Nokia’s Nuage Networks today launched the newest release of its virtualized network services (VNS) platform, which it named SD-WAN 2.0. The service extends connectivity beyond just branches to also connect private data centers, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, and public clouds.

According to Nuage Networks CEO Sunil Khandekar, SD-WAN 1.0 doesn’t “take into consideration the new order of business and new communication pattern” that takes place over VPN branches and enables enterprises to access and connect to applications in public, SaaS, and private clouds. SD-WAN is limited to the wide area network, he said.

Because the advancing IT landscape spreads applications across multiple locations and clouds, SD-WAN 2.0 has to connect more than just branches.

Nuage’s new offering seeks to streamline this process and protect the applications from threats. To do so, Nuage SD-WAN 2.0 has a single management interface. Enterprises can use the interface to manage, govern, and extend automated connectivity from users to the applications spread across the network from virtual machines (VMs), bare metal machines, and containers in both public and private clouds.

In addition, the offering provides software-defined security. Khandekar said it gives end-to-end micro-segmentation to prevent the lateral spread of malware and provides application-level visibility. The security virtual network functions (VNFs) are built into the SD-WAN to allow for the automated action and micro-segmentation capabilities.

According to Khandekar, the automatic micro-segmentation is a key capability that SD-WAN 2.0 provides. “You hear our competition talk about micro-segmentation, but that is limited to segmenting the applications inside the data center, while we are doing it all the way from the branch to the applications wherever they are and based on who’s allowed to talk to those applications.”

Finally, SD-WAN 2.0 enables enterprises to streamline various appliances to a single device. This device can host value-added services — such as voice-over-IP (VoIP), firewall, IoT connectivity, WAN optimization, and WiFi access — on an open universal CPE platform either in the branch or in the data center.