SASE Update: Why Enterprises are Reopening their Wallets

After nearly two years of economic uncertainty, enterprises have reopened their wallets, targeting secure access service edge (SASE) architecture to expand their locations and fend off increasingly sophisticated AI-driven attacks.

SASE is a cloud architecture that combines network and cloud-native security technologies, delivered as a single cloud service. SASE offers streamlined provisioning and enhanced security when adding remote offices, work-from-home locations and mobile workers to enterprise networks.

SASE quickly attracted followers in the business world because it enables enterprises to use a single management console to bring together their network and security tools. This enhances network expansion by providing companies with a simple security and networking tool that is independent of employees and resource locations.

However, the growing SASE market stagnated in 2023 and 2024, during which a combo of hardware correction and increased spend scrutiny disrupted markets. Supply chains returned to normal, and gear flooded the market, but new orders slowed down. Enterprises were also concerned about macroeconomic issues.

A Turn in the SASE Market

Enterprises are starting to spend more of their budgets on SASE, according to Mauricio Sanchez, senior director of enterprise security and networking at Dell'Oro Group.

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"Enterprises have returned to growth mode, and the 2ドル.6 billion SASE market's 17% jump underscores how quickly buyers are consolidating networking and security stacks around SASE platforms," Sanchez said.

The SASE market was propelled by a 21% year-over-year jump in single-vendor deployments, as enterprises prioritized more straightforward purchasing, tighter policy management and lower operating costs made possible by integrated next-generation software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) and cloud-security platforms.

Enterprises tend to prefer single-vendor SASE systems over multivendor approaches for easier management and a decreased need for integration. In the first quarter of 2025, 83% of the market was cornered by vendors who offer both the networking and security capabilities of SASE, according to Sanchez. He expects this trend to continue.

He added that SD-WAN revenue grew 21% from the first quarter of 2024 to 2025, indicating that enterprises are interested in branch modernization. In the meantime, advanced AI services are accelerating SSE adoption . These services help improve threat detection and network performance, Sanchez said.

What SASE Includes

SASE requires little to no hardware and uses cloud technology to bring together SD-WAN with network security functions. These functions include firewall as a service, SaaS, secure web gateways, cloud access security brokers and zero-trust network access .

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These functions indicate a growing preference for cloud-first and Opex models among enterprises. According to Dell'Oro Group research from January 2025, as-a-service options will dominate the market, accounting for 79% of total revenues between 2024 and 2028, signaling a clear shift from hardware-centric to subscription-based architectures.

Looking Ahead -- Beyond Branch Revamps

As the SASE market advances past corrections, the focus extends beyond remote userand branch connectivity, according to Sanchez.

"The next step is pushing SASE concepts universally across the entire enterprise network --campus, branch, data center and cloud -- for all users, devices and applications," Sanchez said.

Service providers are also looking to augment their consumer business by offering managed services that enable them to use their current network infrastructure. Managed SASE services, such as Cato's SASE Cloud Platform, can work over any infrastructure. Enterprises can expect to see a widening array of SASE vendor products designed for telcos, MSPs and other service providers.

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