Zuhal Çakır, Fortinet SASE Business Development Manager; Burcu Ağır, Exclusive Networks Sales Consultant; Atakan Oyan, Exclusive Networks Sales Consultant; and Muharrem Aras, Exclusive Networks Technology Director, discussed Fortinet SASE.
Burcu Ağır, Sales Consultant at Exclusive Networks:
Hello, everyone. The traditional approach to security is now a thing of the past. Both users and applications need to operate under the same policies across many different locations. That’s exactly why we’ll be discussing the benefits of the Sasa platform today. Welcome. My first question today is for Zuhal, Fortinet’s SASE Business Development Manager. Zuhal, SASE is a hot topic, but everyone seems to have a different take on it. How does Fortinet define SASE?
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
Whereas in the past we were all accustomed to working in our offices on a 9-to-5 schedule, now cafes, homes, and overseas locations—everywhere—have become our offices. And in fact, we see SASE as an architectural transformation in response to our changing work environment, much like Fortnite. Therefore, SASE is not a product but a concept. It’s a platform-based approach. We could say it represents operational simplicity.
Atakan Oyan, Sales Consultant at Exclusive Networks:
This is exactly where I have a question. How do we interpret SASE at Exclusive Network?
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
We are fully aware of this. In many organizations, the world of security—whether managed through numerous security agents, platforms, networks, or applications—has now evolved into a “consolidated” platform with SASE. We, too, face challenges regarding how to manage this “consolidated” platform in collaboration with valuable vendors like Fortinet. We’re trying to manage this from technical, business, and financial perspectives. Actually, as Zuhal mentioned, this is a platform issue—a transformation story. It doesn’t have just one component; it has many. Perhaps you’d like to elaborate a bit more on the components of this platform, Zuhal.
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
You’ve definitely summarized it very well. Here at Fortinet, we’re a vendor that fully embodies the SASE concept introduced by Gartner in 2019—meaning we can no longer evaluate networking and security within separate frameworks. Why? Because, as you mentioned, we offer all these tools—including “CASB,” network-based “DLP,” “ZTNA,” “Digital Experience Monitoring”—all these tools to our customers through a single agent, and we continue to add new features to our platform every day. Therefore, our interpretation of SASE isn’t about piecing together products from various “vendors,” but rather a platform-based approach to products that are already “natively” integrated with one another.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
Thank you. Well, as security professionals—and speaking as someone who’s been on the front lines of this work, on the management side—security really focuses on two key areas: They come together. On one hand, there’s access management—the access security aspect. On the other hand, there’s application security. Because we’re fully aware of this: With applications, the traditional approach is no longer limited to a single point—such as a system room where we manage the application—as it used to be. At the same time, users are no longer confined to a single, stable location where they simply come to the office to do their work. The user’s computer—the “client” side, the application side, or the user’s location—is changing in many ways. As all of this is changing, we’re also very clearly aware of one thing: we need to manage all of this with a single policy. As Zuhal mentioned earlier, a single policy isn’t enough. We also need a single operational management framework—or, in other words, a “unified management” approach—because there are so many components involved. When we evaluate this from the perspective of Exclusive Network, we’re actually discussing how to integrate the work we’ve been doing with many vendors across various points into SASE.
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
There’s a metaphor we really like to use in our field. With SASE, we’re committed to providing security as if every end-user were in the office—regardless of their location—just as if we’d placed a “firewall” in front of every “endpoint.” At the same time, we deliver operational simplicity. I believe this is our greatest value proposition.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
Yes. We’re struggling with how to standardize policies for each user. So here, with SASE, we’re envisioning a platform where we can manage everything—whether it’s user, application, location, or “client”—with a single, unified policy, or, as you just mentioned, a “firewall,” “DLP,” or “RBI”—all managed through a single platform. And as we evaluate this, we’re also grappling with how to provide “Unified Management”—in terms of centralization—to all users and the team actually running these operations.
Burcu Ağır, Sales Consultant at Exclusive Networks:
So, let’s get to today’s hot topic. “AI”—everyone is using “AI.” Companies don’t want to ban it. But they do have their concerns. What is Fortinet SASE doing in this regard, Zuhal?
