As many teams across the world are doing, the York IE crew has been working from home for the last few weeks. This trend, which was already increasing before the Covid-19 pandemic, has pushed certain technologies to the forefront (ex. Zoom). One that we touched on last week with Palo Alto Network’s acquisition of CloudGenix, is software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN). This week another major transaction occurred in the sector with Cato Networks securing $77 million from the likes of Lightspeed Venture Partners, Aspect Ventures, Greylock Partners, Singtel Innov8, U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), and Shlomo Kramer.
As noted by Yishay Yovel, Chief Marketing Officer, “Cato Networks stands out in the crowded SD-WAN space because of its unique approach to the market that combines security, mobility, and SD-WAN via its all-in-one, secure access service edge (SASE) platform.” This platform is helping customers centralize the management and security of their network(s) and access points, resulting in a more secure, and scalable, way for remote workers to connect to the network. Cato does this by sitting between physical branch offices, cloud services, data centers, and employees, and then routing all traffic through the centralized hub. This allows companies to easily add access points and enforce security policies without requiring additional appliance and/or hardware deployments.
While Cato Networks and CloudGenix have been traditionally labeled as SD-WAN vendors, they are now both playing in the emerging space of secure access service edge (SASE). “The category refers to companies offering products that address the security of a company’s network, as well as its endpoints through a single, unified system.” With these recent transactions, and reports that Cato Networks is coming off 220% increase in bookings in FY19, it is probably safe to say this category is here to stay.
