Remote work appears to be here to stay, as does the demand for zero trust security solutions. The ZTNA market has continued to mature and grow at a rapid pace, which Gartner® has described in its latest Market Guide for ZTNA. In fact, Gartner captured a 60% YoY growth rate for ZTNA globally (Forecast Enterprise Network Equipment by Market Segment, Worldwide, 2019-2025, 4Q21 update).
“Gartner recommends security and risk management leaders pilot ZTNA projects as part of an SSE (Secure Service Edge) strategy or to rapidly expand remote access. Gartner names Absolute (NetMotion ZTNA by Absolute) in its market guide, alongside other major players in the ZTNA space.”1
Why zero trust?
Zero trust is regarded as a ‘buzzword’ by many, but when it comes down to it, it’s an overarching practice that is becoming increasingly widely adopted to protect organizations and lock down remote access in the most efficient way possible.
Gartner defines zero trust network access (ZTNA) as “products and services that create an identity- and context-based, logical-access boundary that encompass an enterprise user and an internally hosted application or set of applications.” (Gartner ZTNA Market Guide, 2022)
Gartner further explains the concept saying, “applications are hidden from discovery and access is restricted via a trust broker to a collection of named entities. The broker verifies the identity, context and policy adherence of the specified participants before allowing access and minimizes lateral movement elsewhere in the network.”
“ZTNA removes the “implicit trust” that often accompanies other forms of application access, such as legacy VPN.”2
It’s the logical next step in ensuring secure remote access for the modern workforce.
Why now?
Why is zero trust still a major focus as businesses progress into 2022? Even as work from home mandates are rolled back, most organizations are finding that ‘work from anywhere’ policies are here to stay. With remote access becoming the norm, the priority for many IT teams has become sourcing secure access solutions that work for their teams.
That being said, choosing to implement a zero trust solution is just a first step. There are many options and decisions to be made when it comes to selecting a ZTNA vendor. In its ZTNA Market Guide Gartner suggests prioritizing ZTNA vendor selection based on the desired end-user access use cases, as well as the endpoint and application architecture of the organization.
What makes Absolute ZTNA unique?
Selecting a singular ZTNA solution is by no means the ‘single bullet’ of a zero trust strategy. That’s why it’s critical that organizations consider the features and implications of the solution set they adopt
A few important factors businesses may wish to consider include the resilience of the zero trust solution and the resulting employee experience. For instance, can a user simply delete the agent enabling the secure remote access off of their device? In many cases, they can.
Absolute powers resilient ZTNA for customers, ensuring that the NetMotion by Absolute application itself can self-heal. It will automatically repair or reinstall itself if it is ever corrupted (accidentally or otherwise). Companies can rest assured their zero trust strategy will remain intact, regardless of what the endpoint might be doing.
Efficiency and experience are also significant factors for businesses trying to ensure a secure yet productive work experience for employees. Organizations must think about how a zero trust solution may interfere with workers’ day-to-day activities.
Absolute’s zero trust solution inherently improves the end user experience using low-level traffic optimization techniques. It enhances both audio and video conversations and conferencing while persisting network connections and reducing disconnects substantially.
Overall
ZTNA is only gaining momentum as a solution globally. If your organization is looking to take the next step to finesse or begin implementing a zero trust strategy, take a moment to read the Gartner ZTNA Market Guide. You can also reach out to book a demo with Absolute now.
1&2Gartner, Market Guide for Zero Trust Network Access, 17 February 2022, Aaron McQuaid et. Al.
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