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
If we’re talking about a topic, we simply can’t avoid mentioning “AI.” As you mentioned, it’s one of the hottest trends of 2026. To be honest, there’s a study that shows this. I think it will catch everyone’s attention. “ChatGPT” reached 100 million users in just two months. So “AI tools” are now a part of our lives. We’re all using them. We’re making our lives easier. At SASE, we’re committed not to preventing the use of “AI tools,” but to ensuring they operate in a secure environment. How? An end user can chat with “ChatGPT” but cannot upload files. They cannot use a “keyword” that mentions a company name. They cannot enter a prompt related to this. Or, with rules such as not being able to access “data” containing ID numbers or financial information, we can make “AI tools” secure and monitor the end user’s activities. We offer a straightforward approach where IT teams alone decide which tools—such as “Chat GPT” or “Gemini”—can be used and under what conditions.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
We’ve made this very clear. Users can access the internet from any location. They can access company applications from any location. Our existing company applications can be located anywhere—in “private” or “public” environments, or in different platforms like “Amazon” or “Google,” as mentioned earlier. While doing all of this, we need to ensure the user’s security—both in terms of data privacy and data sensitivity—and enable them to clearly perform everything they need to do to engage more securely in their work. At the same time, we also need to secure our own applications. In all these areas, we act as an “AI” interface or “AI gateway,” and our focus is on how we can truly make the user safer and how we can protect our company’s data. Zuhal’s Regarding the first point he mentioned, SASE isn’t just “firewall as a service”—it can also be used in the sense of “consolidation” when we refer to it as “AI as a service” or “AI for security.” Why? As we mentioned earlier, users actually face the challenge of accessing all of these simultaneously—whether through corporate applications or the internet. SASE “consolidation” And that’s actually why we’re offering it as a single platform. What’s the point? In short, at every touchpoint—whether the user wants to go online or access an app—we bring “DLP” right in front of them, all in one place. We present “AI” to the user at a single point. We present “browser” security to the user at a single point. We present “Payroll as a Service” to the user. Just “Payroll as a Service”— Please don’t think of it as “Payroll.” Because one of the biggest features of Fortnite is that it can offer its users “IPS,” “URL,” “ThreatPrevention,” and—as is currently the case— “Threat Intelligence”—to its users in conjunction with “Fortigate.” When we consider all of these from an “AI” perspective, we can use them in the algorithms on the “AI” side wherever needed to make traffic more secure or to enhance user security.
Atakan Oyan, Sales Consultant at Exclusive Networks:
Zuhal, we’re talking about a lot of products and “tools” here—how does Fortnite handle this in terms of licensing and costs? We’d like to know that, too.
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
This is the area where we’re most confident with Fortnite. We’re offering our customers all the modules—such as “CASB,” “ZTNA,” “proxy,” “network-based DLP,” and “Digital Experience Monitoring”—all through a single agent, and to do so, we simply need to know the number of their remote users. I’d say we have a very straightforward and operationally simple licensing model.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
Zuhal’s As he mentioned, we’re talking about a world where we can address many of our needs through a single agent—specifically, the agent we currently use as “EPP” and can also use as “DLP” and for “digital experience management”—where we can truly manage the user’s experience both in the service and “Access” side—and even manage vulnerability management through that same agent. On another note, we’re also discussing the security services we can access via “SASE PoP” points. From this perspective, yes, we’re talking about a simple architecture, and in terms of the licensing model, we offer this to our users and customers based solely on the number of users. We also need to touch on budget figures a bit, because there’s definitely a cost aspect to this. When managing the end-user or customer side, in an “enterprise” environment—as we just mentioned—we had to budget for and manage all of these components: “DLP,” “Firewall,” antivirus, and “EPP.” From this perspective, we’re simplifying a complex structure—which was typical of the traditional security approach—into a single, straightforward licensing model. So, Zuhal, what does this licensing model mean in terms of budget?
