Report:

Magic Quadrant for Single-Vendor SASE

Top Vendor Products for Single-Vendor SASE in 2024

• Cato Networks
• Netskope
• Palo Alto Networks

Single-Vendor SASE Vendor Product Comparisons 2024

• Cato Networks - Leader
  

  Pros:

  • The vendor provides a single, straightforward UI that is delivered via a unified platform.
  • Cato was an early pioneer that helped drive the market, and its planned innovations are likely to continue to shape the market.
  • The vendor delivers above-average customer experience compared to other vendors in this research.

  Cons:

  • Gartner clients report frustration with the vendor's pricing model, as sales proposals can be high and/or difficult to understand. Costs are related to site bandwidth, which can lead to large increases when site bandwidth upgrades are required.
  • The vendor's geographic strategy lags competitors, due to limited localization of documentation and technical support, and its sovereign processing approach.
  • Some of Cato's security capabilities are limited, including SaaS control and visibility, and on-premises firewalling.


• Netskope - Leader
  

  Pros:

  • The vendor has strong customer experience as expressed by Gartner clients during inquiries.
  • Netskope has a strong geographic strategy compared to other vendors based on its geographic coverage, localization, regional certifications and sovereign processing approach.
  • The vendor has strong feature breadth and depth for both networking and security.

  Cons:

  • Administrators must use multiple consoles to access the full functionality of the platform.
  • Netskope was late to enter the market with a generally available (GA) product, and thus lacks experience compared to some other vendors assessed.
  • There is limited financial information available about the vendor, which creates uncertainty over its long-term viability.


• Palo Alto Networks - Leader
  

  Pros:

  • The vendor has strong security and networking features, delivered via a unified platform.
  • The vendor has a proven track record in this market, and a sizable installed base of customers.
  • The vendor has strong financial viability and customer awareness, which should help it grow in the market.

  Cons:

  • Based on customer feedback and Gartner's analysis, Palo Alto's offering is expensive compared with most of the other vendors in this research.
  • The vendor has limited support for non-English UIs, documentation, and technical support compared to most vendors in this research.
  • The vendor's new Strata Cloud Manager is less intuitive than its previous user interface.


• Fortinet - Challenger
  

  Pros:

  • Fortinet provides excellent value in terms of features versus cost, and its BOMs are the simplest of any vendor in this research.
  • Fortinet has a solid product roadmap that is aligned with the emerging requirements of customers.
  • Fortinet provides strong SD-WAN and firewall functionality.

  Cons:

  • POP selection can create confusion and/or lead to suboptimal investment because Fortinet has two types (Fortinet-owned or Google-based) that are not interchangeable, have different price points and different geographic footprints.
  • The vendor's planned innovations are unlikely to disrupt the market and reshape customer expectations.
  • Fortinet's customer experience lags most competitors in this research.


• Versa Networks - Challenger
  

  Pros:

  • Versa has strong feature depth across networking and most security.
  • VSAF is a unified SASE platform with a single management console.
  • The vendor offers strong price/feature value for customers.

  Cons:

  • The quality of the vendor's technical product documentation is poor.
  • Gartner assesses that Versa's planned product enhancements lag competitors in terms of mainstream enterprise customer value, and is more aligned with service providers and very large global enterprises.
  • Versa's marketing lags its competitors, which can impact its ability to attract new customers and grow in the market.


• Cisco - Visionary
  

  Pros:

  • The Meraki dashboard is straightforward and intuitive to use, and familiar to existing Meraki customers.
  • Cisco has a solid product roadmap for Secure Connect that is aligned with emerging customer requirements.
  • Cisco has robust channels to market and a large existing installed base of customers, which helps it serve a range of customers on a global basis.

  Cons:

  • At the time of evaluation, Cisco Secure Connect had product limitations compared to other offerings, most notably in the ability to secure private applications, secure SaaS, and enable adaptive access.
  • For many customers, Cisco leads with other offerings besides Secure Connect. This can confuse customers and/or drive suboptimal investments.
  • The vendor's footprint of points of presence (POPs) for Secure Connect lags most competitors in this research.


• Cloudflare - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Cloudflare has the most robust geographic distribution of POPs of any vendor in this research, which helps to address current and future customer needs on a global basis.
  • Cloudflare has a simple and intuitive UI underpinned by a single unified platform.
  • Cloudflare has strong experience with smaller customers, including SMBs and midsize enterprises.

  Cons:

  • Cloudflare's local SD-WAN and firewall capabilities within a branch are very limited compared to other vendors in the research.
  • Cloudflare was late to enter the market with its branch appliance, and consequently has less experience in full SASE implementations than others in this research.
  • The vendor's enterprise SASE pricing is much higher than other vendors assessed in this research.


• Forcepoint - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • Forcepoint ONE offers strong security functionality.
  • Forcepoint's roadmap is well-aligned with customers who prioritize data security.
  • Forcepoint offers flexibility to deliver security either on-premises or cloud-delivered.

  Cons:

  • The vendor's customer experience lags other vendors in this research.
  • The vendor has low customer adoption and limited visibility among Gartner clients, which could hinder its ability to grow in the market.
  • Forcepoint's sales and marketing strategies lag most competitors in this research, which could limit its ability to grow in the market.


• HPE - Niche Player
  

  Pros:

  • The vendor has strong SD-WAN and ZTNA capabilities.
  • The vendor has planned innovations that could drive the market, including extending SASE to address customers' campus and NAC needs.
  • The vendor delivers a good customer experience, compared to other vendors in this research.

  Cons:

  • The vendors' security functionality — including SaaS control/visibility, data security, threat protection and web proxy — lag most vendors in this research.
  • Because HPE was late to enter the market, it lacks experience and is behind in terms of POP coverage and security features.
  • HPE's geographic strategy lags other vendors in this research based on limitations in localization, regional certifications and sovereign processing approach.

Reference

• Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Single-Vendor SASE, 03-Jul-2024, ID G00800940

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