The US government requires agencies via OMB M-22-09 to adopt a Zero Trust Architecture in which no user, device, application, workload, network path, or data transaction is implicitly trusted. The memorandum establishes objectives and directs agencies to encrypt traffic, segment environments, centralize identity, improve device visibility, treat applications as internet-accessible, and strengthen data protection through classification, logging, and policy-based access.
Graphiant is aligned with this mandate because its Network-as-a-Service architecture was designed to replace legacy hub-and-spoke, tunnel-heavy, perimeter-dependent WAN models with a software-defined, policy-driven, encrypted, and highly segmented connectivity fabric. Graphiant changes the operating model: secure connectivity becomes programmable, identity- and policy-aware, cloud-adjacent, application-sensitive, and centrally governed.
Graphiant exceeds Zero Trust Networking Architecture:
It eliminates dependency on trusted network location. Graphiant replaces location-based implicit trust with policy-defined connectivity across sites, users, clouds, partners, and applications.
It reduces lateral movement. Graphiant’s segmentation, zone-based security policy, per-flow policy controls, and private application access reduce the blast radius that is inherent in flat VPN, MPLS, and conventional SD-WAN architectures.
It preserves encryption in transit without decrypt/re-encrypt hops. Graphiant’s design supports end-to-end encrypted payload handling and avoids exposing payloads in intermediate network infrastructure.
It simplifies multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud security. Graphiant provides a consistent policy and connectivity model across branch, data center, cloud, SaaS, and partner environments.
It operationalizes Zero Trust at scale. Graphiant centralizes policy, observability, automation, and API-driven operations through the Graphiant Portal, Graphiant Cloud Services, playbooks, and REST APIs.
It provides a stronger modernization pathway than legacy VPN, MPLS, or tunnel-based SD-WAN. Graphiant’s stateless core, metadata-based forwarding model, cloud gateways, policy orchestration, and Zero Trust access capabilities provide a more scalable and secure foundation for Federal modernization.
Graphiant is a strategic Zero Trust networking platform that enables agencies to advance toward a higher maturity posture than legacy WAN and VPN architectures.
OMB M-22-09 Requirement Framework
OMB M-22-09 establishes a Federal Zero Trust strategy organized around five pillars:
Identity: Agencies use enterprise-managed identities, strong authentication, and phishing-resistant MFA to access applications.
Devices: Agencies maintain inventory of authorized devices and can prevent, detect, and respond to incidents involving those devices.
Networks: Agencies encrypt traffic, reduce implicit trust, and break down broad network perimeters into isolated environments.
Applications and Workloads: Agencies treat applications as internet-accessible, subject them to rigorous testing, and avoid reliance on perimeter defenses.
Data: Agencies classify data, monitor access to sensitive data, and improve logging and information sharing.
Graphiant’s architecture is relevant to this framework because the network connects all identities, devices, applications, workloads, and data interact. Graphiant provides a programmable, encrypted, policy-driven connectivity layer that supports granular control across distributed environments.
Graphiant Architectural Foundation
Graphiant is an infrastructure software platform for modern wide-area networking, cloud access, and secure data movement. Graphiant’s architecture is based on three principal layers:
Graphiant Edge: Software deployed at branches, campuses, data centers, remote sites, cloud environments, and other enterprise boundaries. The Edge provides secure connectivity, routing, firewalling, traffic classification, and policy enforcement close to the source and destination of traffic.
Graphiant Stateless Core: A high-performance backbone designed for secure, policy-based connectivity at scale. The core reduces traditional network complexity by removing the dependency on massive route, VRF, and tunnel state in the core infrastructure.
Graphiant Cloud Services and Portal: A centralized cloud-native control, monitoring, reporting, orchestration, and policy platform. The Portal supports configuration, visibility, IAM, reporting, APIs, and automation.
This architecture directly supports Zero Trust principles because it separates connectivity policy from physical topology, minimizes unnecessary trust relationships, keeps payload protection intact, and enables consistent enforcement across heterogeneous environments.
Stateless Core
Graphiant’s stateless core is a significant architectural differentiator. Legacy WANs, VPNs, and SD-WANs often depend on distributed route state, overlay tunnels, stateful middleboxes, and operationally intensive hub-and-spoke patterns. These models are difficult to segment, difficult to audit, and prone to lateral-movement risk.
Graphiant is Zero Trust because the core does not function as a trusted decryption or route-state repository for each customer environment. Graphiant edges encrypt payloads, apply metadata and policy context, and use the core as a scalable forwarding fabric without requiring conventional tunnel sprawl. This approach improves confidentiality, reduces operational complexity, and supports scalable any-to-any connectivity without introducing implicit trust.
Edge-Based Enforcement
Graphiant Edge provides enforcement at the boundary closest to the enterprise resource. It incorporates router and firewall functions and supports security zones, zone pairs, rule sets, application matching, allow/drop/deny/inspect actions, and logging controls. This is essential for Zero Trust because control must occur at meaningful enforcement points, not only at a distant hub or centralized firewall.
