Mauricio Sanchez

Senior Research Director

Enterprises realize that legacy networks and security architectures are inadequate and cannot provide the necessary security and performance in a user and application environment that has become highly distributed, interactive, and mobile across the Internet.

As a result, enterprises are thinking differently about networking and security. Instead of considering them as separate toolsets to be deployed once and infrequently changed, the problem and solution space is conceptualized along a continuum in the emerging view. The vendor community has responded with a service-centric, cloud-based technology solution that provides network connectivity and enforces security between users, devices, and applications.

SASE utilizes centrally-controlled, Internet-based networks with built-in advanced networking and security-processing capabilities. By addressing the shortcomings of past network and security architectures and improving recent solutions—in particular, SD-WAN and cloud-based network security—SASE aims to bring networking and security into a unified service offering.

While the networking technologies underpinning SASE are understood to be synonymous with well-known SD-WAN, the security facet of SASE consists of numerous security technologies, such as secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), and firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS). Recently, a new term, security services edge (SSE), emerged to describe this constellation of cloud-delivered network security services that is foundational in SASE.

To take advantage of the opportunities in this market, equipment vendors, service providers, and financial institutions need to answer critical business questions, including:

  • What technologies are SASE technologies replacing? Which ones does it compliment?
  • How fast are enterprises adopting SASE?
  • What are the motivations for service providers to offer SASE services, and will SASE cannibalize other offerings?
  • What is the value of SD-WAN networking versus SSE security in SASE?
  • Which of the SSE functions is growing the fastest?
  • Which traditional vendors are dipping their toes into SASE, and which are diving headlong?
  • How large is the SASE market, and what will be catalysts for and inhibitors to growth?
  • Which vendors lead the market, and why?
  • Is SASE a product or a framework? Which vendors are taking which approach?
  • Do SASE technologies replace or complement enterprise branch networking products such as access routers and firewalls?
  • How large is the Access Router market, and how quickly is SD-WAN cannibalizing?

To answer these and other important questions, Dell’Oro Group delivers both quarterly reports and 5-year forecasts on the SASE and SD-WAN markets.

SASE & SD-WAN Quarterly Reports

Dell’Oro Group publishes SASE and SD-WAN quarterly reports containing current, in-depth market-level and detailed market share information on the following product segments:

  • SASE (SD-WAN + SSE [Security Services Edge])
  • Access Router

We also track:

  • Total SSE market by function – SWG, CASB, ZTNA, and FWaaS
  • Total market by region—North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Asia Pacific, and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America). Additionally for Access Routers, Asia Pacific with and without China.
  • Vendor market share by region—North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Asia Pacific, and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America). Additionally for Access Routers, Asia Pacific with and without China.

SASE & SD-WAN 5-Year Forecasts

Dell’Oro Group publishes the SASE and SD-WAN 5-year forecasts offering a complete industry overview with tables covering the same segments and metrics captured in our quarterly reports. In addition, the forecasts provide a comprehensive overview of market trends by including historical data as far back as 1995 and include tables covering revenue, port/unit shipment, and average selling prices forecasts for access routers.