In this SASE roundup: Comcast Business brought in a new SD-WAN customer while Versa Networks was busy expanding its presence in Latin America. Netskope also launched a new SASE service for remote workers.

Comcast Business launches SD-WAN for DTG Recycle

Comcast Business is deploying SD-WAN for customer DTG Recycle (DTG) on Comcast's ActiveCore SDN Platform.

DTG has grown from 12 to 1,000 employees, expanding its service area across the Great Pacific Northwest. The company is an independent, vertically integrated non-MSW recycling business and was recently acquired by a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management for an undisclosed amount.

"MAM-managed funds have invested over $4.5 billion in the waste industry in the Americas since 2007," according to a recent announcement.

DTG plans to use Comcast's SD-WAN service to gain more network visibility and utilize unified threat management tools. The SD-WAN service will also support DTG's cloud-based operations, including digital documentation and electronically processed payments.

Figure 1: A Comcast Business gateway.
(Source: Comcast)

Comcast Business said it could also assist DTG in onboarding new acquisitions of other recycling businesses.

"It is essential that businesses looking to grow their operations have in place technology solutions that can simplify IT resource management so that leaders can be better focused on innovating and ensuring their businesses remain agile," said Rob Brenner, vice president of Comcast Business for Comcast’s Pacific Northwest Region, in a statement.

Comcast Business announced last month an expansion of its SD-WAN platform with services geared toward small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). Comcast will include several managed services within the SD-WAN platform for SMBs, including intelligent traffic steering, direct connections to cloud services and support from Comcast's Security Operations Center (SOC).

Versa Networks grows LatAm presence

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) supplier Versa Networks is spreading farther into the Latin American region by choosing Calculus as its distributor in Mexico and other areas in the region.

Versa said Calculus would provide sales support and services in assisting Versa with growing its customer base.

"Versa has made the move with Calculus to drive business in the LatAm region through an established and experienced distribution partner that is fully self-sufficient in managing the entire Versa SASE business lifecycle for partners – from initial engagement, delivery of professional services to product deployment and 24x7 technical support – in local languages," said Martin Mackay, CRO for Versa, in a statement.

He added that Calculus' engineering and professional services expertise would also be an asset.

Versa Networks brought in $120 million in a new pre-IPO round of funding led by BlackRock last October.

According to Gartner, top SASE vendors include Cato Networks, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Versa Networks, VMware and Zscaler.

Netskope launches software-based SASE service

SASE vendor Netskope launched Netskope Endpoint SD-WAN earlier this week, which it claims is the industry's first software-based unified SASE client.

SASE converges networking and security within one platform; Gartner first coined the term in 2019.

Netskope said its new SD-WAN service would provide users the same application and security experience regardless of location or device. The company said key features include AI-driven operations, dynamic path selection, traffic remediation and several secure features such as CASB and ZTNA.

"Netskope Endpoint SD-WAN is delivered right to user endpoints, replacing legacy VPN with all of the benefits of SD-WAN and without requiring any hardware appliance," said Mike Hogenauer, director, network, at fintech company FIS Global, in a statement. "Endpoint SD-WAN helps us provide our customers with consistent visibility, security, and network optimization anywhere their users and devices are."

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— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading