Global spending on Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technologies is forecast to reach US$97 billion between 2025 and 2030, nearly tripling the total outlays recorded over the previous five-year period, according to a new report from market research firm Dell’Oro Group.
The forecast, which covers combined spending across Security Service Edge (SSE) and Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technologies, points to a structural shift in enterprise network design. Dell’Oro said security risk and governance requirements, rather than traditional routing considerations, are increasingly shaping how organisations architect connectivity.
“Security policy is no longer a downstream control that follows network design,” said Mauricio Sanchez, senior director for enterprise security and networking at Dell’Oro Group. “It is becoming the architectural layer that dictates how access and connectivity are built. Enterprises are aligning WAN and security decisions around governance, accountability and audit readiness, instead of treating SD-WAN and SSE as separate technology choices.”
According to the report, enterprises are increasingly positioning SSE as the central policy layer for access control, traffic inspection and audit readiness. This reflects growing pressure from tighter risk governance, regulatory disclosure requirements and heightened exposure to AI-driven threats. Buyers are prioritising platforms that allow centralised policy definition with consistent enforcement across distributed users, applications and cloud environments.
SD-WAN, meanwhile, is evolving into the execution layer for enterprise security policy. Dell’Oro said SD-WAN selection is now more heavily influenced by how well platforms can align traffic routing, performance and visibility with centrally defined security policies, as enforcement shifts upstream into cloud-delivered controls.
The report also notes a continued decline in the strategic importance of traditional access routers. As SD-WAN and SSE increasingly absorb routing, access control and inspection functions, access routers are being retained primarily in scenarios driven by regulatory requirements, latency sensitivity or legacy infrastructure constraints.
Dell’Oro said the forecast reflects a broader rethinking of enterprise networking, as organisations move toward architectures designed around risk management and auditability rather than hardware-centric network design.
