Gartner's hype train gained speed this week as Palo Alto Networks leaped aboard with the launch of its secure access service edge (SASE) platform.

Fulfilling several predictions made by Gartner in its 2019 Hype Cycle report, security vendor Palo Alto Networks this week introduced cloud-based SD-WAN and a data loss prevention (DPL) service to Prisma Access in a bid to enter the hot new SASE market.

Gartner, which coined the category, says SASE stitches together elements of edge computing, security, and wide-area networking (WAN) into a single cloud-managed package.

And Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Access claims to do just that, delivering an end-to-end networking and security service from a distributed platform.

"As applications are increasingly delivered from the cloud and users become more mobile, organizations are being forced to rethink the way they deploy networking and security," said Lee Klarich, chief product officer at Palo Alto Networks, in a statement. "To connect and secure organizations now and in the future, we believe that networking and security must converge in the cloud."

Klarich explained that the company's new SASE platform sets it apart from competing SD-WAN offerings, which "compromise on security, add complexity and deliver unpredictable performance when users are accessing cloud applications."

He claimed Prisma Access is able to deliver a simple, secure, and higher performance SD-WAN from the cloud.

Alongside the newly introduced WAN and DPL features announced this week, Palo Alto Networks revamped its Panorama management console to enable easier and more consistent application of security policies, and a rebuilt workflow for configuring and managing a SASE deployment.

The company's announcement makes it the latest vendor claiming to offer "the industry's first comprehensive" SASE platform. The company's entry into this new market category shouldn't come as a surprise. In the 2019 Hype Cycle report, Palo Alto Networks was one of several vendors Gartner predicted would enter the market.

Open Systems, an SD-WAN vendor that has already jumped on the SASE bandwagon, announced this week it had added support for Microsoft Azure vWAN. The company claims the integration will allow enterprises to migrate to the cloud and consolidate on-premises and off-premises data centers.

"SD-WAN and cloud transformation go hand-in-hand," said Ogi Stanovcic, head of strategic alliances at Open Systems, in a statement. “The SD-WAN in our SASE platform plays an essential part in digital transformation, dramatically simplifying the effort to ensure reliable and secure high-bandwidth connections between multiple Microsoft Azure installations.”

Palo Alto Networks and Open Systems are two of the latest vendors to board Gartner's hype train and reveal SASE offerings.

Israel-based networking firm Cato Networks and San Francisco-based Infoblox were two of the first to stake a claim on the SASE market. And just last week, SD-WAN giant VMware claimed its VeloCloud is now a comprehensive SASE platform.

“The days of hub-and-spoke MPLS networks that connect to a hardware-based perimeter are over,” declared Sanjay Uppal, VP and GM of SD-WAN at VMware, in a statement.