FEATURE: NETWORKS AND SECURITY
A major innovation challenge is securing the rapid proliferation of machine identities. There are 82 machine identities for every human in organisations worldwide, according to CyberArk’ s 2025 Identity Security Landscape Report.
“ This adds to the burden of a vast and complex attack surface that includes IoT devices, cloud workloads, and AI agents. This expanding attack surface and increasingly complex identity security landscape require dedicated management.” Says Laurence Elbana, Director of Sales Middle East at CyberArk.
The convergence of network and security platforms is no longer optional; it is a strategic imperative. Growing attack surfaces from cloud adoption, IoT proliferation, and hybrid workforces demand unified architectures that eliminate siloed tools and visibility gaps.
IT teams stay ahead of disruptions and build long-term business resilience.
“ For enterprises, this convergence is not just about security; it is about aligning infrastructure with business agility in an era of relentless digital transformation,” says Bharani Kumar Kulasekaran, Director of Technology, ManageEngine.
The convergence of network and security platforms has seen significant innovations, particularly in the integration of AI-driven threat detection, SASE, and Zero Trust architectures. Vendors have been consolidating functions into unified platforms, enabling real-time analytics, automated responses, and improved visibility.
“ Platforms now offer policy-based orchestration, dynamic segmentation, and identity-aware access to adapt to modern hybrid and remote work environments,” says Ehab Adel, Director of Cybersecurity, Mindware.
“ Looking ahead, Edge security, Generative AI for threat prediction, and regulatory compliance will further accelerate the shift toward integrated, intelligent network security platforms that adapt rapidly,” says Bassel Kachfeh, Digital Solutions Manager at Omnix.
With many cyber threats causing performance issues traditionally handled by networking teams, a unified network and security operations makes sense.“ Integrating observability with existing security systems enables the correlation of data, logs and events for a more holistic view,” says Chalan Aras, SVP and GM of Acceleration, Riverbed
This convergence supports automation, allowing teams to build incident response runbooks and streamline workflows. Increasingly, AI is being embedded to detect and resolve issues before they escalate, helping
“ The rise of AI is creating unprecedented volumes of AI data movement across networks, overwhelming network capacity and disrupting long-held network flow assumptions. As enterprises adapt to these new demands, network architectures must evolve to remain agile, efficient, and secure,” adds Riverbed’ s Aras.
To safeguard sensitive enterprise, government, and private data from future threats, network security strategies must begin incorporating post-quantum cryptography, PQC now, ensuring resilience against quantum-enabled decryption capabilities.
Convergence of network and security platforms is happening. SASE platforms combine SDWAN, cloud gateway, identity, real time telemetry feeds XDR and SIEM to drive automated response. Vendors from Fortinet to Cato are uniting networking and security into unified stacks. Teams stuck on legacy gear and siloed consoles waste cycles on tool sprawl.
“ The winning operators treat convergence like pit crew synergy: they align governance, train staff in both networking and security, phase pilots to prove value, then kill redundant consoles. Anyone else just adds complexity. Convergence demands clear ownership and ruthless simplicity. The prize goes to those who push first and push hard,” remarks Rob T Lee, Chief of Research, at SANS Institute.
Legacy appliances that will not talk to new platforms, network and security teams entrenched in silos, yawning skill gaps and alert overload are challenges. Half-hearted rollouts without clear ownership just spawn more consoles. Convergence needs ruthless governance, phased pilots and cross-functional buyin, otherwise one ends up juggling complexity, not eliminating it.
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