VMware announced an agreement with BT to offer multinational customers more choice and flexibility in how they embrace a cloud-first approach to networking, security, and edge computing.

Under the terms of the agreement, BT will offer its customers VMware Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) as a global managed service, combining BT's extensive networking capabilities and in-depth security expertise with VMware technology.

The launch of the BT-managed service builds on the strong partnership between the companies. BT already offers a managed service based on VMware SD-WAN.

The new managed service will help customers accelerate their digital transformation by providing employees wherever they are with flexible, more secure, and reliable access to cloud-based applications and services deployed in public and private clouds, SaaS, or at the enterprise edge. It will support the adoption of the latest digital technologies and workstyles, including IoT and hybrid working.  

As part of the single-vendor ecosystem managed service, BT will provide full end-to-end support across networking and security, protecting access to applications and data across private, hybrid and multi-clouds. This will remove complexity for customers on adopting a full SASE approach and will be especially compelling for those looking to transform both networking and security operations.

 VMware's comprehensive cloud-delivered SASE solution brings together:

• Network performance benefits of SD-WAN
• Integrated security services delivered from the cloud
• The ability to support modern distributed applications, all of which will benefit from artificial intelligence for IT operations, or AIOps, for faster problem resolution. 
  

These capabilities are delivered as a service from a global network of over 150 points of presence (PoPs) deployed by VMware and its SASE service provider partners. BT will peer its network PoPs with VMware PoPs, so customers have an enhanced end user experience on the VMware platform.

The new BT-managed VMware SASE service will launch with features including URL filtering; in-line cloud access security broker (CASB) to protect user activity; content filtering to reduce attack surfaces; and content inspection to protect against malware attacks.

For customers looking to adopt hybrid workstyles, BT will provide VMware Secure Access. This zero-trust network access service allows only trusted devices and remote workers to access enterprise applications hosted on premises or in the cloud.

VMware and BT plan to work together to introduce new features to the managed service over the coming months.

Scott Cowling, Director, Software Defined Networks, BT, said, "Many organizations are deploying cloud networking with SD-WAN technology. SASE takes this approach to the next level with an architecture that enables delivery of networking, security, and edge compute services from the cloud. Launching our managed VMware SASE solution will help customers address networking and security challenges seamlessly as one."

Craig Connors, vice president and general manager for VMware's SASE business, said, "Leading service providers like BT have modernized their networks so they can deliver a new category of services to enterprise customers. SASE has emerged as the blueprint for modern networking and security, and we are pleased BT has selected VMware SASE to simplify their customers' multi-cloud journey."