA 3.0 availability Makes it easier for customers to purchase and use integrated SASE with Secure Connect as part of their enterprise agreement.
With these new advancements to our unified SASE platform, Cisco continues to take steps to make secure networking easier for our customers and deliver a seamless experience wherever work happens.
To navigate your path to secure networking, think about integrated SASE.
If you’re looking for an easier way to manage secure connections, simplify IT, enhance security, and enforce operational consistency, integrated SASE is the obvious way to go. Cisco Secure Connect is designed to easily interconnect everything through a unified fabric and seamlessly secure devices and connections everywhere. IT wins, users win, and everyone is happy. Secure networking has never been this easy.
Learn how Cisco Secure Connect can help you deliver seamless, seamless service.
Deliver a trustworthy experience to all users.
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