Best SD-WAN and SASE providers for financial services (2026)

1. No. 1 · Score 95.8

   Cato Networks

   Cloud-native SASE / SD-WAN platform · Typical deployment: hours

   Cato runs SSL/TLS inspection, DLP and segmentation through a single policy engine, which is the main reason it tops this list for financial services. For an institution working through PCI-DSS scoping, having one system handling all three means the cardholder data environment is defined in one place, with one set of logs, rather than pieced together from several products that each log things slightly differently.

   The segmentation side works the same way. ATMs, branch teller networks, corporate office traffic and remote wealth manager devices can be put into separate segments and that policy applies consistently across every site - there isn't a separate VRF configuration that has to be kept in line with the security policy on top.

   Watch out: if an institution is already running Zscaler or Netskope as its SSE layer, and that's already been through security review or sits inside a current PCI-DSS attestation, Cato's all-in-one approach doesn't really sit alongside that. Moving to Cato in that situation means re-doing the attestation against a new stack, which is a much bigger piece of work than the hours-to-deploy figure suggests on its own.

   Contact Cato Networks via Netify ↗

2. No. 2 · Score 92.6

   Versa Networks

   SD-WAN / SASE technology vendor · Typical deployment: weeks

   Multi-tenancy from the ground up, making Versa a common choice for service providers and carriers building managed SD-WAN and SASE platforms.

   Watch out: Less well-known to enterprise buyers as a direct purchase; most enterprise consumption is via service providers.

   Contact Versa Networks via Netify ↗

3. No. 3 · Score 92.4

   Fortinet

   Secure SD-WAN / SASE technology vendor · Typical deployment: days

   Native convergence of networking and security on a single operating system (FortiOS) across FortiGate edge, FortiManager and FortiSASE.

   Watch out: Like Cisco, managed delivery is via partners rather than Fortinet directly; underlay and field operations are not owned by the vendor.

   Contact Fortinet via Netify ↗

4. No. 4 · Score 92.1

   Palo Alto Networks

   SD-WAN / SASE technology vendor · Typical deployment: weeks

   Palo Alto sits in the top 10 despite a lower overall score than the managed providers above it, mainly because of Prisma SASE's threat prevention and DLP depth. For PCI-DSS, cloud-native DLP and deep SSL/TLS inspection are built into the platform rather than added as extras, which means an institution's cardholder data environment can be defined in terms that map directly onto Palo Alto's own policy model.

   ADEM - digital experience management - adds something most of the others on this list don't have in the same way. It's not just that latency-sensitive traffic gets prioritised through dynamic path selection, but that there's visibility into whether that prioritisation is actually delivering the latency a trading desk needs. Confirming a policy is configured and confirming a SWIFT message is arriving within tolerance are two different things, and ADEM is built to show the second one.

   Watch out: all of this comes at a price point that's noticeably higher than firewall-led SD-WAN vendors, and the commercial model needs careful scoping across users, bandwidth, locations and term. For a large retail branch network, where the segmentation needs at each branch are fairly standard, Prisma's full depth may not be proportionate at every site in the way it would be for a trading floor or data centre. Worth modelling the economics against the actual mix of sites rather than an average across the whole estate.

   Contact Palo Alto Networks via Netify ↗

5. No. 5 · Score 91.8

   HPE Aruba Networking

   SD-WAN / SSE / branch technology vendor · Typical deployment: days

   EdgeConnect SD-WAN (acquired with Silver Peak) is positioned as the foundation for single-vendor SASE alongside Aruba SSE.

   Watch out: Aruba SSE is newer than the SSE leaders (Zscaler, Netskope); buyers wanting best-of-breed SASE should evaluate the SSE capability set carefully.

   Contact HPE Aruba Networking via Netify ↗

6. No. 6 · Score 89.4

   Aryaka

   Managed SD-WAN / SASE provider · Typical deployment: days

   Unified SASE delivered as a managed service from end to end, including the private global core network and WAN optimisation.

   Watch out: Smaller PoP footprint and partner ecosystem than the hyperscale SASE vendors; coverage must match your geographic profile.

