Versa Networks SD WAN & SASE Cybersecurity Solutions

Versa Networks SD WAN and SASE Solution: Comparisons, Review, Benefits, Use Cases, Pros & Cons

Author: Netify Research Team

If you have questions about Versa Networks and how their capability is aligned to your needs, email the Netify research team. UK: uk@netify.co.uk North America: northamerica@netify.com

(Please use the UK email for ROW - Rest of the World - questions or inquiries)

Netify Review

The Versa Networks offering is a comprehensive solution, combining SD WAN and SASE into one platform. The solution is scalable, with Versa Titan suited for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) requiring high level security features on a simple platform that can be DIY managed; and Versa Classic, which is more granular and suited to global corporations. The solution is typically used for between 1 and 500 sites, but can be scaled to over 1000 sites, with no performance issues. Versa Networks are an all-round company, and offer solutions that are flexible enough to cater for a wide range of business sizes and are ideal for SMEs.

About Versa Networks

Versa Networks is an SD WAN and SASE vendor that was founded in 2012. They are headquartered in San Jose, CA, North America and focus on SASE, SD WAN, cloud and analytics.

Versa’s solution is deployed across over 1000 enterprise customers with 150,000 software licenses sold globally, but despite their global success, the company remains privately held, with funding from Mayfield, Verizon Ventures, Sequioa Capital, Artis Ventures, Princeville Global Fund, Comcast Ventures, RPS Ventures and Liberty Global Ventures. 

What is the Versa Networks SD WAN Solution?

Versa offer their clients integrated SD WAN and SASE security services on a cloud-native platform, with options for managed and DIY services. The solution comes in two forms: Versa Classic, a feature rich solution offered via Managed Service Providers (MSPs) popular with large global enterprises; and Versa Titan, a simplified and compacted version which is easier to self-manage (DIY) and is more popular with SMEs. Versa’s SD WAN solution aims to provide middle mile services across global networks.

Their comprehensive solutions are designed to enable migration and support of multi-cloud connectivity, allowing branch offices to connect to multiple public and private clouds such as AWS and Azure, as well as SaaS services such as Salesforce, Office 365, RingCentral and many more.

Versa also offers typical SD WAN carrier-grade features such as: IP address management, Denial of Service (DoS), Intrusion Protection System (IPS), Intrusion Detection System (IDS), and antivirus and malware software.

Finally, the Versa VOS (Versa Operating System) is a cloud-native, multi-tenant and multi-service  software stack. The solution has networking and security functions and can be used to design network architectures and managed services. For SD WAN, Versa VOS includes auto IPsec VPN, layer-7 application SLA profiles and enforcement, application intelligent traffic steering and flexible topologies which include: hub & spoke, spoke-hub-hub-spoke, full-mesh, partial-mesh and custom architectures. For security, the VOS has capabilities for NGFW, stateful firewall, SSL inspection, NG-IPS and antivirus, malware and ransomeware detection and protection. Routing capabilities include policy-based routing, VRRP, IPv4/IPv6 static and dynamic routing (OSPF, BGPMP-BGP), multicast (PIM-SM, PIM-SSM and IGMP), QoS, hierarchical QoS, DSCP marketing and traffic classification and policying.  

Further features include: 

Configuration-Based Key Features:

Security-Based Key Features:

Performance-Based Key Features:

What is the Versa Networks SASE security solution?

Versa’s solution is delivered on-premises, via the cloud or a blend of both. The Versa SASE solution is comprised of: Appliances, Endpoints, Cloud gateways, Management and Control. The control and management of the Versa SASE solution is deployed using Versa Director, Versa Analytics, Versa Titan and Versa Concerto. Remote users are able to access network features via the Versa Secure Access Client, whereas users on premises access cloud native cloud service gateway appliances. Versa Cloud Gateways run Versa Operating System multi-tenant software.

