The largest networking and cybersecurity vendors are going after a grand plan: more integrated cybersecurity platforms that can help customers merge and consolidate tools, features, and consoles for network and cloud security. This is likely to remain a strong, long-term trend, according to recent survey data from Futuriom .

The survey data reflects a strong need for cybersecurity purchasers to reduce the number of vendors they work with as well as to streamline functions. Some 92% of respondents to our survey (N=144) said their organization is looking to consolidate cybersecurity functions through a single-vendor or platform-oriented SASE strategy. Only 2% said no.

The question is no longer whether consolidation happens but which vendors the customer will pick as a trusted partner to guide the platform consolidation.

SASE Platform Survey Details

The Futuriom Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform Evolution survey was sent to 144 respondents who were individually qualified as technology professionals involved in IT or security operations. The survey results were filtered to include only director-level or executive management. Director-level executives made up 55% of the sample, or 80 respondents, while 44%, or 64 respondents, identified as executive management/CxO.

Overall, the survey results showed that cybersecurity practitioners and network operators are demanding a more integrated approach to delivering Secure Access Service Edge, Security Service Edge, and other security functions.

These functions proliferated over the years as venture-capital firms funded hundreds of companies pursuing pieces of this market with products handling functions such as software-defined WAN, cloud access security broker, and zero-trust network access. After years of consolidation, these functions are being rolled up into more fully featured platforms. The platforms that succeed the most will be the ones that answer the cybersecurity practitioner goals of ease-of-use and integration.

For the end users that were surveyed, the top perceived benefits of a consolidated SASE platform include improved security visibility and analytics (69%), reducing operational complexity (58%), and an improved user experience/performance (44%).

Cloud and AI Trends Accelerate the Need

The growth of cloud services and AI means more machines and data will be connected at an unprecedented rate, and the growth of connected applications is accelerating.

In this environment, cybersecurity vendors are flourishing, and network security companies are especially doing well. For example, the share prices of Cisco, Cloudflare, and Palo Alto Networks have hit all-time highs this year with strong demand for their products.

But as we believe the survey results reflect, there’s still more work to do. The cybersecurity market is experiencing immense growth, but users are still frustrated by a proliferation of tools.

Even though the bulk of enterprise applications still lie outside of the cloud, the trend is toward more applications being connected outside of a traditional enterprise network domain, which includes datacenters and/or campus environments “behind the firewall.” Users and workloads are spread across SaaS, public cloud, private cloud, and edge locations, and security policy needs to follow the user, device, application, and data flows. Traditional perimeter security is not well suited to this model.

The emergence of specialized functions such as SD-WAN, CASB, and ZTNA are demanded by applications that may not lie inside of the enterprise perimeter. These functions will continue to grow and be subsumed into larger cybersecurity platforms that define the movement toward unified SASE, a goal that’s also being promoted by some of the few remaining independent companies in the market, such as Versa Networks.

One Goal of Unified SASE? Reducing Console Crunch

The pain is easy to see. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents (66%) are running four or more network security or SASE vendors, and close to 70% are juggling at least four separate management consoles.

Managing multiple consoles was the top operational challenge cited by 44% of respondents, followed closely by performance troubleshooting complexity (42%), inconsistent policies across tools (38%), and vendor interoperability issues (34%).

Customers are clear about what they want done about it. Some 92% said reducing the number of SASE, SSE, and network security consoles is important or critical—one of the strongest consensus results in the survey. And 94% said a single integrated data lake inside the SASE platform is important or critical. In other words, customers want consolidation, not just at the product level but at the management and data layers, too.

AI Makes Digital Sovereignty Another Driver

AI and data privacy is raising the stakes for digital sovereignty, which is another big driver of end-user security needs. As global governments increasingly police how data is handled as it traverses networks and clouds, customers need a handle on this data compliance.

Some 88% called digital sovereignty “critical” or “very important” in their SASE evaluation, and not a single respondent called it unimportant. Control over where data and security infrastructure live is now a platform requirement.

Staffing is another factor. Some 88% said IT skills shortages are a major or moderate driver of their interest in SASE consolidation. Enterprises can’t hire their way out of tool sprawl.

Decision-making is also moving up the org chart. CIOs and CTOs hold the most influence over SASE platform decisions (36%), with CEO and board-level influence second (20%)—ahead of CISOs (13%). SASE is increasingly viewed as an enterprise infrastructure decision, not a narrow security purchase.

The Multivendor Muddle: Vendors Race to Build Platforms

This data points to continued consolidation in the market, as users look to streamline vendor platforms and tools. While 44% said they are consolidating toward a single strategic vendor, another 26% are reducing vendors while keeping a multivendor architecture, and 21% plan to retain best-of-breed tools with selective integration. Today, half of respondents run single-vendor SASE spanning SSE and SD-WAN, but nearly half still use two or more vendors.

And 82% said multivendor visibility and operations remain a key part of their SASE strategy. The winning platforms will need to pair tight integration with the ability to see and manage what’s already deployed.

Customers also have real concerns about execution. The biggest perceived risks of consolidation were migration complexity (51%), transition cost (44%), performance limitations (44%), and vendor lock-in (40%). Only 13% cited internal resistance. The hesitation isn’t cultural—it’s about whether vendors can deliver.

The major vendors are all heading toward building unified platforms, but in some cases this is slowed down by complicated portfolios assembled through M&A. Integration is always slow.

Palo Alto Networks has made “platformization” a corporate rallying cry, converging Prisma Access, Prisma SD-WAN, and Prisma Browser under Strata Cloud Manager. Cisco is attacking the console problem with Cisco Cloud Control and unified Catalyst and SASE management, though functionality remains spread across products such as Meraki, Viptela, and Duo.

Fortinet (FortiOS) and Versa Networks (VersaONE) have single-OS stories that position them well in the market. Versa is one of the view independent SASE vendors left and it’s preparing for a potential IPO. It also recently printed some of the best firewall test results from CyberRatings.org and NSS Labs .

Netskope and Zscaler are extending strong SSE franchises into networking, data, and AI security, but they are challenged by having smaller feature sets and less resources than larger competitors such as Palo Alto and Cisco. Cloudflare has been expanding its SSE offerings and pitches a programmable SASE built on its global network.

Based on the data we have collected, we believe the ideal future SASE platform will have to consolidate a single operating system, a single management console, a single point of policy control, and reduced data lakes. And it should be deliverable on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid mode across WAN, LAN, cloud, and remote users.

The payoff can be significant. Futuriom research estimates that by unifying SASE, a customer can achieve total savings of 20% to 50% across deployments by reducing the burden of troubleshooting, licensing, and infrastructure management.

Disclosure: Futuriom provides paid research and marketing services to technology companies, with the goal of providing accurate and objective insight into how cloud and AI infrastructure markets are evolving. These services include subscription research, custom research, and report sponsorships. In the past twelve months, some of the companies mentioned in this article have purchased research services from Futuriom, including Cisco and Versa Networks. As a policy, the author holds no positions in individual technology stocks covered in articles.