Aryaka Networks and Zscaler are at a crossroads. Perhaps, the biggest threat facing Aryaka is not Riverbed, Akamai, or Carriers offering MPLS, but Zscaler. Zscaler is the highly successful cloud security company with 100+ POPs, 4500+ customers and 12M users on its network. Aryaka is the leading WAN as-a-Service (WaaS) provider, and only B2B CDN in the marketplace today.
Both are pure-play cloud providers, operating on a global scale, with POPs located in many different countries, within the major Internet Exchanges. What does Aryaka and Zscaler have to do with one another, being that Aryaka is a B2B CDN and Zscaler a Cyber Security company? The answer is simple, the CDN and Cloud Security industries are collapsing.
Two CDN Business Models
- B2C CDN: Akamai, Limelight, EdgeCast, Fastly, Highwinds….
- B2B CDN: Aryaka Networks (Runs over a closed VPN network, and offers fast file upload via UDP acceleration or multiTCP, and content delivery)
CDN and Cloud Security Collapsing
The B2C CDN (Akamai) and Cloud Security industries are collapsing. The proof is in Akamai acquiring Prolexic, and Imperva acquiring Incapsula. The B2B CDN and Cloud Security industries are also collapsing. This is evident in Zscaler winning bids for global WAN projects, such as a large media client and Telefonica. These two projects are the ideal opportunities for Aryaka.
- Large media company replaced its dedicated video network (most likely SDI or ASI), with a Zscaler solution running over an IP network
- Telefonica selected Zscaler for a WAN solution, where users were spread across Latin American and APAC
The Challenges for Aryaka and Zscaler
Aryaka offers high performance WAN solutions, that replace legacy WANs offered by the Telcos. Aryaka is all about application and content delivery performance, being that the founding team brings decades of CDN experience to the table. They don’t offer cloud security yet, beyond VPN and encryption. Thus, a customer needing WaaS and cloud security, must use two providers.
Zscaler offers a comprehensive security platform, protecting against APT, Zero-day, Advanced Malware and Mobile Threats. However, they don’t have a CDN like infrastructure, that is able to offer high performance application/content delivery service. Thus, a client looking for both services, must use two different providers, or as in the case of the media company mentioned above, do the WAN piece in-house, with Zscaler taking care of cloud security.
- Aryaka: WaaS provider with CDN infrastructure; excels in application/content delivery performance. No cyber security platform for APT, Zero-day, and Malware
- Zscaler: Cloud security platform protecting against APT, Zero-day, Malware, and Mobile Threats. No CDN infrastructure that offers customers high performance application/content delivery
Aryaka Networks and Zscaler at Crossroads
Cloud Security and Application/Content Delivery Performance shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, where a customer is given a choice between the two. Customers should be able to get both cloud security and WAN as-a-Service from the same provider. Either Aryaka is going to have to get into the cloud security business, or Zscaler is going to need to step up and implement a CDN type infrastructure. If either one fails to take action soon, another player is going to come in and fill the void, offering a comprehensive cyber security cloud platform, bundled with CDN type application performance for uploads and download of content.