Axis Security launched the Security Service Edge (SSE) Forum. The Forum's mission is to explore the value of security service edge platforms for securing the modern workplace.

The SSE Forum was developed in collaboration with IT leaders from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. who represent a cross section of industries, including beverage, travel, technology, financial services, automotive, manufacturing, hospitality, state, and local government. The SSE Forum brings together CIOs, CISOs, Architects, and IT operators to share strategy, discuss challenges, uncover platform requirements, and discuss best practices related to adopting the SSE framework.

The modern workplace today's IT teams must now enable is an orchestra of various applications, hybrid clouds, business users, user devices, and work locations. In order to securely connect this workplace, IT must evolve from network security technologies to identity and application-based access services instead.

Security Service Edge platforms are integrated, cloud-delivered security services that broker secure connections between authorized users and business resources by using identity and policy. This allows employees to work from anywhere, third-parties to safely access data, and legacy infrastructure to be modernized by the cloud.

SSE architectures are the modern alternative to legacy hub and spoke network architectures, firewalls, and appliance-based infrastructure. SSE extends secure connectivity out to the user's location, and device, through cloud-delivered services - without connecting users to the corporate network, exposing applications or IT infrastructure to the internet, or requiring complex network segmentation.

"I look forward to being part of the SSE Forum team to shape security's future. We have an opportunity to help the industry and other IT leaders understand the value of SSE platforms so that they can help their teams operationalize security more easily, reduce risk, and drive business growth," said Mustapha Kebbeh, Chief Information Security Officer at Brinks Security.  

"I am excited to work with Axis on defining our next generation Secure Service Edge," Tom Parker, VP of IT and CISO at Kayak.

"It's critical to ensure people are secure wherever, and whenever, they choose to work. SSE is the future for companies across the globe and it's fantastic to have the opportunity to be directly involved in something so exciting," Jaye Tillson, Head of Architecture at TT Electronics.

"Most IT practitioners understand that traditional cybersecurity strategies and tools cannot adequately protect the distributed, application-centric enterprise. Yet the transition from siloed, appliance-based tools to integrated, cloud-delivered platforms require a new way of thinking and can present unforeseen challenges," said John Grady, senior analyst, cybersecurity at Enterprise Strategy Group. "The Security Services Edge Forum will enable IT leaders to benefit from the shared experiences of the group to more quickly implement and optimize security service edge architectures in their own environments."

"The forum allows us to work together with IT pioneers to design the IT transformation map that thousands of IT leaders, serving millions of users, will one day follow. It's incredibly exciting," said Gil Azrielant, Axis Security co-founder and CTO. "In doing so, we hope to inspire other IT leaders to confidently adopt SSE and help jumpstart an industry that's been in need of innovation since 2007."

Securing the modern workplace

To secure the modern workplace, IT needs to make sure that no matter what, the exchange of data is always fast, seamless, and secure. Organizations need the ability to inspect every connection to their applications and track every user's activity at a whole new level. Enterprises must support access to any application, from any device, and over any network, until IT can tell exactly who's accessing applications, from where, and what their digital experience looks like. The promise of SSE is that it will reduce complexity and lower costs by reducing the number of vendors required to deliver secure remote access and to do so more securely.