Aryaka's managed SD-WAN platform just got a little SASEer today thanks to a partnership with managed security vendor Check Point.

Aryaka will pair its cloud-based SD-WAN service with Check Point's CloudGuard Connect and Edge threat prevention platforms to provide customers with the building blocks they need to adopt a secure access service edge (SASE) model. Aryaka CMO Shashi Kiran explained in a statement that the move will provide customers with more "choice, simplicity, and flexibility."

The SD-WAN vendor's platform, which is distributed across a global network of points of presence all connected by a private backbone, already bears similarities to a SASE architecture, but lacks much of the security stack. The Check Point partnership fills many of the gaps in Aryaka's security capabilities.

Check Point's CloudGuard Connect is designed to provide customers with a "maintenance-free" threat prevention service, which is updated in real-time. Meanwhile, the company's CloudGuard Edge platform implements on-premises security to satisfy data privacy and data residency mandates. The latter of which will be integrated into Aryaka's SD-WAN appliances as a virtual network function (VNF).

Coined by Gartner last summer, SASE stitches together elements of managed security, WAN, and edge compute into a single cloud-native offering. But while building out a SASE offering by partnering with SD-WAN or security vendor's isn't at all incompatible with Gartner's SASE vision, integrating those capabilities through the use of VNFs remains somewhat dubious.

In an earlier interview with SDxCentral, Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald, who co-authored the original report on SASE, explained that this kind of service chaining is fraught with challenges.

However, MacDonald notes that there is nothing wrong with using SD-WAN capabilities from one vendor and security services from another if they can be integrated in a "single-pass architecture.”

The partnership also lends credence to the theory that Check Point may be looking to acquire an SD-WAN vendor to fill out its SASE stack in the near future.

In a recent Analysys Mason report, analyst Igor Babic suggest that Check Point's slowing revenue growth is tied to the vendor's lack of SD-WAN capabilities.

“Check Point has said that it is looking into SD-WAN, and given that all of its main competitors are active in this field, an acquisition does seem likely,” Babic said. “However, there may be some benefit of being independent of SD-WAN specialists as all of them are willing to work with Check Point.”

Independent SD-WAN vendors including Cato Networks, Versa, and Aryaka are attractive M&A targets for Check Point, Babic added.

Whether or not Check Point plans to continue partnering with SD-WAN vendors or if today's partnership is a prelude to acquisition — a trial run of sorts — remains to be seen.