In a landmark announcement that could redefine the boundaries of cloud computing and network security, Cato Networks has unveiled a major breakthrough in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology. At an event held at the Porsche Studio Ginza in Tokyo, ahead of the 2024 Tokyo E-Prix, the company declared it had doubled its SASE throughput to an unprecedented 10 Gbps, all without necessitating any hardware upgrades. This development not only pushes the envelope for SASE capabilities but also highlights the growing importance of cloud-native architectures in meeting the modern enterprise’s networking demands.

SASE, a term first coined by Gartner in 2019, has since evolved into a critical framework for enterprises navigating the complexities of digital transformation. It converges network security functions with wide area networking (WAN) capabilities to deliver secure, cloud-native networking. This technology is particularly crucial for organizations leveraging cloud computing, requiring high throughput for data-intensive applications like cloud storage, disaster recovery, and hybrid cloud operations.

Cato Networks, under the leadership of CEO and co-founder Shlomo Kramer, has positioned itself at the forefront of this evolution. The company’s breakneck advancement to 10 Gbps throughput is not just a technical milestone; it’s a game-changer for enterprises reliant on high-capacity connections for their operations. Kramer’s announcement of the achievement in Tokyo underscores the synergy between the high-speed, data-driven world of Formula E racing and the equally fast-paced and data-intensive environment of modern global enterprises.

The implications of Cato’s breakthrough are significant. For businesses, the enhanced throughput means the potential to replace traditional data center firewalls with a cloud-native SASE platform, eliminating the need for costly hardware and reducing complexity. The architecture of Cato’s SASE Cloud also allows for compute-intensive operations such as packet encryption/decryption and security inspection to be performed more efficiently, thereby not only increasing speed but also enhancing security.

Comparatively, current SASE solutions, whether implemented as virtual machines in the cloud or based on appliance models, have not achieved such levels of throughput, according to Cato. These models often cap out at speeds under 3 Gbps for a single encrypted tunnel, necessitating the division of traffic across multiple tunnels and introducing additional layers of complexity and risk.

The significance of this technological leap was echoed in the setting chosen for the announcement. The Tokyo E-Prix, part of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, represents the pinnacle of electric vehicle racing, where performance and data analytics play critical roles in team strategies. The event paints a vivid picture of a world where speed, whether on the race track or in data transmission, is of the essence. For the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, Cato’s SASE Cloud ensures reliable, secure, and high-speed data transmission, a necessity in the highly competitive and data-driven environment of Formula E racing.

Moreover, Cato Networks’ strong presence in Japan, with Points of Presence (PoPs) in Tokyo, Osaka, and soon Sapporo, highlights its commitment to providing resilient and high-performing network services globally. The architecture ensures users can failover seamlessly between PoPs in the event of an outage, testify to the reliability and trustworthiness of Cato’s SASE Cloud.

Cato Networks’ announcement not only underscores the importance of cloud-native platforms in achieving unprecedented networking speeds but also signals a significant shift in how enterprises will approach network security moving forward. As businesses continue to evolve and adapt to the digital age, partnerships and innovations such as those demonstrated by Cato Networks at the Porsche Studio Ginza in Tokyo will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of enterprise networking and security.