Secure access service edge (SASE) vendor Cato Networks tweaked its flagship platform to allow enterprises to pick up individual modules, rather than being committed to the entire platform.

The modular adoption model, as the vendor calls it, allows customers to take out any combination of AI security, SD-WAN, or security service edge (SSE) solutions without fear of lock-in.

Cato argues that while traditional platform plays may simplify enterprise procurement, being tied to one platform creates operational complexity and increased overheads – a not-so-subtle nod to the consternation some VMware customers have felt following Broadcom’s takeover and its subsequent platform consolidation.

Each of the vendor’s modules stands as its own enterprise-grade solution, with any additional modules compounding value through a converged platform foundation with its own management console and data lake.

A total of four modules are available: AI security, which governs AI application and agent interactions; SD-WAN for software-defined networking; SSE for consistent security across environments; and Universal Zero Trust Network Access to provide continuous risk-based verification and application-level segmentation.

Channeling its inner Todd Howard, the vendor’s announcements proclaimed: “The Cato SASE Platform just works.”

“With the Cato SASE Platform, modular adoption is possible because the architecture is unified from the start,” Cato Networks CEO Shlomo Kramer added. “Organizations can begin with what they need and expand over time without reintroducing complexity, increasing cost, or compromising security.”

In addition to making tool access easier, the vendor wants pricing to be simpler, touting its user-based and site-bandwidth pricing as a means to allow customers to scale up to meet demand. Licenses can be deployed gradually during the first 12 months, while supporting flexible consumption to accommodate bursts in users or traffic.

The debut of its modular adoption model comes hot on the heels of recent additions to its flagship platform, including Cato Neural Edge, which allows users to deploy Nvidia GPUs across its global backbone to speed up AI-driven analysis for real-time traffic inspection and threat detection.

Also unveiled earlier in March was Cato AI Security, a means to unify AI governance and runtime protection across use cases, which stemmed from its recent acquisition of Aim Security.