Versa Networks innovator of the Secure Cloud IP platform announced that NSS Labs, Inc., a leader and source for independent, fact-based Cybersecurity and SD-WAN guidance, received the Recommended rating from NSS Labs in its 2019 Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) Group test.
Versa is one of only two vendors who have received the Recommended rating to undergo testing of its built-in protection against network-delivered exploitation capabilities. The NSS Labs group test findings accentuated what customers discover and report about Versa Networks’ exceptional user experience and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) with security enabled.
NSS Labs clients are exploring the security readiness of SD-WAN products, motivated primarily by a desire to offload traffic via public Internet access at the branch. The NSS Labs test was designed to add clarity to the definition of WAN security, which varies by SD-WAN vendors who are referencing encrypted links, antithreat capabilities or full stack solutions (next-generation firewall).
NSS Labs structured the SD-WAN test according to three dimensions: Highest quality of experience for VoIP and Video, lowest total cost of ownership, and protection against network-delivered exploitation:
- Low TCO: The Versa SD-WAN solution delivered the lowest TCO per Mbps of secured SD-WAN throughput.
- High quality of experience for VoIP and Video: NSS Labs tested Versa’s solution under very difficult network conditions of packet loss, jitter and latency. The Versa SD-WAN solution delivered very high MOS scores and application quality of experience standards for voice and video applications.
- Protection against network-delivered exploitation capabilities: SD-WAN is commonly used by enterprises for better SaaS and multi-cloud application experience using direct internet connectivity, which increases vulnerability to attack. The Versa SD-WAN solution has been designed from the ground up with security in mind, such as embedded NGFW that blocks threats at the branch more effectively, along with robust web security services. In NSS Labs’ test of protection against network-delivered exploitation capabilities, Versa achieved a 99.2% exploit block rate and a 100% score in stability and reliability. Versa has now scored a Recommended rating in both the SD-WAN and NGFW tests by NSS Labs.
- Key to the NSS Labs test criteria were leveraging unbiased data to establish verifiable vendor differentiation, which in a crowded vendor landscape like SD-WAN puts a premium on empirical evidence to affirm selection or inform customers. TCO is a major factor to consider, given the prospect of operational savings from introducing transport diversity, such as broadband Internet, and a simplified deployment model eliminating onsite technical support ( ZTP or Zero Touch Provisioning).
In addition, efficiency metrics were important considerations since the number of WAN links within enterprises can reach into the hundreds and even thousands. Without SD-WAN, managing traffic behaviors and priorities across a large, distributed infrastructure is an immense task, and thus SD-WAN offers a simpler operational model to more easily adapt, tune and control traffic patterns centrally. Another key imperative the NSS Labs test incorporated was application awareness and application user experience quality, which allows for core applications to be traffic-engineered and customized on-demand based on dynamic network characteristics and security policy objectives.
Versa’s Secure Cloud IP solution enables enterprises to deploy a secure SD-WAN fabric for their branch network and better manage WAN costs while simplifying operations, enhancing network resiliency and improving application performance. Versa’s solution integrates routing, networking services, SD-WAN and critical security functions like NGFW and unified threat management (UTM) that also serve to consolidate multiple appliances into a single platform. Versa’s unique solution provides full multi-tenancy, multiple deployment options, ZTP and multi-cloud extensibility to enable enterprises to seamlessly drop in next-generation technology for fast WAN transformation.
“Versa’s proven technology is the best technical solution with the best value. We focused on integrating security into our product when we started the company and today are known for having the best SD-WAN solution with built-in security. In this NSS Labs test, while other vendors either chose to test without security or lacked the necessary capabilities to be tested per the NSS Labs SD-WAN 2.0 methodology, Versa’s architecture performed exceedingly well, demonstrating our built from the ground up, embedded security services at a lower cost per bit,” said Kumar Mehta, co-founder and CDO, Versa Networks. “We believe the NSS Labs results strengthen the market leadership position Versa has garnered already with our unique solution and enterprises should feel confident that with Versa they get the best scale, quality, performance and feature/functionality, including enterprise-grade security, with all critical branch services running in a unified, flexible software platform.”
