Versa Networks joined the growing number of SD-WAN and secure access service edge (SASE) vendors offering 5G-connected appliances this week.

The company’s CSG 700 and CSG 1000 SD-WAN appliances are now available with factory-installed 5G and 4G LTE modems. Connectivity is delivered on sub-6 GHz bands used by most cellular carriers, which Versa claims can deliver peak download speeds of 5 Gb/s and uploads of 650 Mb/s on both 5G standalone and non-standalone networks.

The appliances target communication service providers offering managed SD-WAN or security services to customers that may require rapid branch deployments — for example, kiosks or pop-up locations — as well as those requiring high-performance connectivity in areas where traditional WAN infrastructure may be limited.

The devices can be configured for use on public, private, and emergency 5G networks like FirstNet. If 5G connectivity isn't available in the region, the appliances automatically fall back to 4G LTE Advanced connectivity, Dogu Narin, Versa's head of product marketing, explained in an email to SDxCentral.

Both appliances feature Versa's standard suite of SD-WAN functionality, including quality of service, network segmentation, on-premises security, and integration with the company’s cloud-delivered SASE stack.

“With SASE and optimized connections, enterprises can meet aggressive service-level agreements while gaining end-to-end security that is native to the appliance and realizing the fastest deployment of 5G services at the edge,” Narin said in a statement.

Versa leapt into the red-hot SASE market last summer with a platform tailored for remote workers. Since then, the software vendor has expanded its SASE network to 90 points of presence and raked in $84 million in venture capital along the way.

Versa’s SASE stack includes a bevy of security functionality, including secure web gateway, zero-trust network access, cloud access security broker, SD-WAN, unified threat management, and cloud-based firewalls.

Today’s update marks the third 5G-centric SD-WAN announcement in less than a month.

Earlier this week, Palo Alto Networks launched its first 5G connected SD-WAN appliance, the ION 1200, in a bid to support organizations with limited access to traditional WAN infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Cradlepoint announced its first major appliance update since it was acquired by telecommunications-equipment vendor Ericsson last fall for $1.1 billion. The update added dual 5G modems and faster Ethernet connectivity to the company’s existing E3000 routers.

Alongside the new hardware, Versa scored another service provider win this week in Logix Fiber Networks.

The Texas-based service provider plans to deploy a combination of Versa’s Titan SD-WAN and SASE platforms to support enterprises as they transition to remote and hybrid-work models.

Announced in 2019 as a stripped down version of the company’s enterprise focused SD-WAN, Titan features a retooled interface designed to simplify deployment and management for small, resource-constrained IT teams.

Versa this spring announced a sweeping update to the platform that allowed customers to add remote access functionality via the company’s SASE platform.

“This enables employees literally to travel anywhere and get — not the full feature set — but get secure access, some improvements in quality of experience, reliability, along with segmentation and policy all the way down to the devices,” Versa CMO Mike Wood said at the time.