Versa and Intel’s Collaboration on Secure SD-NIC
Sr. Director, Versa Networks
September 18, 2023
For years, Versa and Intel have partnered on innovations that have continually pushed the boundaries of what has been possible in our industry. Building on these efforts, we are excited to share a sneak peek of our Versa Secure SD-NIC at Intel Innovation 2023 on September 19-20. This beta version showcases the seamless integration of our industry-leading SASE platform with Intel® NetSec Accelerator Reference Design.
“SASE on a Smart NIC”
Versa is the first vendor in the industry to deliver “SASE on a Smart NIC” functionality for multiple high value Zero Trust networking use cases, including:
- Virtualized multi-tenant data centers
- Deploying secure compute in untrusted environments.
Delivering Versa Secure SD-NIC on Intel’s NetSec Accelerator Reference Design enables users to harness the comprehensive SASE connectivity and security functions found in our other product lines – Versa Secure SD-WAN, Versa SSE, and Versa Secure SD-LAN – within these demanding environments.
The Versa Secure SD-NIC natively integrates a PCI card powered by a multicore Intel processor with the Versa Operating System (VOS). This architecture extends the security horizon directly into compute devices, unlocking advanced stateful L4-L7 features like ZTNA, adaptive micro-segmentation, threat protection and data security.
This further extends your Versa SD-WAN and SD-LAN overlay to include multi-tenant data centers and untrusted locations. These would bring together robust security and networking across the infrastructure in a unified platform, with a unified data lake and management experience.
Versa Secure SD-NIC in Multi-Tenant Data Centers
Historically, data center designs consist of individual authentication/authorization systems with no inherent ZTNA, network and data security functions. With threats evolving, attackers can exploit post-access vulnerabilities, demanding a new Zero Trust approach for data centers.
With Versa’s Secure SD-NIC, we embed security enforcement directly into the server. This enables direct traffic inspection without rerouting traffic to controls outside the data center – enabling better performance and Zero Trust enforcement at the point of compute. All of the VMs and compute on a server can be centrally secured at the SD-NIC.
Secure Computing in Vulnerable Environments
Remote devices and computing are increasingly deployed outside of the jurisdiction and control of the enterprise. You can find common examples across everyday industry examples (e.g. ATM machines, tactical environments and critical infrastructure). Today, these environments are either unsecured or hairpinned to a central location for security policies to be enforced.
Versa Secure SD-NIC provides an inline point of inspection that delivers both security and connectivity to devices in these untrusted environments. Security inspection and controls extend your network overlay and Zero Trust controls natively to a device or vehicle.
Conclusion
This represents a fresh perspective on meeting the evolving connectivity and security requirements in new environments. Join us at Intel Innovation 2023 at booth #305 to see it in action.
We eagerly anticipate unveiling these advancements. To learn more, sign up at our Versa https://versa-networks.com/products/sd-nic/ or at Intel Innovation booth #305.
