SASE in one paragraph
SASE is the convergence of two stacks. The network stack — historically SD-WAN, MPLS, branch firewalls — is moving cloud-native. The security stack — Secure Web Gateway, CASB, firewall-as-a-service, ZTNA — is also moving cloud-native. SASE is the combined offering where the same provider delivers both as a single service. Most enterprise SASE deployments take 24–36 months end-to-end; mid-market typically buys the security half (SSE) first.
The Australian SASE buying pattern
Australian organisations almost universally split SASE into a phased buy: SSE first (Microsoft Global Secure Access, Zscaler, Netskope, Palo Alto Prisma) for the security-driven need to retire VPNs and consolidate web filtering, then SD-WAN second when the WAN contract renews. The bundle providers (Cato Networks, Versa Networks) lead on integrated SASE but tend to lose mid-market deals to point-best SSE plus existing-WAN-vendor SD-WAN.