Comcast Business will deploy Cisco Meraki VPN gateways in remote worker’s homes as part of the network operator’s newly unveiled Teleworker VPN program.

The offering marks the latest collaboration between Cisco and its partners to address the explosion of remote workers, many of whom analysts expect will continue to work from home long after the pandemic is over.

The Comcast service is largely directed at companies already using Cisco’s Meraki wireless, LAN switching, and SD-WAN products in their branch offices. Under the program, Comcast will provide an all-in-one Meraki appliance that handles, routing, switching, wireless access as well as VPN connectivity directly to employees. Additionally, the appliance can be outfitted with a 4G LTE radio for cellular failover, something that can be valuable for users with unreliable or bandwidth constrained connections.

“The global pandemic has fast-tracked secure, remote workforce connectivity to the top of the priority list for today’s enterprise IT decision makers,” Amit Verma, VP of solution engineering and technology at Comcast Business, said in a statement.

Verma explained that the Comcast offering means its customers can now extend their existing infrastructure and management tools into their employee’s homes, allowing for consistent security policy and quality of service for remote workers, without having to learn and manage a new platform.

The partnership marks the latest step in Cisco’s multifaceted approach to connecting and securing teleworkers.

Since the onset of the pandemic and the rapid rise of remote work around the world, many vendors, including Cloudflare, Palo Alto Networks, and VMware, have focused their efforts on bringing an endpoint-based secure access service edge (SASE) platform to market.

And Cisco is no different. The company launched its own SASE platform based on its Umbrella cloud security, Duo authentication, and Viptela SD-WAN in early 2020. However the company continues to push its broad SD-WAN portfolio — which includes Meraki, Viptela, and IOS XE — to customers that weren’t ready to adopt a full SASE architecture, but still need to address remote worker demands.

In a blog post earlier this year, Jean-Luc Valente, VP of product management for Cisco’s SD-WAN and edge routing division, touted the advantages of SD-WAN appliances in the home.

He argued that while SASE and traditional remote connectivity services like VPNs might be adequate for many workers, for “high-value, customer-facing workers” SD-WAN appliances can offer a better experience.

Application-level quality of service and LAN security are just two of the advantages SD-WAN appliances have over software based offerings, like SASE or endpoint VPNs, Cisco claims.

Cisco isn’t the only vendor taking this tact. Even after announcing their own SASE platforms, Versa and Fortinet continue to push their Titan and FortiGate SD-WAN appliances for use in certain applications, especially where quality of service or redundant WAN links may provide value. Meanwhile, competing vendors in the wireless and LAN switching market like Aruba, Extreme, and Juniper have also launched similar remote work-focused programs.