Akamai Builds SASE Stature with Inverse Acquisition

The enterprise is getting quite SASE these days, embracing the convergence of networking and security functions. From a latency and security standpoint, the maturing approach is second-to-none, and as all paths lead to the cloud, it will be SASE or bust.

Akamai (News - Alert) Technologies announced an agreement to purchase Inverse. The intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences gains expanded enterprise security capabilities as well as SASE and zero trust solutions for IoT. The all-cash transaction is expected to close Q1.

"Enterprises already have thousands of 'things' connecting to their networks, and that number is only expected to grow, making securing the enterprise ever more difficult. Gaining context and visibility into the device landscape, with what the devices are communicating and their typical behavior is critical," said Dr. Robert Blumofe, executive vice president, platform and general manager, enterprise division, Akamai Technologies.

In Inverse, Akamai adds a deep data repository and world-class algorithms to both detect myriad devices and be able to predict their network behaviors. Malware starts with one rogue device.

Blumofe continued, "By combining the Inverse device fingerprint data repository with Akamai's own security data from the 1.3 billion device interactions that take place daily across the Akamai Intelligent Edge security platform, we believe we can create an industry leading solution to apply zero trust controls and enhanced security to the full landscape of devices and workforce."

In order to understand the network, the enterprise needs to understand what and who is on the network. Akamai is aiming to make that possible with this acquisition.

How SASE is your network?