SonicWall is growing its secure access service edge (SASE) portfolio, thanks to the acquisition of privately held security services edge (SSE) vendor Banyan Security.

SonicWall has been steadily growing its portfolio in recent years as it picks up the pace against rivals. IDC ranked SonicWall among the top five security appliance vendors at the beginning of 2023. San Francisco-based Banyan Security was founded in 2015 and raised $47 million for its SSE technology platform.

The deal was announced today, though it actually closed on Dec. 22, 2023. Financial terms of the acquisition were not being publicly disclosed.

Banyan Security's platform helps organizations enable zero trust network access (ZTNA) with capabilities for both DevOps and CloudOps teams. Part of the Banyan platform is a VPN as-a-service (VPNaaS) capability that can be used to help provide security for cloud access.

SonicWall's portfolio includes the company's Cloud Edge Secure Access technology that provides  SASE/ZTNA capabilities. The existing functionality in the SonicWall portfolio will be enhanced with the addition of the Banyan Security technology.

Among the reasons why SonicWall is acquiring Banyan Security is to increase time to market.

“We have been leaning into cloud and we have been growing at a strong clip – but this vaults us forward with our entire cloud offering,” Bob VanKirk, SonicWall’s president and CEO told SDxCentral. “We’ve been listening to our partners, and they have already moved to VPNaaS and we need to accommodate them as best we can.”

VanKirk said that Banyan Security will be pivotal in SonicWall's cybersecurity platform.

The vision for the platform is to integrate SonicWall's suite of solutions – including network, endpoint, wireless, cloud email security and threat intelligence – under a single, multitenant portal.

“Our platform will allow an MSP [managed service provider] to protect an end-user through simplified workflows and provide unified visibility to threats and alerts, empowering partners to spend more time on what matters most,” he said.

VanKirk said that with the proliferation of remote users and hybrid work, applications are everywhere and users with devices are extremely mobile, coming online from anywhere and at any time. He added that in order to keep pace with the demands of the mobile workforce, MSPs and managed security service providers (MSSPs that are serving Fortune 100 companies to small businesses, are replacing legacy architectures for (ZTNA.

According to VanKirk, the ZTNA approach that is preferred by MSPs and MSSPs is one that provides flexibility with cloud-based, as-a-service capabilities for cybersecurity solutions, such as SSE and SASE.

The Banyan Networks acquisition is the second company that SonicWall has picked up in recent months. In November, SonicWall acquired MSSP vendor Solutions Granted Inc. (SGI).