Netskope Announces Netskope Network Visionaries, An Elite Advisory Group Focused on Network Transformation

Joined by industry luminaries Elaine Feeney and Alan Hannan, formerly of AWS and Crowdstrike, new group brings wealth of additional cloud, hyperscale, security, and networking expertise to Netskope

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Netskope, the leader in Security Service Edge (SSE) and Zero Trust, today announced the formation of Netskope Network Visionaries, a new advisory group focused on the critical role network transformation plays in application, data and security transformation as modern enterprises embrace hybrid work. Inaugural members include well-known industry veterans Elaine Feeney and Alan Hannan, who will work closely with Netskope and its customers on the networking and infrastructure investments required on-premises and in the cloud to support the requirements of a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture.

Enterprises are rapidly adopting SASE and applying Zero Trust principles to safeguard data everywhere, support digital transformation efforts, and simplify and achieve better return-on-investment for their technology. According to Gartner, by 2025, at least 60% of enterprises will have explicit strategies and timelines for SASE adoption encompassing user, branch and edge access, up from 10% in 2020¹.

But to succeed, SASE requires transforming the underlying network and also incorporating key infrastructure elements such as edge compute and network peering that support the convergence of networking and security. As Netskope has demonstrated with a $100M+ investment in its NewEdge security private cloud, positioning data-centric security as close to the user as possible, with fast low-latency on-ramps, efficient traffic processing, and optimized access to the applications and content that matter most to enterprises—all without degrading performance—is key to a SASE-ready architecture.

As the world's largest, fastest, and highest-performing security private cloud, Netskope NewEdge powers the real-time, inline and out-of-band, API-driven security services of Netskope Intelligent SSE, allowing security to be deployed at the edge where and when it's needed and accelerating how enterprises adopt SASE, while eliminating performance trade-offs..

The new Netskope Network Visionaries advisory team will focus on:

• Providing insights on the most important issues and key challenges affecting networking and infrastructure leaders
• Evangelizing the critical role of network architecture, design, and performance in successful SASE and SSE implementations
• Identifying and sharing customer and industry best practices for SASE and Zero Trust
• Influencing the strategic direction of Netskope and its product roadmap to ensure tight alignment with network transformation and the mission of networking and infrastructure leaders

Currently an advisor for PointOne Development Corp., Elaine Feeney was previously Vice President of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Infrastructure Global Expansion, responsible for expanding AWS' worldwide data center facilities and network infrastructure. At AWS, she oversaw the strategy, planning, and contracting of data center facilities, edge nodes/POPs, dark fiber, and subsea cable network connectivity with the aim of continually increasing the AWS portfolio globally. Prior to AWS, Elaine held leadership roles at Fortune 100 companies including Sun Microsystems, Citibank, and MCI. Elaine has been recognized as a strong technical leader by achieving numerous "Outstanding Women in Business," "Entrepreneur of the Year," and "CEO of the Year" awards.

"For years enterprises have struggled to find solutions that deliver effective security without negatively impacting the speed of service," said Elaine Feeney. "With NewEdge, Netskope has an extensive global infrastructure of full compute data centers with elaborate peering that eliminates this trade-off. Now customers can have both security and speed by leveraging Netskope's investment in the infrastructure and team to make this possible. Coming from one of the world's largest public cloud providers, I understand the unique value that Netskope has created and am pleased to work closely with the industry leaders that Netskope has attracted as they transform the networking and security industry."

Alan Hannan is currently an advisor to Crowdstrike, where he previously served as Vice President of Technical Operations and Engineering. A widely renowned expert in public and private cloud networking, optimizing Internet paths, backbone ISP, and other networking disciplines, Alan has also held leadership roles at UUNET, Global Crossing, Aruba Networks, Fast Data Delivery, Alcatel-Lucent, Oort, and Internap Network Services.

"Success in SASE happens when enterprises also prioritize network performance and architecture," said Alan Hannan. "Netskope recognized early on that these things matter, and prioritized the building of NewEdge—and a focus on critical requirements for network transformation—alongside their industry-leading security portfolio. I'm very excited to support this next stage of their journey as a Netskope Network Visionary."

The launch of Netskope Network Visionaries marks the latest in a series of key network networking transformation milestones and networking-related alliance partnerships for Netskope. Continuing its mission to offer security without performance trade-offs, Netskope today offers full-compute data centers for NewEdge in more than 50 regions worldwide, offering customers the lowest latency and highest-performing network infrastructure backed by unmatched, industry-leading Service Level Agreements. Every data center is accessible to every customer without additional fees or surcharges, with all Netskope Security Cloud services available, including cloud firewall, secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, zero trust network access, and more.

"We bet on building the world's most well-connected network, NewEdge, back when the industry was still looking at us as 'only' a security vendor. In doing so, Netskope today is uniquely able to deliver what's needed for SASE without sacrificing network performance," said Joe DePalo, SVP, Platform Engineering at Netskope. "We are honored to welcome top-caliber industry talent in Elaine and Alan as Netskope Network Visionaries, joining our distinguished roster of networking experts to help our customers at every stage of their successful SASE journey."

For more on Netskope, SASE, and network transformation:

• Read the Netskope blog from Netskope Network Visionary Elaine Feeney
• Watch an in-depth video conversation on network transformation featuring Elaine Feeney and Joe DePalo
• Visit netskope.com for more on Netskope SASE, Intelligent SSE, and NewEdge.

Netskope NewEdge is the security private cloud that powers the portfolio of real-time, inline and out-of-band Netskope Security Cloud services, including FWaaS, SWG, CASB, ZTNA and more. Powered today by data centers in more than 57 regions, each with full compute, extensive peering, the full stack of SSE services, plus accessible to every customer without surcharges, NewEdge is one of the largest and most well-connected networks in the world.

To give customers the confidence in sending their traffic to NewEdge, Netskope is completely transparent with its support terms, including details of its industry-best Service Level Agreements for uptime/availability and latency, as well as the Netskope Trust Portal which provides real-time, publicly-accessible status of Netskope's global data centers and services, plus updates on incidents and maintenance.

Netskope, a global cybersecurity leader, is redefining cloud, data, and network security to help organizations apply Zero Trust principles to protect data. The Netskope Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE) platform is fast, easy to use, and secures people, devices, and data anywhere they go. Netskope helps customers reduce risk, accelerate performance, and get unrivaled visibility into any cloud, web, and private application activity. Thousands of customers, including more than 25 of the Fortune 100, trust Netskope and its powerful NewEdge network to address evolving threats, new risks, technology shifts, organizational and network changes, and new regulatory requirements. Learn how Netskope helps customers be ready for anything on their SASE journey, visit netskope.com.

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¹ Gartner, "Critical Capabilities for Security Service Edge," John Watts, Craig Lawson, Charlie Winckless, Aaron McQuaid, February 16, 2022

SOURCE Netskope