Aryaka is building out its SD-WAN security capabilities with Passport, a new platform and partnerships with Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler and Radware.

Passport combines additional security from partners with Aryaka 's built-in DDoS protection and IPsec encryption in its cloud-native global private network that ensures business-critical application traffic is sent through "dedicated, not shared, layer 2 links with enterprise-grade end-to-end encryption," according to the announcement. (See SD-WAN Supplier Aryaka Unveils PASSPORT.)

"You have a contained, compartmentalized environment that is significantly more secure than Internet-based communications," says Gary Sevounts, CMO of Aryaka, in an interview with Light Reading. "That's really the foundation of our Passport security model and what makes the biggest difference and why we have over 800 global enterprise customers now."

Aryaka's Early Warning Global Visibility Portal, included in Passport, also provides enterprises with monitoring capabilities, visibility into user traffic across locations, and transparency into user IPs to identify potential DDoS attacks, zero-day attacks and malware.

In addition to the built-in, integrated layers of security, the new Passport security platform provides global enterprises with the option to add virtual firewall protection for cloud services, additional cloud security and additional network edge protection for customers' branch offices, headquarters and data centers. Enterprises can select add-on security features in Passport such as:

Sevounts says the SD-WAN company built the Passport platform to provide enterprise customers with up to six layers of security so in the event that one layer is compromised, enterprises can still maintain network security. Sevounts spent 16 years in the cybersecurity sector prior to his current position at Aryaka.

"Security has become about multi-layers," says Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst for ZK Research, in an interview with Light Reading. "Even if you're building your own and you're using one of the other SD-WAN vendors, it's not just about securing the transport or the cloud service, you need to think about every layer, even on your private network."

Kerravala explains that Aryaka, like most SD-WAN vendors, doesn't have roots in the security sector, which is why many SD-WAN suppliers have opted to partner with security vendors. Zscaler has been a popular partner among SD-WAN vendors, he adds, as it makes securing cloud services very easy.

"You just attach to the Zscaler network and they have private connections into all those cloud providers and it offers really good security," says Kerravala.

Aryaka's approach to security for its SD-WAN service is unique in the market because the security platform is delivered over a private network, versus an overlay SD-WAN service, continues Kerravala. In addition, he says Aryaka's take on security is "a very well-rounded, multi-layer security approach."

While Kerravala says this new security platform is fairly complete, if Aryaka wanted to build it out further Fortinet could make a strong partnership, as would Extreme Networks, which could provide "more granular network segmentation," he adds.

Aryaka ranks second after VeloCloud in worldwide SD-WAN revenue, according to IHS Markit's Q4 2017 SD-WAN report. Aryaka's revenue reached $24.4 million in the fourth quarter and garnered 17% share of 4Q17 SD-WAN revenue. Overall, SD-WAN revenue hit $444 million in 2017, and $147 million in Q4 alone.

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— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading