Cato Networks Launches First Cloud-based, Secure SD-WAN Service

Cato Cloud Drives WAN Transformation by Converging Networking and Security into the Cloud

TEL AVIV, Israel, January 31, 2017 – Cato Networks, provider of network and security as a service solutions, today announced the launch of its cloud-based, secure SD-WAN service. The Cato Cloud converges networking with security to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of existing networks. It extends the WAN with policy-based routing, an SLA-backed global backbone, enterprise-grade network security as well as cloud and mobile support. Enterprises can now reduce their reliance on expensive MPLS services and distributed network security appliances to securely connect branch offices, cloud and physical data centers, and the mobile workforce.

“The role of the wide area network (WAN) is now expanding to incorporate a new set of requirements including connectivity to a growing number of mobile workers and public cloud providers,” said Jim Metzler, Ashton, Metzler and Associates. “These requirements expand the enterprise attack surface, which drives the need to better integrate the network security stack into the WAN infrastructure.”

“Current enterprise networks are built upon 25 years old networking and security technologies. This aging architecture is incompatible with the cloud-centric and mobile-first modern enterprise,” said Shlomo Kramer, Co-founder and CEO of Cato Networks. “Over the next 10 years organizations of all sizes will need to re-architect their WANs to provide secure networking capabilities across the business, anytime and anywhere. This challenge requires a new architecture, not merely point solutions like existing SD-WAN products. Cato Cloud is the blueprint for transforming the enterprise WAN for the business of the future.”

The Cato Cloud provides multiple benefits to maximize the business impact of WAN transformation.

Optimizes ‘Last Mile’ quality, availability and resiliency

The zero-touch Cato Socket drives multiple last-mile links (MPLS, Broadband, 4G/LTE) in active/active fashion and applies packet loss elimination techniques such as Forward Error Correction (FEC). Policy Based Routing, managed through the cloud, enables customers to prioritize traffic by application type and link quality, and dynamically allocate the most appropriate link to an application.  

“Our business is distributed globally across Europe, Middle East and Asia and we were looking to simplify and improve our network and security infrastructure, reduce the cost of MPLS and be more flexible and fast in adding temporary project locations to our WAN,” said Willem-Jan Herckenrath, Manager ICT from Alewijnse, an electrical engineering company. “We considered multiple providers to address these needs, but Cato enabled us to meet all of them with a single platform. In the first phase we connected three of our offices in the Netherlands, Romania, Vietnam with our datacenter. We successfully replaced our MPLS last-mile links with internet links while maintaining the quality of our high definition video conferencing system and our Citrix platform for 2D and 3D CAD across the company. We are in the process of adding 10 additional locations and setting up new sites is easy and simple. To achieve the full value of the converged solution, we will gradually migrate our firewalls to Cato and deploy Cato Clients to secure our laptops and mobile devices.”

Eliminates or augments MPLS to reduce costs, and deliver affordable SLA-backed latency

Unlike public Internet connections, the Cato Cloud provides an SLA-backed guarantee for network latency, based on a global backbone of multi-tenant Points of Presence (PoPs) interconnected via tier one carriers. The PoP software handles long-haul routing, multipath selection and packet loss elimination without relying on routers or other third-party appliances.  

“We are a highly distributed business with offices in several Latin American countries backhauling traffic to a datacenter in the US. After a recent acquisition we had to migrate off our current MPLS network in a short order, reduce network connectivity costs and provide secure, direct internet access at all locations,” said Yoni Cohen, VP of Technology at CB Alliance, a business information company with activities in 44 countries. ”We have migrated all of our sites to internet-based last mile links and used Cato to connect them into a global, affordable and secure network without backhauling or deploying network security appliances. As we migrate our physical datacenter to Amazon AWS, Cato enables us to have both datacenters securely accessible from the corporate network, for a simple and graceful transition.”

Embeds security directly into the WAN itself

Cato eliminates the need for additional firewalls, web filters, VPNs and other bolt-on security products required by traditional SD-WAN deployments. By embedding security into the network fabric, Cato enables direct, secure Internet access from branch locations without the need for backhauling or distributed security appliances, while enforcing security policies across all network traffic.

“To support our fast growth, Blender’s infrastructure is cloud-based,” says Boaz Aviv, CTO, Blender, a global online lending platform. “We enforce multiple layers of protection on our servers. One of the layers we use to minimize the risk of account takeover and unauthorized access is Cato, we have configured our applications to accept traffic only from the Cato Cloud. Only devices authenticated by Cato and using their client can connect to our infrastructure. IP protection is another layer of protection to guard our organization from stolen passwords and account takeover.”

Seamlessly extends the WAN to cloud-based datacenters and mobile users

Cato extends the WAN beyond datacenters and branches to cloud infrastructure and mobile users for full visibility and control. A single security stack enforces corporate policies on users and data everywhere without the need for point solutions.

“Our employees rely heavily on globally distributed Amazon AWS datacenters,” said Hai Zamir VP Infrastructure, SpotAd, a mobile advertising technology company. “Cato enabled us to securely connect all of our cloud data centers into one global network, so we can now optimize inter-datacenter connectivity, simplify mobile access, and boost productivity. Cato’s cloud-based management application provides complete visibility and control overall all traffic from our branch locations, cloud infrastructure and all users.”

“We have been using Cato for the past six months to successfully eliminate our branch firewalls and are currently in the process of converting MPLS-connected sites to Cato as contracts expire,” said Leslie Cothren, IT Director, Universal Mental Health Services. “We recently migrated 100 mobile users from our datacenter firewall/VPN to Cato. We can now provide optimized connectivity to our datacenter resources, and secure access to internet sites and cloud services.”

An All-New Solution to an Age-Old Problem

“The Cato Cloud was architected from the ground up to converge security and networking into the cloud. The benefits of this include reducing a customer’s dependency on rigid, costly networks and appliance-based architectures,” said Gur Shatz, CTO and Co-Founder, Cato Networks. “Cato’s architecture breaks the bond between a customer location and a specific appliance regardless if it placed on premise or hosted, or packaged as a physical or virtual box. With Cato, the notion of an appliance that needs to be managed, deployed, sized and kept available is gone. Cato makes networking and security available everywhere and maintenance free for all of our customers’ locations, people and data.”

Those interested in learning more about Cato’s market-first integrated SD-WAN solution can find more information here.