Pulse Secure, the leading provider of software-defined Secure Access solutions, announced the integration of SDP (Software Defined Perimeter) architecture within its Secure Access platform and the inclusion of Pulse SDP as an add-on within its award-winning Access Suite. By offering a flexible path to SDP, the company extends its foundation of Zero Trust access for hybrid IT and provides enterprises and service providers unrivaled provisioning simplicity, security posture fortification and lower total cost of ownership.
According to a recent Enterprise Strategy Group survey:
- 66% of organizations expect that within two years, more than 30% of their cloud-resident data will be sensitive
- 53% of mobile knowledge workers wait at least a week before applying a security patch or update to the devices they use for work
- 45% of organizations that have repatriated a public cloud-based application(s)/workload(s) have deployed them on converged infrastructure
Ubiquitous access to applications and dynamic resource provisioning are the new normal, yielding an increase in advanced threats and massive data breaches. As enterprises embrace digital transformation and migrate their applications and infrastructure to multi-cloud, access requirements have become more stringent and complex to prevent attacks and data leakage. To reduce risk, organizations are applying a Zero Trust strategy of “verification before trust” by incorporating stronger user and device authentication, granular access control, and enhanced segmentation no matter where the application and resources reside.†
“Business leaders face a digital imperative to boost user productivity, while also mitigating the risk of data breaches that are growing in size and frequency,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO of Pulse Secure. “From our inception, Pulse Secure has focused on providing a pragmatic approach to Zero Trust Secure Access that balances user experience with compliance. By incorporating SDP architecture within our Access Suite, we can deliver the deployment flexibility, scale and investment protection sought by enterprises and service providers.”
Pulse Secure Access Suite provides remote, mobile, cloud, network and application security with comprehensive VPN, Mobile Device Management (MDM), Single Sign-on (SS0), endpoint and IoT device visibility, Network Access Control (NAC) and virtual Application Delivery Controller (ADC) capabilities. Pulse SDP complements this integrated solution set by offering direct device to application/resource secure connectivity only after successful user, device and security state verification including geolocation and behavior-based anomaly detection. As a result, organizations gain seamless accessibility while streamlining access provisioning, improving performance and reducing the visible attack surface. More so, organizations gain greater economies and a non-disruptive way to readily implement SDP functionality when, where and how they require.
“Despite industry suggestions about VPN replacement, SDP is not a panacea for all applications and hybrid IT infrastructure as enterprises migrate to the cloud. While deployments can offer comparatively simple, secure connectivity, SDP projects tend to be based on specific use cases and projects. VPN and SDP will likely co-exist for a while, so organizations need to keep an eye on joint usability, management, and costs,” said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “By offering an integrated secure access suite that supports VPN and SDP architectures for data center and cloud, Pulse Secure can provide strong value that can be compelling for customers and service providers.”
Pulse SDP augments the Access Suite and offers an array of features and business benefits including:
- Dual-mode VPN and SDP architecture; provides enterprises single pane of glass secure access management and operational visibility across public cloud, private cloud and datacenter.
- Extensive multi-factor authentication and authorization options; ensures users, their devices and the applications they access are continuously verified before and during the transaction.
- Uniform policy management; enables consistently provisioned secure connections that increase usability and security while reducing configuration errors, policy drift, and gateway sprawl.
- Granular, stateful access enforcement; aligns business and compliance requirements with on-demand, application-level access that supports anywhere access and preferred device.
- Enhanced user experience; offering users easy and seamless access options including web portal, application-activated, SSO and captive portal.
- Access responsiveness; separate data and control planes to ensure scalability with proprietary Optimal Gateway Selector technology to expedite application delivery.
- Deployment flexibility; freedom to move or extend implementation on-premise, through private and public cloud, and with their hosting provider or managed service provider of choice.
- Reduced total cost of ownership; unified Secure Access platform that works with a customer’s existing investment and access ecosystem to consolidate disparate remote and cloud access controls and avoid expensive administrative, licensing and management overhead.
Availability
Pulse SDP will be offered solely as a licensed component within Advanced and Enterprise Editions of the Pulse Access Suites in April 2019. Pulse SDP is comprised of an SDP Controller, SDP Client and SDP Gateway which are enabled within the Pulse Secure software, hardware, and cloud solutions. This approach allows SDP and perimeter-based VPN functionality to work in parallel and provides Zero Trust access security and essential operational flexibility for enterprises and service providers.†
With a simple software upgrade, customers can activate Pulse SDP using the latest Pulse Secure infrastructure. The Pulse Secure Access Suite, Advanced Edition with SDP option has an annual subscription MSRP of $66.00 USD per user for 1000 users. Other license and delivery options are available.†Between now and June 30, 2019, customers can upgrade or renew their existing Pulse Access Suite subscription to activate SDP functionality at no additional charge.