   Contact Aryaka via Netify ↗

7. No. 7 · Score 89

   AT&T Business

   Global carrier managed SD-WAN / SASE provider · Typical deployment: months

   AT&T offer multi-vendor platform options, including Fortinet for AT&T SASE, which means a large retail bank with thousands of branch ATMs and a trading floor don't have to be forced into the same architecture. The portfolio can be matched to the site rather than applying one approach across the whole estate.

   There's also established peering into AWS, Azure and Google Cloud as part of AT&T's carrier-scale infrastructure, which is relevant given how much core banking workload now sits across both on-premises and cloud.

   Watch out: because the platform proposed varies by service tier, DLP and SSL/TLS inspection capability isn't consistent across an AT&T-delivered estate. For an institution with a large branch network, that means the PCI-DSS audit boundary has to be worked out site by site - confirming which platform is actually deployed where, rather than assuming it's the same everywhere based on the initial proposal.

   Contact AT&T Business via Netify ↗

8. No. 8 · Score 88.6

   NTT DATA / NTT Ltd.

   Global managed network provider · Typical deployment: months

   NTT runs global operations centres on a 24x7 basis, with a follow-the-sun handover between regions. For trading desks operating across time zones, that means latency-sensitive paths get continuous monitoring regardless of which centre is currently covering.

   The portal visibility NTT provides is also useful for compliance teams specifically - the kind of evidence a QSA wants around how cardholder data traffic is monitored and segmented is available on an ongoing basis, rather than something that has to be pulled together specifically ahead of an assessment.

   Watch out: NTT doesn't build its own platform, and wraps its managed service around Palo Alto, Zscaler and others depending on the deployment. So the actual DLP and SSL/TLS inspection depth available depends on which platform sits underneath in a given case. NTT's overall score reflects the strength of the managed service, but the cardholder data environment boundary for PCI-DSS purposes is a separate question that depends on the platform, and needs working out before the audit scope can be finalised.

   Contact NTT DATA / NTT Ltd. via Netify ↗

9. No. 9 · Score 88.2

   Verizon Business

   Global carrier managed SD-WAN / SASE provider · Typical deployment: months

   Verizon's North American network has carried latency-sensitive financial traffic for a long time, and that experience carries over into the managed SD-WAN service. Dynamic path selection for trading feeds and core banking ledger traffic is running on infrastructure that's already proven for this kind of use, rather than something adapted afterwards.

   International delivery extends well beyond the US too, which matters for institutions with cross-border trading desks or correspondent banking relationships in other regions.

   Watch out: the underlying platform is largely Versa-based, and for an institution running part of its estate on a different SD-WAN technology, that creates two different segmentation models to maintain. The VRF structure separating ATMs, branch banking, corporate traffic and wealth manager access is built around Versa's specific implementation - so keeping a single audit-ready segmentation standard across both platforms becomes extra reconciliation work for compliance, and the overall audit scope ends up larger than it would be on one platform.

   Contact Verizon Business via Netify ↗

10. No. 10 · Score 88

    BT Business / BT Global

    Global/UK managed SD-WAN / SASE provider · Typical deployment: weeks

    BT's main advantage for financial services comes from owning the access circuits. For latency-sensitive traffic like SWIFT messaging or interbank settlement feeds, dynamic path selection depends on having control over the path itself - and when BT owns both the underlay and the policy steering traffic onto it, a degrading circuit is something BT's own engineers deal with directly, rather than something that needs chasing with a separate access provider.

    For UK-regulated institutions, that ownership also helps with the operational resilience expectations under PRA and FCA rules, since there's one provider managing connectivity end to end rather than several access circuits from different suppliers each needing their own risk assessment.

    Watch out: BT doesn't run a single platform across its SD-WAN portfolio, and the VRF and micro-segmentation capability for separating ATM traffic from branch teller networks differs depending on which platform is used. An institution might evaluate BT based on one platform's segmentation model during procurement, then find a different platform proposed at contract stage - at which point the segmentation boundaries it had assessed for audit purposes may not match what's actually deployed.

    Contact BT Business / BT Global via Netify ↗

Scores are weighted across 40 capabilities with points accrued based on: yes 1.0, via partner 0.75, via managed service 0.65, partial 0.5, not confirmed 0.15, not primary 0. Extended dimensions are indicative desk research; confirm via RFP.