SD-WAN has become synonymous with ubiquitous connectivity, availability, and exceptional user experience regardless of where applications and workloads reside. SD-WAN  benefits organizations looking for more flexibility to connect remote networks over different WAN services, optimizing for simplicity, automation, and cost. When it comes to SD-WAN security, though, all too often companies approach it as a separate project.

With Citrix SD-WAN, we’re helping modern businesses with their digital transformation by providing the best application experience for both traditional and SaaS applications with a broad cloud choice and security.

We see security as a critical pillar for a successful digital transformation. No matter where you are in your cloud journey, Citrix believes in giving you the tools that meet your business requirements. When it comes to security, we believe in flexibility, and we want to enable you — the customer — to choose a deployment model and a security vendor that are best for your business as you adopt our SD-WAN solution.

So, are you looking for an on-prem solution that combines advanced SD-WAN and advanced security? Look no further.

We have teamed up with Palo Alto Networks again (Citrix provides an automated onboarding for a secure direct connectivity to Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access cloud service) to support their VM-Series next-generation firewalls on the Citrix SD-WAN 1100 appliance. We know that branch-device consolidation is a big driver for customers who are undertaking their cloud journey, and we are introducing a solution that combines Citrix’s advanced SD-WAN with Palo Alto Networks’ advanced security in the same branch appliance.

Purpose-Built for Large Enterprise Branches

Did you know that Citrix SD-WAN 1100 is purpose-built for large enterprise branches? It offers high-throughput performance and Power over Ethernet interfaces, and it is designed to host virtualized network functions. SD-WAN 1100 simplifies cable management when connected to a host of external devices. Its compact one-RU form factor also allows the SD-WAN 1100 to collocate in a space-constrained environment

While we envision running multiple different VNFs on Citrix SD-WAN 1100, we chose Palo Alto Networks VM-Series as an initial workload to run on this appliance because we wanted to marry Citrix’s best-of-breed SD-WAN with industry-leading advanced security. Palo Alto Networks’ VM-50 and VM-100 are full-featured, next-generation firewalls (NGFWs), which are known for delivering multiple security functions such as IDS/IPS, content filtering, malware protection, and threat inspection with deep awareness and control over individual applications. Palo Alto Networks’ NGFWs are centrally managed using Panorama.

While the consolidation of SD-WAN and security functions is a key requirement, Citrix also understands that organizations may need to keep networking and security management separate. Citrix SD-WAN offers centralized management and supports an automated workflow designed to simplify the multi-site deployments of the Palo Alto Networks VM Series. Once the Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is up and running as a VNF, the next level of security policy management can be done through Panorama.

Combining Advanced SD-WAN with Advanced Security

The integration of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series on Citrix SD-WAN 1100 appliance provides the following benefits:

  • Palo Alto Networks VM-Series inspects all LAN-to-LAN traffic before forwarding. When an infected user or device or application is detected, the threat is blocked before it can spread laterally.
  • Direct internet-bound traffic gets scrubbed clean by the Palo Alto Networks’ NGFW. Because the VM-Series is locally hosted at the WAN edge, users will benefit from minimal latency, higher security efficacy, and enhanced quality of experience overall.
  • Traffic bound for the data center can be steered for local inspection or back-hauled to the central full-stack firewall.

Learn more about Palo Alto Networks and Citrix SD-WAN, and explore Citrix SD-WAN security.