As the Middle East charges forward into the digital era, Netskope, a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) company, has announced a significant expansion of its NewEdge Network in the region, now boasting four data centers strategically located across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia (KSA). This expansion reinforces the network’s ability to serve both local and multinational enterprise clients within the Middle East.
In line with Netskope’s commitment to fortify data security and safeguard organizations in the Middle East, the extension of the NewEdge network aligns with the burgeoning GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) data center market. This market is expected to witness substantial growth, projected to reach a value of $5.5 billion by 2028, up from $3.44 billion in 2022. The impetus behind this growth stems from regional government initiatives like ‘We The UAE 2031’ and Saudi Vision 2030.
Murhaf Alwan, Head of Information Technology at Netskope customer Al Dawaa, expressed, “As a KSA-based organization, it is crucial that our data storage and processing occur within the Kingdom. While we have been utilizing Netskope’s infrastructure in the Gulf region to date, benefiting from the technology’s advantages, having local KSA-based infrastructure will further optimize our user experience and ensure compliance with local data protection laws.”
The addition of these NewEdge data centers will play a pivotal role in fostering the adoption of a Zero Trust security model among Middle East organizations. This expansion enables the delivery of real-time inline and out-of-band API-driven services, such as Cloud Firewall (FWaaS), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Cloud and SaaS Security Posture Management (CSPM/SSPM).
Jonathan Mepsted, Vice President – Middle East & Africa at Netskope, emphasized, “The rapid digitalization in the region has empowered organizations to provide seamless user experiences, but they face the ongoing challenge of navigating the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. Businesses in the region are increasingly inclined towards adopting a Security Services Edge (SSE) approach to security, supporting hybrid work models and cloud-based technologies while ensuring data security wherever it resides. However, regulatory requirements across the region impose stringent data protection and residency obligations. This is precisely why we have invested in robust infrastructure within the region as part of our distributed and dedicated service edge. NewEdge, with its ability to locally inspect massive data volumes without relying on complex, latency-prone backhauling or unpredictable public networks, has been warmly received by our customers and is unlocking new possibilities for serving organizations in KSA.”
NewEdge stands as the world’s largest and highest-performing security private cloud. It empowers the real-time, inline security services of the Netskope SASE platform, ensuring security can be deployed at the edge precisely when and where it is needed. Its architecture guarantees no compromise on performance while implementing security features. The NewEdge network is intricately interconnected with the most commonly used web/content-delivery networks, cloud services, and SaaS providers, delivering swift and optimized access to the content, applications, and data that enterprises hold most dear.
