Versa Networks’ SD-WAN and secure access service edge (SASE) platforms are now part of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s network portfolio.

At the heart of the deal are Versa’s Titan SD-WAN and SASE platforms, which Alcatel-Lucent believes will help it expand its network portfolio to midsized organizations.

Announced in 2019, Versa Titan specifically targets small to midsized businesses and spans LAN, wireless, and SD-WAN functionality. While based on the company’s enterprise-focused Versa Operating System, Titan was retooled for use by small resource-constrained IT teams.

This spring, Versa integrated its SASE platform, which includes a bevy of internally-developed security functionality, with the Titan platform. “What we’ve done with Versa Titan is really simplify SASE for lean IT,” Versa CMO Mike Wood said at the time.

“Their solutions for branch office, cloud, and security services fit perfectly with our enterprise networking solutions,” Stephen Robineau, EVP of Alcatel-Lucent’s network business, said in a statement.

Alcatel-Lucent will initially offer Versa’s SD-WAN and SASE platforms in Europe with global availability expected in the next few months.

Remote and Hybrid Work Drive SASE Adoption

According to Neil MacDonald, one of the Gartner analysts who penned the original SASE definition, the rapid and unexpected shift to remote work in the wake of the pandemic catapulted the fledgling product category into the limelight.

“There’s no doubt COVID-19 and the shift to remote work accelerated this dynamic,” he said, in an earlier interview.

As a security-centric SD-WAN vendor, Versa was quick to adopt the Gartner-coined product category and anounced its first SASE product in early 2020.

SASE stitches together elements of edge compute, SD-WAN, and security into a single, cloud-delivered package. Versa’s platform includes a full complement of SASE security functionality, including cloud access security broker, secure web gateway, zero-trust network access, and cloud-based firewalls.

These capabilities earned the vendor accolades in Gartner’s most recent WAN Edge Infrastructure Magic Quadrant report.

“The vendor offers one of the broadest and most capable solutions … and has one of the most complete SASE solutions on the market,” the report read.