Riverbed Technology today announced a joint solution with Zscaler, a leader in cloud security, to enable organizations to securely transform to the cloud. The seamless integration of Riverbed’s cloud networking and software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) solution, SteelConnect, with the Zscaler™ cloud security platform, enables enterprises to accelerate the adoption of cloud and incorporate Internet broadband-based transport in branch and remote office business locations without compromising network security. This unified solution provides a powerful combination that delivers greater business agility, better user experience and lower costs – all while ensuring advanced protection for networks and end-users.
Enterprises are rapidly moving to the cloud to capitalize on the benefits of digital transformation. However, legacy network infrastructure and security approaches are becoming increasingly irrelevant in a cloud and mobile-first world. In addition, legacy hardware approaches are complex, labor intensive to manage, and difficult to maintain, while security approaches that backhaul all Internet-bound traffic into data centers compromise performance and end-user experience. To address these challenges, businesses are transitioning from legacy hardware to a new software-defined and cloud-centric networking approach in order to achieve greater IT agility, a faster pace of innovation and lower costs, as businesses increasingly succeed or fail based on their IT outcomes.
Riverbed SteelConnect SD-WAN and Zscaler cloud security together enable businesses to securely connect the right user to the right application on any device, from any location. Riverbed and Zscaler have integrated Zscaler into the application-defined policy and orchestration engine via the SteelConnect graphical user interface (GUI), streamlining the approach for identifying and steering traffic to the Zscaler Security Cloud. The solution dynamically chooses the optimal Zscaler Data Center, with more than 100 worldwide, to use for each site in the SteelConnect network, providing enterprises with simplicity and power for expanding their use of cloud-based services and Internet Broadband across their hybrid WAN.
“Enterprises are in the midst of a major transition from legacy, hardware-based approaches to software-defined networking in order to keep pace with changing business needs in today’s cloud-first world. However, as today’s hybrid IT landscape becomes more distributed, managing and securing enterprise networks have introduced new challenges,” said Jerry M. Kennelly, Chairman and CEO of Riverbed Technology. “With native, seamless integration of Zscaler security with Riverbed SteelConnect, businesses can now leverage the simplicity of policy-based network orchestration with the power and reach of cloud-based security across remote business locations.”
“The rise of cloud and mobile technologies has challenged enterprises to evolve perimeter-centric networking and security approaches that no longer serve them,” said Jay Chaudhry, CEO and founder of Zscaler. “The seamless integration of Zscaler’s cloud security platform with Riverbed’s SD-WAN solution lets companies securely adopt a cloud-first strategy, simplifying branch operations while achieving unrivaled performance, agility, and control.”
Key benefits of the SteelConnect SD-WAN and Zscaler Cloud Security joint solution:
• Enables simplified branch operations and improved business agility with centralized, cloud-based management of network and security functions. With a few clicks, businesses can now seamlessly deploy SD-WAN capabilities in the cloud, along with cloud security, enabling new sites to be brought online in minutes or hours, not days or weeks, eliminating the need to buy, deploy, and manage security appliances in all branch office locations.
• Delivers fast connectivity to apps and data, regardless of network type or user location, by enabling local Internet breakouts. Zscaler provides seamless protection with the largest cloud security platform peered with the leading cloud providers. SteelConnect is the only SD-WAN solution that provides unified connectivity and orchestration spanning WAN, W/LAN, cloud and data centers, offering enterprises the ability to scale elastically to enable rapid deployment of configuration changes, updates or policy modifications without impacting performance or requiring appliance refreshes.
• Ensures universal protection of users regardless of how they connect to the network by enforcing advanced threat prevention, data protection and access controls without compromising performance. SteelConnect SD-WAN and Zscaler Cloud Security work seamlessly together; web and cloud traffic is routed to the optimal Zscaler Data Center based on application and user-defined policies, to ensure nothing bad comes in and nothing good leaks out.
“Access from the branch to the cloud is important for enterprises with the rising use of SaaS applications, and SD-WAN solutions like Riverbed SteelConnect provide a holistic solution. But direct internet connections raise security concerns,” said Dan Conde, Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Integrating a cloud access security broker like Zscaler with tight SD-WAN integration is a way to create a single enterprise-wide view of the network – from cloud to the branch office. The tight integration and common administration of Zscaler with Riverbed SteelConnect provides a distinctive advantage, offering simplicity and ease of operation.”
Initially launched in April 2016, Riverbed SteelConnect is the industry’s first and only SD-WAN solution that unifies deployment and orchestration of hybrid WANs, branch networks, and cloud environments, including one-click connectivity and optimization into AWS and Microsoft Azure. SteelConnect also enables zero-touch provisioning, allowing an enterprise to set-up a global network and connect to the cloud in minutes, and easy ongoing network management that provides the ability to make network or business/application policy changes with a few clicks of a mouse.
Since the initial launch of SteelConnect, Riverbed has added numerous new features including integration with SteelCentral for visibility and insights, integration with the market-leading WAN Optimization solution (Riverbed SteelHead SD), dynamic routing, and following the strategic acquisition of Xirrus (leading cloud-based Wi-Fi company) in May 2017, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi – bringing the power of policy-based network management out to the wireless edge. Riverbed SteelConnect continues to gain market momentum, and today Riverbed has hundreds of SD-WAN customers across all industries. This year, Riverbed announced strategic partnerships with service providers Orange Business Services and Optus Business, who are leveraging SteelConnect to deliver an SD-WAN managed service to their customers.
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