The 10 Coolest New Networking Products Of 2023 (So Far)

The coolest networking products and services to hit the market so far this year include offerings around SASE, private cellular connectivity and cloud-based network management.

New To The Networking Game

Automation, security at the edge of the network, and managing an entire network environment from anywhere have been among the most sought-after networking solutions so far this year.

With that in mind, some of the IT market’s largest networking specialists, including Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and Cisco Systems, came armed with cloud-first networking and network management offerings that are filling the gaps for businesses looking to enhance security while doing more with fewer resources and trying to save time and money in the process. At the same time, networking newcomers, such as multi-cloud networking upstart Prosimo and Networking-as-a-Service player Nile, are coming in hot this year with new security features and tools to help enterprises and partners design, build, troubleshoot and manage their increasingly complex network environments.

And then there is the secure access service edge (SASE) trend, which many SD-WAN and security-focused vendors are now leaning into, as well as private 5G solutions as businesses embrace new forms of secure connectivity to get the job done.

With many options on the market to choose from this year, here are 10 of the coolest new networking products of 2023 so far.

Aruba Central Network Management Platform

Auvik Network Management

Celona Private Indoor/Outdoor 5G Access Points

Cisco Networking Cloud

Extreme Networks’ ExtremeCloud Edge

Comcast Masergy Managed SD-WAN

Juniper Networks

Nile NaaS Platform

Perimeter 81 SASE

Prosimo Cloud Networking Suite

Aruba Central Network Management Platform

Networking heavyweight Aruba’s flagship network management platform, HPE Aruba Networking Central, was upgraded in April.

The latest generation of Aruba Central includes an operator-centric design with a simplified user experience for more people across all skill levels, a “time-travel” feature, which Aruba is calling the first in the industry that gives contextually correlated “point-in-time” views of the network for recovery in minutes to a specific point, and multilayer physical and logical “sunburst” topology views for the viewing of large, complex networks. It also includes intelligent assurance indicators for device health and customer experience, AI-powered full-stack insight for enhanced root cause analysis, impact assessment, and precise recommendations and device-agnostic day zero and day one workflows with API support to automate network configurations at scale, according to the company.

The updated Aruba Central takes advantage of the AI and the data lake that supports the AI that comes from Aruba customers to help enterprises better automate their workflows, view relevant data and manage the network, the company said. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Aruba believes it has the most relevant, integrated data lakes for networks in the industry.

Auvik Network Management

Network management provider Auvik Networks comes to market with two distinct offerings, one being the Auvik Network Management product that can begin monitoring and managing a business’ network environment in under an hour. The offering’s features include IT asset management, NetFlow analysis, performance monitoring, and configuration backup and recovery. The product lets enterprises and channel partners intelligently analyze network traffic, access the network from anywhere and manage distributed sites, all while putting privacy and security first, according to Auvik.

The Ontario, Canada-based company in July launched its first official partner program aimed at significantly boosting its channel business and going after the enterprise.

Celona Private Indoor/Outdoor 5G Access Points

Private wireless provider Celona in February unveiled its portfolio of new private 5G offerings for the enterprise, including a suite of indoor and outdoor 5G New Radio (NR) products for U.S. and global markets. The three new access points include the indoor AP-20, which offers both 4G and 5G connectivity concurrently in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, solving the problem that businesses are running into because many cellular technologies are not backward-compatible, according to the upstart. Celona also introduced the 5G-only indoor AP-22 and the industrial integrated 5G outdoor AP-21.

The APs are available now through the Campbell, Calif.-based company’s channel partners. All components of Celona’s 5G private wireless platform are sold on a single Software-as-a-Service license, with three- and five-year subscription options.

Cisco Networking Cloud

Following in the footsteps of its Security Cloud platform, the tech giant debuted its Cisco Networking Cloud strategy in June.

While not a product, Cisco Networking Cloud is a platform approach to managing the entire on-premises and cloud-based networking environment for businesses. The company’s vision for Cisco Networking Cloud is to make managing networks easier by converging its disparate offerings over time to create a unified network management platform that works on-premises and in the cloud.

The first steps toward progress on the Cisco Networking Cloud strategy include a few features that were rolled out last month, including single sign-on to simplify access across Cisco networking platforms, an API key exchange/repository that when linked with single sign-on can make it easier for disparate Cisco networking platforms to connect and exchange data through automation, cross-platform navigation and a common user interface across Cisco networking platforms, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based company.

