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Global connectivity is top of mind for many IT teams at organizations of all sizes. We are currently in the middle of a dramatic shift in business and technology practice, as users are becoming more mobile while applications are being transitioned to the cloud. This shift will only accelerate as companies will look to leverage the speed and agility of cloud services with the operational, cost and quality advantages of a geographically distributed work force. While Covid-19 has contributed to the acceleration of this shift, the change was always inevitable once technology was ready. Legacy connectivity and security products have long been a barrier to progress.
Topics Covered
With uncanny timing, Gartner introduce the Secure Access Service Edge or SASE near the end of 2019, just before the Covid-19 virus started to gain global traction. SASE represents the shift away from castle & moat security with resources siloed into just a few corporate datacenters. After all, if organizations are consuming collaboration and productivity tools from the cloud, why not security and connectivity too?
While there is much buzz around SASE with security and networking vendors, and some debate over what products and services fit the SASE moniker, the intention is simple: leveraging economies of scale, organizations should purchase SASE as a cloud delivered service with global presence that brings security closer to the user. The user can be remote, mobile or in a corporate owned facility, regardless of physical location, the user’s access and security posture should remain consistent.
Figure 1: Cato PoP Map (click to enlarge)
At Cato Networks we built the first SASE solution, starting way back in 2015. We’ve grown to 70+ Point-of-Presence (PoPs) globally that fully converge networking and security into a single platform. With our experience we believe that a global private backbone is an essential component of a true SASE solution. If we consider that the goal is consistent access and security with reduced cost and complexity, we must recognize that the ability of a user to access resources applies not just to access controls and services, but also to the usability and reliability of that user’s access. Essentially –users must have predictable performance to be productive.
Reliability and predictability of connectivity isn’t a new concept or focus area for technical teams. Organizations have been using MPLS and other methods to achieve this for years. But MPLS is expensive, resulting in reliable, low bandwidth links to just a few places. Don’t forget that this approach completely neglected remote users who traditionally have had to VPN across the public Internet to reach datacenter security and resources.
Fast forwarding to today, most SASE vendors position their services as a way to reduce or eliminateMPLS, but completely ignore the unpredictability of the public Internet. Cato’s service was architected with this in mind, and we connected our PoPs with a global private backbone of multiple tier 1 providers. Our customer’s packets aren’t taking the cheapest possible route across tier 3 providers, instead taking the most efficient route to the destination. Combined with our WAN optimization capabilities, Cato ensures reliable, predictable performance for all users and locations.
This article explores the need for Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) in today’s organizations. We show how one of the most advanced SASE platforms available, combines VPN and SD-WAN capabilities with cloud-native security functions to quickly and securely connect On-premises data centers, cloud data centers, branch offices, and remote users.
Before we dive any further, let’s take a look at what’s covered:
IT and security managers are constantly concerned by the different entities which connect to their networks. Keeping track of who is connecting, using which edge device type, what they’re connecting to, and which permissions they should have can be a messy and dangerous business.
An enterprise’s network is composed of several types of edges. An edge can be any location or endpoint which needs to connect to any other resource or service available inside or outside the network. This includes the enterprise’s on-premises headquarters, branch offices, data centers, mobile users connecting remotely (e.g. their home), public cloud data centers (e.g. AWS and Azure), 3rd party SaaS applications (e.g. Office365 and Salesforce), and virtually any website across the WWW.
To enable connectivity and secure access for all edges, enterprises are forced to adopt different solutions to manage different edge types. For example VPN for remote users, on-prem Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) for the physical locations, cloud-based NGFW for cloud-based applications, Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) for SaaS and Secure Web Gateways (SWG) for web access. This large number of different products introduced unwanted complexity, inefficiency, and potential security loopholes to enterprises. But perhaps there is a better way to enable secure access to any service from any edge? In fact, there is, and it’s called, surprisingly enough, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).
Cloud-based SASE Traffic Analysis Dashboard - Credits: Catonetworks
SASE is a new architecture that converges networking and security into a holistic, unified cloud service. It is a concept defined by Gartner in late 2019 to simplify enterprise networking and security. At the heart of the SASE premise lays the understanding that network and security cannot be addressed separately, using different products and services. The inter-dependency between the two is fundamental, and their convergence is critical for addressing the needs of the modern digital enterprise.
