Fortinet acquired Opaq Networks, a secure access service edge (SASE) startup, in a deal that adds cloud-delivered zero trust network access to its SASE platform.
The companies did not disclose the price, but Opaq (pronounced “opaque”) raised $43.5 million in two funding rounds since its 2017 launch.
SASE, a Gartner-coined term, combines SD-WAN and security capabilities into a cloud-managed platform, and it’s best delivered by a single vendor. While a SASE platform may provide additional security tools, Gartner identifies some core SASE components on the security side. These include secure web gateway, cloud access security broker (CASB), zero-trust network access, and firewall-as-a-service, all with the ability to encrypt and decrypt content at line speed and at scale while continually monitoring sessions for risk.
Opaq’s Zero Trust
Fortinet already had zero trust network access, but its technology was delivered via an appliance or a virtual machine. But “some of our customers asked for a cloud approach,” said John Maddison, EVP of products and CMO at Fortinet. Acquiring Opaq “extended our SASE and zero trust portfolio from a different consumption model,” he added. “It really means now we can put the security anywhere the customer wants. And of course, we’re pretty well known for our enterprise-class security.”
In fact, according to a new Analysys Mason report, Fortinet is the no. 3 network security vendor by revenue (Palo Alto Networks ranks no. 1 and Cisco ranks no. 2). However, Fortinet’s revenue growth in the second half of 2019 and first quarter of 2020 actually outpaced Palo Alto Networks in large part because of its combined firewall and SD-WAN products, according to the analyst group.
Opaq’s cloud-delivered zero trust network access supports enterprises’ distributed networks across data centers, to branch offices, to remote users, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. When combined with Fortinet’s Security Fabric, the newly acquired technology boosts Fortinet’s SASE platform, which already includes firewall and SD-WAN, web security, sandboxing, endpoint security, identity and multi-factor authentication, multi-cloud workload protection, CASB, browser isolation, and web application firewall capabilities.
Much-Hyped Market
“We have the most complete SASE framework offering out there, by far,” Maddison said. “What we were kind of missing was a bit of the alternative consumption models across some of those things. And so that’s what we’ve added, and now we have absolutely the complete offering. No one even gets close.”
Indeed, it’s a crowded and much-hyped market with traditional SD-WAN vendors like Cato Networks and security vendors including Palo Alto Networks jumping on the SASE train. More recently enterprise IT infrastructure giants like Cisco, VMware, and Juniper Networks rolled out their own SASE products and strategies.
“That’s probably the number one question I get from customers: what’s your SASE strategy?” However, Maddison maintains his company is the only one with the full SASE stack.
“It’s impossible for a company like a Cato to build all these things out,” Maddison said. “It’s just incredibly hard for a small company. Then there’s the bigger vendors out there like a Cisco who bought a bunch of stuff and now they’ve got the wrench out and they’re trying to bolt the pieces together. You’ve got Zscaler, who doesn’t have all the pieces like the the SD-WAN piece, and these are fundamental building blocks of SASE. Palo Alto couldn’t build it, so they went and bought CloudGenix. So people are buying the components, but we are the only company that has the full SASE portfolio. And we’re the only company to allow you to have different consumption models: hardware, virtual machine, or cloud.”
SASE or Security-Driven Networking?
Maddison said Fortinet’s been doing SASE before Gartner coined the buzzy phrase. “That’s something we term security-driven networking,” he explained. “We were doing it by saying let’s take an appliance and put our own specialized ASICs inside there, and then we can run both the networking stack and security stack in one.”
The Gartner definition, however, says SASE must be cloud-delivered — and Fortinet takes issue with this, too. “We’re saying now you can do it by appliance, or you can do it by the cloud, or even better, what about doing both cloud and appliance together? That gives you the best of both worlds.”
Fortinet also disagrees with Gartner’s WiFi hotspot protection as an optional SASE capability. “You should have full-blown, secure access from WiFi and switching, so why just do hotspots? The LAN edge is just as important as the WAN edge,” he said.
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July 22, 2020 at 05:12AM
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Fortinet Buys Opaq, Claims First Complete SASE Stack - SDxCentral
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