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
Let me put it this way. As you mentioned, we’re always talking about the same thing: simplicity and consolidation. In the current traditional security architecture, there are 6–7 different agents on a single computer, and they serve all the modules we just mentioned. We’re actually reducing this to a single agent. Instead of allocating budgets to different vendors and different products, we can solve the entire problem with a single product. According to a global study we conducted, when we provide solutions for all modules through SASE, we can achieve a cost advantage of one-third.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
Because here’s the situation. As we mentioned a moment ago, we’re talking about numerous investments in security. We’re talking about consolidating them. I’ll at least touch on this from an operational perspective. One of the biggest challenges in consolidation is that when we manage the current “Firewall,” “DLP,” or “CASB” systems—or, for that matter, “EPP,” or vulnerability management—we’re talking about the challenges we face in getting used to a separate management interface for each of these, each requiring its own set of skills. As Zuhal just mentioned, consolidating all of these into a single solution does lead to a more reasonable cost structure. On the other hand, there’s a second layer to the cost: resource management. Because we previously needed separate teams to manage each of these areas. But with SASE, we’re now able to manage this with a single resource—or a few resources—capable of handling multiple products, or to operate the system effectively.
Burcu Ağır, Sales Consultant at Exclusive Networks:
Thank you. My last question is for Zuhal. From a customer experience perspective at SASE, what are the implications? How does this affect the end user? We’d like to know that as well.
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
At Fortinet, this is how we view the issue. We must not compromise the user experience while enhancing security. Because we provide a service that supports endpoints, any issue experienced by an endpoint reflects a failure of our product. In this regard, we’ve had a permanent POP in Istanbul for SASE in Turkey since 2024. This demonstrates our belief in the Turkish market, our confidence in it, and how much we value the user experience. We also have over 200 POPs globally. No matter where a user is, they can connect to the POP closest to them and continue their daily activities securely. The POP in Turkey is a critical issue. This is because SASE solutions that route traffic through foreign countries experience significant latency. While ensuring security, we’re rendering users unable to work. Therefore, user experience is one of our top priorities. There’s also a second aspect here—the other side of the coin. We didn’t compromise the end-user experience; we ensured they could access systems quickly. However, when we look at the management side, with our “Digital Experience Monitoring tool,” even in a factory with 10,000 employees or any workplace, the moment a user calls and says, “My internet is slow,” we can see on a single screen whether the issue is with the user’s “CPU,” Is there a problem with the application they’re trying to access, or is the speed of the “SSID” they’re connected to insufficient? We can see all of this on a single screen. This provides a significant level of convenience for IT teams.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
We may also need to add this part. One of the reasons this technology emerged is the issue of “Service Availability.” Why? Because in the traditional world, for every 10 “frames” we deployed, we needed to have a backup for the devices on that side in some way. We had to ensure that both the backup and the active device were functioning properly. SASE achieves this by serving all users simultaneously through multiple access points; if any access point becomes “unavailable” or fails, it routes users to a new access point with the same policies, the same “service availability,” or the same customer experience—or by routing them to the destination they actually want to reach or the point on the internet they wish to access—SASE provides significant benefits to end users in terms of both “latency” and “service availability.” I’d like to thank both Atakan and Burcu for their questions, as well as you for your contributions. I’d like to provide a brief summary. We discussed many simplifications. We discussed consolidation. We discussed the licensing model. We discussed how budget figures have become truly meaningful in the SASE world. For more details on SASE, I’d like to direct you to Zuhal at Fortinet and my colleagues on the sales team at Exclusive Networks. If you have any technical questions, please feel free to direct them to the relevant technical contacts at Exclusive Networks or to me at any time. Because, as we mentioned a moment ago, we’re not talking about a single product. We’re talking about many products, and this trend will continue. Our vendors are continuing to add products to this consolidation or SASE framework. Zuhal, I’d be very happy if you could briefly mention Fortinet’s vision leading up to 2030 in this context.
