Recently, Fortinet hosted a two-hour virtual event called Unified SASE Summit 2024. Attendees from around the world joined us for an exclusive look at the future of SASE and how it's reshaping hybrid workforce security. The Summit theme was "SASE Meets AI: Transform a Secure Hybrid World" and featured the real-world perspectives from a Gartner? analyst, a Google Cloud executive, and Fortinet experts and customers.

No worries if you missed the summit. You can watch it on-demand now. Below is a brief recap of some of the key can't-miss sessions.

Gartner VP Looks Down the SASE Road

The virtual SASE summit began with a session led by Neil MacDonald, Gartner VP, Distinguished Analyst and Gartner Fellow Emeritus. His presentation was titled "The Road Ahead for SASE: Emerging Technologies and Industry Trends."  Here is a summary of Mr. MacDonald's session:

The presentation explored the future of SASE (secure access service edge) and its role in reshaping SaaS vendors' expectations. Gartner introduced the SASE concept in 2019. It combines wide-area networking and protection services to securely connect users and devices to applications. Due to its potential to enable secure remote access and streamline network management, SASE has gained significant traction among CIOs and CISOs.

The presentation highlighted several key trends in the SASE market, including:

• Vendor and platform consolidation:The market is moving towards single-vendor SASE solutions that offer integrated networking and security capabilities.
  
• Sovereign SASE:Customers increasingly demand more control over where their data is processed and inspected, leading to a growing interest in sovereign SASE solutions.
  
• Adjacent use cases:SASE can be extended to adjacent areas such as universal ZTNA, SD-WAN for local networks, endpoint security, and XDR.
  
• GenAI integration:SASE can leverage generative artificial intelligence to enhance security capabilities and automate tasks while ensuring the secure adoption of GenAI technologies.

Mr. MacDonald predicts that SASE will play a crucial role in the future of network security and application access. It will offer businesses a more secure, efficient, and flexible approach to managing their digital infrastructure. You can watch the entire presentation on demand.

Valuable Insights and Practical Advice from Fortinet

Fortinet CMO John Maddison followed the Gartner session with an introduction to the transformative potential of Fortinet Unified SASE in reshaping the future of hybrid work security. John's presentation offered valuable insights and practical guidance to help organizations navigate and leverage the present and future of network security with Fortinet Unified SASE.

Then Fortinet SASE expert Nirav Shah demonstrated the latest SASE innovations in SSE, SD-WAN, and ZTNA to show how our cutting-edge technologies work in real-life situations. Watch the session to learn how advancements simplify deployment and management and offer unparalleled flexibility to adapt to ever-evolving security challenges.

How Google Cloud Works with Fortinet Unified SASE

In another important session, Muninder Sambi, Google Cloud VP of Networking and Security, chatted with John Maddison about the integration of Google Cloud's expansive network infrastructure with the Fortinet Unified SASE solution to deliver unmatched security and scalability. Attendees learned how Google Cloud and Fortinet Unified SASE can help build a resilient and secure AI-powered global network.

The End-User Perspective

Another session you won't want to skip is "The End-User Perspective: Looking at the SASE Market," which features a panel discussion on the state of the SSE/SASE marketplace from the viewpoint of customers who chose Fortinet as their SASE solution provider. The panelists discuss what's driving the SASE business and some of their critical SASE use cases. They also examine the relationship between SD-WAN and SASE before discussing why they chose Fortinet's FortiSASE service and are satisfied with that decision.

For a limited time, videos of these Summit sessions and others are available in the Fortinet On-Demand Library.