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This blog is part of the ongoing “I&O Perspectives” series, which features insights from industry experts about the impact of current threats, networking, and other cybersecurity trends.
In the first part of this blog series, we observed the inception of an internet-based model where corporate networks have no borders anymore, home is the office, applications are in the cloud.
This paradigm shift makes connectivity ubiquitous. But security risks have dramatically increased. For SASE to scale and protect all users, it requires a solid platform. At Netskope, we built NewEdge, a purpose-built platform to deliver highly-available and fast SSE and SD-WAN. Let’s take a look at the technologies and designs that made that possible:
Internet vs. MPLS-VPN
In front of the inflexible, but SLA-capable MPLS-VPN networks, lies the disdained contortionist giant, the internet.
Content and cloud providers have been very active to build an Internet on which they can rely. In fact, they require a high quality and open network to pour traffic into their customers’ screens. They invest in submarine cables and operate transport infrastructure that supersede some telcos and transit networks. They also massively sponsored interconnection initiatives like internet exchange facilities. Interconnections are essential, and they’ve been a delicate subject. On the one hand, ISPs invest massively into their access infrastructures. Conversely, content providers need clean access to these eyeballs (the consumers). In the middle, transit providers try to make money by connecting both ends. As a result, interests are sometimes conflicting.
There have been a few disputes where some felt they were not paid enough for the value they were bringing. In May 2024, for instance, Cogent removed some of their connectivity with Tata, since the two transit providers couldn’t find an agreement for a balanced interconnection strategy. This impacted networks which were strongly relying on these providers with no decent alternative paths.
On th