• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Cisco Umbrella

Enterprise network security

  • Free Trial
  • Contact us
  • Blog
  • Login
    • Umbrella Login
    • Cloudlock Login
  • Products
    • Product
      • Cisco Umbrella Cloud Security Service
      • Cisco Umbrella Investigate
      • Product Packages
      • Support Packages
    • Functionality
      • DNS-Layer Security
      • Secure Web Gateway
      • Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
      • Interactive Intelligence
      • Cloud-Delivered Firewall
    •  
    • Webinar signup
  • Solutions
    • By Need
      • Protect Mobile Users
      • Fast Incident Response
      • Web Content Filtering
      • Shadow IT Discovery & App Blocking
      • Unified Threat Enforcement
      • Reduce Security Infections
      • Secure Direct Internet Access
      • Securing Remote and Roaming Users
    • By Network
      • Protect Guest Wi-Fi
      • SD-WAN Security
      • Off-Network Endpoint Security
    • By Industry
      • Higher Education Security
      • K-12 Schools Security
      • Healthcare, Retail and Hospitality Security
      • Enterprise Cloud Security
      • Small Business Cybersecurity
      • Our Customers
      • Customer Stories
    • Ransomware Defense for Dummies book
  • Why Us
    • Fast Reliable Cloud
      • Cloud Security Infrastructure
      • Cloud Network Status
      • Cloud Network Activity
      • Recursive DNS Services
      • Top Reasons to Trial
      • Getting Started
    • Unmatched Intelligence
      • Cyber Attack Prevention
      • Interactive Intelligence
    • Extensive Integrations
      • IT Security Integrations
      • Hardware Integrations
      • Meraki Integration
      • Cisco SD-WAN
    • Navigation-dropdown-promo-free-trial_102820
  • Resources
    • Content Library
      • Top Resources
      • Analyst Reports
      • Case Studies
      • Customer Videos
      • Datasheets
      • eBooks
      • Infographics
      • Solution Briefs
    • International Documents
      • Deutsch/German
      • Español/Spanish
      • Français/French
      • Italiano/Italian
      • 日本語/Japanese
    • Cisco Umbrella Blog
      • Latest Posts
      • Security Posts
      • Research Posts
      • Threats Posts
      • Product Posts
      • Spotlight
    • For Customers
      • Support
      • Customer Success Hub
      • Umbrella Deployment Hub
      • Customer Success Webinars
      • What’s New
      • Cisco Umbrella Studio
  • Trends & Threats
    • Market Trends
      • Rise of Remote Workers
      • Secure Internet Gateway (SIG)
      • Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
    • Security Threats
      • Ransomware
      • Cryptomining Malware Protection
      • Cybersecurity Threat Landscape
    •  
    • 2020 Cybersecurity trends
  • Partners
    • Channel Partners
      • Partner Program
      • Become a Partner
    • Service Providers
      • Secure Connectivity
      • Managed Security for MSSPs
      • Managed IT for MSPs
    •  
    • Become a partner
  • Free Trial Signup
  • Umbrella Login
  • Cloudlock Login
  • Contact Us
Security

How networking and cloud security solutions have evolved to connect and protect users everywhere

By Ken Howard
Posted on September 1, 2020
Updated on October 15, 2020

Share

Facebook0Tweet0LinkedIn0

No matter what market, industry, or regulatory challenges your organization has faced through the years, one thing is certain. Connecting and protecting your customers, employees, contractors, and partners wherever they work is always the goal, but the details are constantly evolving. That’s never been truer than in this remote, distributed, always-on world today.

The very networking and security landscape itself is shifting under our feet, evolving from a constellation of disparate point solutions to fully integrated, multifunction, cloud-delivered networking and security platforms. Organizations need to control and secure internet access, manage IT resources, and provide protection for roaming users while rationalizing IT infrastructure.

Limitations of traditional wide area network (WAN) technology have contributed to the forces driving network transformation: complexity, cost, performance speeds, and service disruptions. Organizations today need more control, flexibility, and centralized management of their WAN environments than multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) can offer.

Challenges with current WAN architectures include complexity, cost, delays, and disruptions.
Challenges with current WAN architectures include complexity, cost, delays, and disruptions.

Complexity, as an example, often makes network management and optimization a real migraine factory. Consider the task of configuring multiple routers connected to different circuits (as an example, an MPLS link and a broadband Internet link) to route network traffic.

Your broadband Internet connection may be running slowly during a given period, while your costly MPLS link is relatively uncongested and may be able to provide faster Internet connectivity. The inability to aggregate disparate links means wasted bandwidth capacity and lower employee satisfaction.

A software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solution can address these scenarios and provide other advanced routing capabilities to optimize your network traffic as needed.

Cisco SD-WAN is a secure, cloud-scale architecture that is open, programmable, and scalable. It quickly allows you to establish an SD-WAN overlay fabric to connect data centers, branches, campuses, and colocation facilities. This connection can improve network speed, security, and efficiency.

SD-WAN is a critical networking element in SASE solutions that can direct traffic for the protection of cloud, data center, and branch edge networks.

SD-WAN combines and optimizes traditional WAN technologies, such as MPLS and broadband Internet connections. The Cisco SD-WAN overlay fabric allows organizations to efficiently route network traffic to multiple remote branch locations, while providing enhanced monitoring and management capabilities. SD-WAN monitors network traffic across all available links in real-time and dynamically selects the best route for each data packet traversing the network.

The drive to improve network and application performance to the user has converged with the drive to secure the same user at the edge. A secure internet gateway (SIG) delivers a broad set of security from the cloud so organizations can protect users no matter where they are. It can easily scale to cover additional traffic and users more efficiently than previous technologies.

This convergence of networking and security functionality at the edge has led to an even more encompassing concept that Gartner has defined as secure access service edge (SASE). A SASE solution can secure the cloud, data center, and branch network edges and deliver a secure SD-WAN fabric across disparate connections.

Secure access service edge - SASE for dummies ebook cover Cisco Umbrella Blog

So, you’ve just finished reading this blog. Why stop now? If you’re lucky – you’ll read our new ebook before anyone else at your company, and you’ll gain a reputation as a networking and security expert who can talk about SASE with the best of them. Who doesn’t love to be a hero?

Ready to get started on the journey? Click here to download the ebook.

Previous Post:

Previous Article

Next Post:

Next Article

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Footer Sections

What we make

  • Cloud Security Service
  • DNS-Layer Network Security
  • Secure Web Gateway
  • Security Packages

Who we are

  • Cisco Umbrella Blog
  • Cloud Network Status
  • Cloud Network Activity
  • OpenDNS is now Cisco Umbrella

Learn more

  • Events
  • Careers
  • Support
  • Cisco Umbrella Live Demo
  • Contact Sales
Umbrella by Cisco
208.67.222.222+208.67.220.220
2620:119:35::35+2620:119:53::53
Sign up for a Free Trial
  • Cisco Online Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Sitemap

© 2021 Cisco Umbrella