The Versa SASE solution includes:

• Secure Web Gateway (SWG): Designed to offer clients secure Internet access to on-premises and remote users, including those who work from home and those who are traveling. The solution includes: malware protection, URL Filtering, Domain Name System (DNS), multi-factor authentication, Next Generation Firewall (NGFW), URL traffic management with integrated encrypted web-traffic analysis for HTTPS flows and DNS Proxy, Intrusion Protection System (IPS), SSL-TLS Proxy, application identification and control and traffic identification which uses group and user identification, Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and device fingerprinting. Clients can monitor and control their SWG solution from the Versa Networks portal. 
• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB): CASB is designed to protect data in transit and in the cloud and is offered as a service for both provider-based and on-premises architectures. This offers clients visibility and control over user activities and sensitive data, with centralized management for policy and governance. Versa CASB is deployed via a network of PoPs, allowing clients to access the nearest location for high performance on-ramp to application and network access to cloud infrastructure. 
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Versa Secure Access (VSA) offers private connectivity and SASE for remote workers. It does this by offering cloud-delivered ZTNA which creates a secure connection between users and applications in public and private clouds. VSA extends ZTNA by implementing application and network visibility, application segmentation, application and role-based control, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and private, encrypted connectivity to the network. Integrated DDoS, application firewall and stateful firewall are also included and the solution does not require any CPE hardware. 
• Remote Browser Isolation (RBI): RBI hosts a user’s browser activity in a remote server on-premises or in the cloud,  as opposed to the client’s device to protect against security threats from the web. Versa RBI can be deployed as a primary security measure to render all sites with added filtering as necessary, or as a feature in a web proxy to render sites. 
• Next Generation Firewall as a Service (NGFWaaS): NGFWaaS offers clients decryption capabilities with macro and micro segmentation as well as multi-tenancy protection. The solution includes stateful firewall, URL categorization and filtering, IDS/IPS, anti-virus, IP filtering, application visibility and NGFW. 
• Analytics: Versa SASE includes real-time analytics accessible via a centralized portal offering visibility into users, applications, workloads, web servers, security policy violations and databases, with accurate geolocation for each workload. 
• Routing: Versa SASE offers carrier-grade routing support to optimize the performance of advanced and common routing protocols including: Static, BGP, OSPF, RIP, PIM, IGMP, Policy-Based Routing (PBR), VRRP and MP-BGP which includes MPLS-based L3VPN, MPLS-based EVPN and VXLAN-based EVPN. Support is also available for IPv6 for WAN and LAN, as well as Virtual Routing Forwarding (VRF), MPLS over IPsec, MPLS over GRE. Sub-second failover convergence and control plane health checks can be monitored with Bi-Directional-Forwarding (BFD).

How does Versa Networks access cloud vendors?

Versa’s offering accesses Cloud Vendors through globally distributed Versa Cloud Gateways allowing cloud access from anywhere worldwide. Versa also benefits from strong partnerships with Microsoft Azure (Branch IPsec Connectivity partner), Dell Technologies, AWS and Google Cloud.

Does Versa Networks offer WAN acceleration and optimization?

Versa’s offering provides WAN acceleration and optimization via the following: 

WAN Optimization: 

Application Acceleration: 

How does Versa Networks support remote users?

Remote users are supported by the Versa Secure Access solution. Mobile and remote users are able to access Versa cloud gateways via the Versa Secure Access Client which allows them to connect to enterprise applications via the public and private cloud.

What is the Versa Networks managed, co-managed and DIY services solution?

The Versa managed service solution consists of the appliance and virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) which are all procured through a partner channel. The Versa managed service solution applies multi-cloud application performance at a reduced cost via the implementation of CapEx or OpEx. Versa offers both DIY and Fully Managed SD WAN via managed service provider partners.

What Reporting and Management is available via the Versa Networks Portal?

Versa Networks management portal, Versa Director, is a single plane management platform. This management platform provides analytical data from export reports, network security, application usage and logs as events that are able to be retrieved, filtered and analyzed to resolve network issues more efficiently and reduce downtime.

What is the Versa Networks SLA?

Path performance is monitored by branch devices in order to ensure that the Versa SLA is being upheld.