Extreme Networks’ ExtremeCloud Edge

Networking specialist Extreme Networks in May introduced ExtremeCloud Edge, a way to simplify cloud choice to create a “one network” experience, according to the Morrisville, N.C.-based company.

The ExtremeCloud Edge platform spans public, private, and edge cloud deployments to help enterprises and channel partners reduce the complexity and operating costs associated with managing a wide spectrum of cloud use cases. The company said that ExtremeCloud Edge gives enterprises more choice and flexibility when it comes to running networking applications, including management, analytics and AI, from anywhere, while also prioritizing data sovereignty.

Comcast Masergy Managed SD-WAN

Comcast Business, alongside security specialist Fortinet and security distributor Exclusive Networks, in May announced that they were teaming up to bring managed SD-WAN services to more channel partners.

The collaboration brings the Comcast-owned Masergy Guardian Portfolio to the reseller and MSP partner channels selling managed SD-WAN and security services to the midmarket. The Masergy Guardian Portfolio includes networking, security and services, which is a great fit for partners without Security Operations Centers (SOCs), technical expertise, or SD-WAN certifications, the companies said. The joint Masergy/Comcast Business and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN offering is available to resellers through Exclusive Networks, a global security-focused distributor.

The partnership between the three companies will also unlock new security opportunities for VARs and MSPs opening the door with SD-WAN, Philadelphia-based Comcast told CRN.

Juniper Networks Secure Edge

Juniper Networks last year introduced Juniper Secure Edge, a cloud-delivered security service that offers Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) as a single-stack software architecture that lets enterprises, midmarket and smaller businesses transition to SASE and scale their security profiles as they grow.

Secure Edge gives users reliable and secure access to their applications and security resources, including Dynamic Zero Trust segmentation. The offering lets companies manage and maintain their security policies from one place and grants users secure access, regardless of if they are working from the office, at home or on the road, according to Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper Networks.

Juniper Secure Edge is available to channel partners and their end customers. The offering is entirely cloud-managed from the Juniper Security Director Cloud.

Nile NaaS Platform

Networking-as-a-Service startup Nile in March bolstered its core NaaS offering with three new zero trust security capabilities.

The security features include Zero Trust Access, which unifies access for all wired and wireless devices while employing identity-based authentication and authorization to the network. The feature ensures that every user, device or IoT endpoint is authenticated and authorized before providing any access to a Nile network. The next feature, Zero Trust Isolation, removes malware proliferation by isolating every user and device from every other user and device on a Nile network. From there, security policies can be centrally managed and enforced at an organization’s firewall. The third is Zero Trust Network, a feature ensures that every element within the Nile network is authenticated through Mutual Trust Access Control (MTAC). Communication between all wired and wireless devices across the network is encrypted and integrated Wireless intrusion detection systems (WIDS) and wireless intrusion protection systems (WIPS) continuously monitor for unauthorized or malicious wireless activity, according to San Jose, Calif.-based Nile.

Perimeter 81 SASE

Security and cloud networking provider Perimeter 81 today is focused on Security Service Edge (SSE) and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) technology.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company’s SASE platform combines network and multilayered security functionality into one scalable, cost-effective and cloud-based service, Perimeter 81 said. The offering helps enterprises enforce access via identities, not passwords, so that businesses can control interactions with resources based on relevant attributes, including application access, user and group identity and the sensitivity of the data being accessed. A transition to SASE, according to the company, gives businesses an adaptive, self-updating security posture no matter where their end users are located.

Prosimo Cloud Networking Suite

Multi-cloud networking disrupter Prosimo emerged from stealth mode in 2019. This year, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup introduced a cloud-based networking product suite of three new tools to help enterprises design, build, troubleshoot and manage single and multi-cloud networking environments.

Visual Transit Builder gives users a drag-and-drop option that simplifies the process for cloud network architects to on-board networks, applications and services across any cloud using the same visual builder. The second tool, Cloud Tracer, speeds up troubleshooting and time to resolution for enterprises. It helps users track network topology and flow tracing across different regions and data centers so enterprises can anticipate issues in real time across networking, security and applications. To help reduce human error, the third tool, Adaptive Service Insertion, simplifies compliance in the cloud. Enterprises can define policies to insert stateful services, including firewalls in the path for networks and applications.

Prosimo does 100 percent of its business through its ecosystem of partners.