The new Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms strengthen Cisco’s overall WAN edge proposition, including its competitiveness in the SD-WAN and the emerging SASE segments. Due to the timeliness of the launch, Cisco has an immediate portfolio response to Juniper’s auspicious $450 million acquisition of 128 Technology. Now all of Cisco’s rivals will need to directly counter the Catalyst 8000 Edge Platform’s ability to provide application and network visibility as well as secure connectivity to applications across the continuum of cloud, data center, and edge in WAN environments or risk losing ground in the SD-WAN and SASE realms.