To learn more about SASE and how it differs from SD-WAN read our article here.
Four main principles lay at the heart of the SASE architecture:
Without a doubt, Cisco certifications and specializations are among the most popular vendor certifications in the IT industry, and earning them doesn’t come easy. Anyone who’s achieved a Cisco certification would be well aware of the countless hours required to cover the necessary curriculum, practice labs, and prepare for their Cisco exam.
Many would agree that one of the biggest headaches after achieving a Cisco certification is renewing it. Renewing or maintaining a Cisco certification usually requires the candidate to sit for an equal-level exam or pushing forward and aiming for a higher-level exam. While this might not be a problem for many professionals, many find it a big struggle. A significant amount of professionals decide not to renew their certifications because of the time and commitment required or because they’ve decided to focus on other vendors.
In this article, you’ll discover how you can easily renew any Cisco certification or specialization without sitting for a single exam! We’ll explain the different recertification paths, show how to select a recertification path, submit a claim, track the recertification process, open a support ticket, and more!
Here’s what’s covered:
It is indeed possible to renew any Cisco certification without sitting for the dreaded exams, and it’s called the Cisco Continuing Education Program, and we’ll explain how it works.
The Cisco Continuing Education Program allows Cisco certified engineers to earn Continuing Education Credits (CE) that are then applied towards recertification. CEs can be earn via the following activities:
The amount of CE credits earned will depend on the type of activity and its duration. For example, you can earn 12 CE credits for a sitting through a 14-hour Cisco course delivered via the Cisco Digital Learning platform or earn a generous 40 to 65 credits for attending a 5-day Cisco Instructor-Led training course offered by authorized Cisco Learning Training Partners.
Once the training course or activity is complete, you submit a claim to earn the CE Credits. When you’ve gathered enough CE credits, you are automatically recertified.
The amount of Cisco Learning Credits required for your certification renewal depends on the level of recertification. For example, Associate level recertification, such as the CCNA, requires a minimum of 30 CE credits. In contrast, the Professional level (CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Data Center, etc.) requires 80 CE credits and CCIE level an impressive 120 Continuing Education credits.
The table below shows all available certification levels, duration, required Continuing Education credits, but also the ability to combine exams with Continuing Education credits to achieve recertification:
Work transformation is not 'one and done,'" says IDC's vice president, Holly Muscolino. Most enterprises understand that a hybrid workforce is the future, but they are finding the transformation difficult. To make it easy for the enterprises, IDC has come up with Branch of One - a concept that will last long beyond the pandemic.
To explain the concept to you, ManageEngine is conducting a webinar with IDC's Mark Leary. His insights on preparing your IT for the future will cover key aspects of Branch of One, such as devising robust connectivity, improved collaboration, enhanced security and ease of cloud migration in a hybrid work culture. Leary will also be revealing how technologies like SD WAN and Zero Trust will have a major impact on the future of IT.
Webinar highlights
The date to save : August 17, 2021
Keep yourselves free at : 11.00 AM EDT
Speaker from IDC : Mark Leary, Research Director for Network Analytics and visibility
Speaker from ManageEngine: Suresh Bagavathy, Senior Technical Evangelist, ITOM
Join our webinar to know more about Branch of One, and optimizing your IT!
Microsoft 365 is an incredibly powerful software suite for businesses, but it is becoming increasingly targeted by people trying to steal your data. The good news is that there are plenty of ways admins can fight back and safeguard their Microsoft 365 infrastructure against attack.
This free upcoming webinar, on June 23 and produced by Hornetsecurity/Altaro, features two enterprise security experts from the leading security consultancy Treusec - Security Team Leader Fabio Viggiani and Principal Cyber Security Advisor Hasain Alshakarti. They will explain the 5 most critical vulnerabilities in your M365 environment and what you can do to mitigate the risks they pose. To help attendees fully understand the situation, a series of live demonstrations will be performed to reveal the threats and their solutions covering:
This is truly an unmissable event for all Microsoft 365 admins!
The webinar will be presented live twice on June 23 to enable as many people as possible to join the event live and ask questions directly to the expert panel of presenters. It will be presented at 2pm CEST/8am EDT/5am PDT and 7pm CEST/1pm EDT/10am PDT.