Providing Fully Converged Global SD-WAN With Built-In Network Security, Delivered As a Cloud Service: Cato Networks

Businesses are expanding globally, relying on data and applications in the cloud, and driven by a mobile workforce. It was simple to securely connect the organization when it had static and predictable traffic flows from branches to data centers. Yet, today’s business requirements are radically different.

It is time to rethink how to provide a secure, global connectivity for locations and people for the way business gets done today.

Cato Networks is building the new Software-defined WAN, in the cloud, protected by a tightly integrated set of security services. The Cato Cloud connects all business resources including data centers, branches, mobile users and cloud infrastructure into a simple, secure and unified global network. No more costly connectivity services, complex point solution deployments, capacity constraints, maintenance overhead, or restricted visibility and control.

Secure and Global SD-WAN as a Service: Cato Cloud

Cato Cloud Features

• Converged SD-WAN and Security in the Cloud: Cut MPLS costs, appliance sprawl and complex management of point solutions. Cato connects businesses into one global network, secured by enterprise-grade security services, enforcing a unified policy and managed via a cloud-based management application.
• Affordable, SLA-Backed Global Backbone: Augment or replace expensive MPLS services, or enhance unpredictable internet-based connectivity, with global SD-WAN and SLA-backed backbone.
• IT Team, Augmented: Cato’s global Network and Security Operations Center, manned by network and security experts, augment IT teams with crucial network management and network security skills to ensure that a business remains connected and secured 24/7/365.
• Enterprise-Grade Security Everywhere: No need to settle for capacity constrained and high maintenance security appliances. The Cato Cloud seamlessly scales to support businesses for all the security capabilities and inspected traffic.
• Cloud-Wide Threat Visibility: With full visibility of the traffic flowing through the Cato Cloud, Cato Research Labs can identify emerging threats at any given customer and proactively deploy countermeasures to protect all customers.
• Always Up-To-Date Agile Cloud Software: Skip those tedious updates and upgrades of appliances and their software. Cato agile cloud software is constantly and seamlessly updated to incorporate the most up-to-date defense against emerging threats.

Cato Cloud Network

SLA-backed Global Backbone: The Cato Cloud Network is built on a globally distributed, scalable, and redundant Points of Presence (PoPs). The PoPs are interconnected with SLA-backed global carrier transports. The PoPs are meshed into a global overlay and continuously monitor the carriers latency and packet loss to determine optimal path between any two locations. The PoPs run Cato’s integrated network and security software stack to optimize and secure traffic flow. This software-defined architecture enables the rapid introduction of new capabilities when compared with legacy hardware-based or virtual routers.

Optimized Last Mile Connectivity: Cato optimizes last mile connectivity through multiple techniques including application- and link-aware policy-based routing, hybrid WAN support (MPLS + Internet), Active/Active link management, Forward Error Correction (FEC) for packet loss mitigation, and TCP Proxy for traffic acceleration. Unlike appliance-based SD-WAN solutions, Cato uniquely optimizes both the last mile between the customer edges and the Cato PoPs and the middle mile on the Cato global backbone. This optimization maximizes throughput end-to-end by controlling packet flow throughout the entire route.

Cato Security Services

Comprehensive Network Security Everywhere: Cato has built a full network security stack directly into the global backbone software. This architecture extends enterprise-grade network security protection for every business user and location – without deploying edge security appliances. Inspection and enforcement are applied to both WAN- and Internet-bound traffic as well as TLS encrypted traffic.

Up-to-date and Up-to-size Protection: Without the constraints of physical appliances, Cato experts seamlessly update the cloud-based software to address emerging threats and scale the cloud infrastructure to support any traffic volume. Customers are relieved from the need to patch sprawling appliances software or upgrade dated and underpowered hardware.

Unified Enterprise Policy: Security policies can be applied corporate-wide or down to specific users and locations to secure access to both on-premise applications, cloud data centers, and public cloud applications such as Office 365, Box and Salesforce.

Customer Testimonials

Cato Networks empowers global companies with the cloud-based and secure SD-WAN. Its customers cut MPLS costs, improve performance between global locations, eliminate branch appliances, provide secure Internet access everywhere, and seamlessly integrate mobile users and cloud datacenters into the WAN.

“Before we could see 250ms of round-trip latency between Hong Kong and Guernsey. With Cato, latency decreased by nearly 20 percent. Cato is powerful beyond belief.”

- Nathan Trevor, IT Director, Sanne Group 

“Cato’s mobile VPN is my secret BCP [business continuity plan] in my back pocket. If my global network goes down, I can be like Batman and whip this thing out.”

- Stuart Gall, Infrastructure Architect, Network and Systems Group, Paysafe

Greet the Chief

Shlomo Kramer, Co-Founder, and CEO: Shlomo is co-founder and CEO of Cato Networks. He is a network security expert and a serial entrepreneur. Shlomo has co-founded Check Point Software, who created the first commercial Firewall, and Imperva, the innovator of the Web Application Firewall. Shlomo has made early investments in successful cybersecurity companies including Palo Alto Networks, Trusteer, and numerous others. He was named CEO of the Year by SC Magazine in 2008, one of “20 luminaries who changed the network industry” by Network World in 2006 and was inducted into the InfoSec Hall of Fame in April 2013.

Shlomo holds a master’s degree in computer science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and computer science from Tel Aviv University.

“By rethinking the enterprise global networking and security architecture from the ground up, and bringing it into the cloud, securely connecting businesses is simple again.”