A cloud-native architecture converging SD-WAN networking with cloud-delivered security functions — secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, zero-trust network access, firewall-as-a-service — applying consistent security policy to traffic regardless of user or device location.

Key Points

Converges networking (SD-WAN) and security functions into a single cloud-delivered service, rather than treating network connectivity and security enforcement as separately managed, separately architected capabilities
Enforces security policy at the point closest to the user or device, regardless of location, rather than requiring traffic to route back through a centralized on-premises security stack before reaching its destination
Applies zero-trust network access principles as a core component, verifying identity and context for every connection rather than granting broad access based on network location alone
Increasingly positioned as the successor to traditional remote-access VPN architecture, since a VPN concentrator model routing all remote traffic through a central point doesn't scale as well to a distributed, cloud-and-edge-centric traffic pattern as a cloud-native SASE architecture does
Delivered as a service from distributed cloud points of presence rather than deployed as on-premises hardware, letting policy enforcement scale and relocate closer to users as needed without physical infrastructure changes

Concept

Rather than routing remote user and branch traffic back through a centralized on-premises security stack before it can reach the internet or cloud applications, a SASE architecture enforces security policy at distributed cloud points of presence close to wherever the user or device actually is, converging what were previously separate networking and security functions into a single service delivered consistently regardless of location.

Explainer

The architectural shift SASE represents is a direct response to how traffic patterns have changed — when most traffic flowed to and from a centralized data center, routing it through a centralized on-premises security stack made sense, but as more traffic goes directly to cloud applications and users work from distributed and remote locations, backhauling that traffic through a central point purely for security inspection adds latency and cost without a corresponding benefit, which is exactly the inefficiency SASE's distributed, cloud-native enforcement model eliminates. This is precisely why SASE is increasingly discussed as displacing traditional VPN-based remote access architecture specifically: a VPN concentrator model that routes all remote traffic through one central point faces the same centralization inefficiency at the access layer that SASE's distributed enforcement model was designed to solve more broadly. For CE verticals, SASE is most relevant to organizations with distributed field operations, remote sites, and mobile personnel — mining, energy, and government and defense operations with users and traffic spread across many locations benefit from SASE's location-independent, consistently enforced security policy more than a traditionally centralized, single-headquarters organization would.

Cite this entry

SASE. ConnectedEarth Knowledge Base. https://connectedearth.space/knowledge-base/sase/ (updated 13 September 2026).