Zuhal Çakır, SASE Business Development Manager at Fortinet:
Thank you very much, Muharrem. That was a very enjoyable conversation. Thank you all very much as well. Today, we discussed not only SASE but also where we’re headed and our vision for the future. Therefore, we view SASE as the inevitable culmination of the transformation we’re undergoing. And, as you mentioned, I’d like to wrap up with a very interesting study related to 2030. By 2030, the “Firewall” market—in which we are also a key player—is expected to generate approximately $20 billion in revenue. This is because the market has now reached maturity. However, in the SASE market, revenue is projected to reach $40 billion by 2030. Consequently, we’ve entered an era where all vendors are shifting their focus here and adopting the SASE architecture. For those hearing this for the first time today, we can compare this to the transformations we’ve witnessed together. We’ve experienced the shift from “on-prem” to “cloud” together. We’ve experienced the transition from “NPLS” connections to “ST1” together. I can say that we are now entering a new era where we will collectively experience the transition from legacy VPN architectures to SASE.
Muharrem Aras, Chief Technology Officer at Exclusive Networks:
Thank you. You summarized that very well. For more details and content, we’ll be continuing with a video on the technical side in our video series. My colleagues will go into much greater detail, but as we mentioned, this isn’t a topic that can be covered in just one video or a single explanation. Within the framework of “Transformation and 2030,” as Zuhal mentioned, all of our manufacturers are moving forward with a truly expanding vision. If you have any questions, you can reach out to either Exclusive Networks or Fortinet at any time. We’d like to thank everyone watching.
The End of the Traditional Security Approach and the Rise of SASE
Traditional security approaches are beginning to fall short in today’s rapidly changing digital world. Users and applications now need to operate under the same security policies across different locations. This is where SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platforms come into play to address this need. By integrating security and network services into a cloud-based platform, SASE enables users and applications to access resources securely from anywhere.
What Is SASE and Why Is It Important?
SASE is a concept introduced by Gartner in 2019. This concept refers to the delivery of network and security services as a single integrated offering. While traditional approaches treat networking and security as separate entities, SASE combines these two elements. This makes it easier for users and applications to access resources securely from different locations. Companies such as Fortinet view SASE not as a product but as a platform approach and offer solutions accordingly.
Components and Functions of SASE
SASE platforms consist of various components. These include tools such as CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker), ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access), DLP (Data Loss Prevention), and Digital Experience Monitoring. These components work together in an integrated manner to ensure the security of users and applications. Fortinet delivers these components through a single agent, providing operational simplicity and cost savings.
AI and SASE: The Future of Security
Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a significant role in the field of security, just as it does in many other areas today. SASE platforms aim to enhance the security of users and applications by integrating AI tools. For example, a user can interact with an AI tool like ChatGPT but cannot upload files or perform operations involving sensitive data. Rules like these ensure that AI tools are used securely.
Cost and Licensing Benefits of SASE
SASE platforms offer a simpler and more cost-effective licensing model compared to traditional security solutions. Fortinet adopts a user-based licensing model by delivering all modules through a single agent. This makes it possible to meet all security needs through a single platform, rather than allocating separate budgets to different vendors and products.
User Experience and SASE
SASE platforms aim to enhance security without compromising the user experience. Fortinet enables users to access the network securely from the nearest location through numerous access points in Turkey and around the world. This ensures that users enjoy a fast and seamless experience. Additionally, issues encountered by users can be quickly identified and resolved using Digital Experience Monitoring tools.
Looking to the Future: SASE’s Vision
SASE is seen as part of a transformation in which security and networking services will be delivered together in the future. The SASE market is expected to experience significant growth by 2030. This signals a period in which all vendors are turning their attention to this area and adopting the SASE architecture. Companies such as Fortinet are playing a leading role in this transformation and are shaping their vision for the future accordingly.
Summary
In today’s world, where traditional security approaches fall short, SASE enables users and applications to access resources securely from anywhere by integrating security and networking services. Companies like Fortinet view SASE as a platform-based approach, offering significant advantages in areas such as operational simplicity, cost efficiency, and user experience. In the future, SASE is expected to become even more widespread and play a significant role in the field of security.
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