SASE Consolidation: The Future of Enterprise Security
Investors are placing their bets on Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) as the future of enterprise security consolidation, with a significant $359 million investment demonstrating their confidence. Cato Network’s recent oversubscribed Series G round, which valued the company at $4.8 billion, highlights the growing importance of SASE in the cybersecurity landscape.
The Rise of SASE
Cato Networks reported a 46% year-over-year growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR) for 2024, outpacing the SASE market. The funding will be used to advance AI-driven security, accelerate innovation across SASE, extended detection and response (XDR), zero trust network access (ZTNA), SD-WAN, and IoT/OT, and strengthen its global reach. Gartner projects the SASE market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26%, reaching $28.5 billion by 2028.
Consolidating Security Stacks
The SASE market is expected to consolidate security stacks, much like cloud computing did for data centers. Gartner’s latest forecast shows organizations favoring a dual-vendor approach, shifting from a 4:1 ratio to 2:1 by 2028. This consolidation is driven by the need to reduce complexity, improve visibility, and lower maintenance costs. CISOs are looking for ways to simplify their security infrastructure, with 52% citing complexity as the biggest impediment to security operations.
The Benefits of Consolidation
Consolidating cybersecurity products reduces complexity, streamlines the number of apps, and improves overall efficiency. According to a recent study by IBM and Palo Alto Networks, the average organization has 83 different security solutions from 29 vendors. SASE converges traditionally siloed networking and security functions into a single, cloud-native service edge, combining SD-WAN with critical security capabilities.
What CISOs Are Saying
Steward Health CISO Esmond Kane advises starting with identity, authentication, access control, and privilege when implementing SASE. “Understand that — at its core — SASE is zero trust,” Kane says. Shlomo Kramer, Cato’s CEO, notes that SASE is an existential threat to appliance-based network security companies, predicting it will capture 80% of the market.
Evaluating Leading SASE Vendors
Gartner’s 2024 Magic Quadrant for single-vendor SASE positions Cato Networks, Palo Alto Networks, and Netskope as Leaders. The evaluation criteria include platform design, ease of use, AI automation maturity, pricing clarity, security scope, and ideal fit. Cato Networks is praised for its fully unified, cloud-native platform and excellent customer experience. Palo Alto Networks benefits from its strong security and networking features, while Netskope is recognized for its strong feature breadth and depth.
The Future of Enterprise Security
The SASE consolidation wave reveals a fundamental shift in enterprise security architecture. With AI-enabled attacks exploiting integration gaps, single-vendor SASE has become essential for protection and operational efficiency. Security leaders are demanding unified platforms to eliminate risks, reduce latency, and enable business velocity. Multivendor complexity is now a competitive liability, and SASE consolidation delivers stronger security and execution at market speed.