Centralized Policy and Visibility
Graphiant centralizes configuration, monitoring, reporting, IAM, and operational control through the Graphiant Portal and associated APIs. This supports the governance and audit requirements that agencies need when implementing Zero Trust at scale.
Multi-Cloud and Hybrid-Cloud Connectivity
Graphiant Cloud Gateway and Cloud Connectivity capabilities allow agencies to establish private, high-performance connectivity to public cloud environments and cloud exchanges through policy rather than by designing and operating complex cloud interconnect topologies. This is directly relevant to workloads that span on-premises systems, government cloud environments, public cloud services, SaaS, and partner networks.
Secure Access and SASE Alignment
Graphiant SASE supports Zero Trust Network Access, identity- and context-based access, DLP controls, threat controls, visibility across users and environments, and policy-driven access to approved applications.
Comparative Assessment Against Legacy Architectures
Capability | Legacy MPLS | Conventional Tunnel-Based SD-WAN | Graphiant |
|---|---|---|---|
Zero Trust alignment | No | Moderate | Strong |
Implicit network trust reduction | No | Moderate | Strong |
Edge-to-edge encrypted payload model | No | Moderate | Strong |
Decryption minimization in transit | No | No | Strong |
Tunnel sprawl reduction | N/A | Low | Strong |
Stateless backbone model | No | No | Yes |
Policy-driven any-to-any connectivity | Limited | Moderate | Strong |
Multi-cloud connectivity simplicity | No | Moderate | Strong |
Partner/extranet onboarding | Slow | Moderate | Strong |
Application-aware controls | Limited | Moderate | Strong |
Zone-based segmentation | Limited | Moderate | Strong |
Centralized portal governance | Limited | Moderate | Strong |
API and playbook automation | Limited | Moderate | Strong |
Operational scalability | Limited | Moderate | Strong |
Alignment with M-22-09 maturity objectives | Partial | Moderate | Strong and extensible |
Summary of How Graphiant Exceeds Requirements
M-22-09 Pillar | Requirement Intent | Graphiant Capability | How Graphiant Exceeds |
|---|---|---|---|
Identity | Centralized identity and strong access control | IAM, roles, permissions, SSO support, MFA support, identity/context-aware SASE | Prevents identity authentication from becoming broad network authorization; enforces least-privilege application reachability |
Devices | Device visibility, authorization, and response | Managed Edges, TPM-backed certificates, device-oriented access policy, SASE device controls | Converts device trust into enforceable connectivity policy and supports rapid isolation through centralized control |
Networks | Encrypt traffic and break down perimeters | Stateless core, encrypted payload handling, zone-based policy, application matching, segmentation | Replaces the trusted network perimeter with a policy-defined encrypted fabric; reduces tunnel sprawl and lateral movement |
Applications and Workloads | Treat applications as internet-accessible and not perimeter-protected | Application classification, approved application access, private workload connectivity, cloud gateways | Decouples application security from physical network location and enables consistent access policy across hybrid and multi-cloud environments |
Data | Classify, monitor, and protect sensitive data | Secure data movement, Data Exchanges, DLP-aligned SASE, private partner connectivity, visibility | Makes sensitive data movement policy-defined, encrypted, segmented, and auditable across enterprise and partner boundaries |
Cross-Cutting Capabilities | Visibility, automation, orchestration, governance | Portal, Cloud Services, REST API, playbooks, telemetry, reporting | Enables repeatable, governed, automated Zero Trust operations rather than manual network configuration |
US Government Graphiant Benefits
Graphiant provides several mission-relevant benefits for agencies implementing M-22-09.
Accelerated Zero Trust Implementation - Graphiant allows agencies to deploy meaningful Zero Trust networking capabilities without waiting for complete application refactoring or wholesale infrastructure replacement. Agencies can begin by connecting priority sites, workloads, cloud environments, partner networks, or remote access populations, then expand policy coverage incrementally.
Reduced Attack Surface - By eliminating broad network reachability, reducing tunnel sprawl, preserving encrypted payload handling, and enforcing explicit policies, Graphiant materially reduces exploitable attack surface.
Improved Containment - Graphiant segmentation and Edge security policy reduce lateral movement. This improves containment during compromise scenarios and supports faster incident response.
Secure Cloud and Partner Connectivity - Graphiant simplifies secure multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, SaaS, and partner connectivity. This is particularly valuable for Federal missions that require collaboration across agencies, contractors, mission partners, cloud providers, and regulated environments.
Stronger Operational Governance - Graphiant centralizes policy, reporting, automation, and administrative access controls. This improves auditability and reduces the operational risk associated with inconsistent device-level configuration.
Lower Complexity and Better Scalability - Graphiant reduces dependence on proprietary appliances, static interconnects, hub-and-spoke designs, and large tunnel meshes. This improves scalability while lowering operational complexity.
Better Alignment with Future Requirements - Graphiant’s programmable architecture, cryptographic roadmap, policy model, and cloud-native operations position agencies to support emerging requirements around AI workloads, data sovereignty, mission-partner exchange, secure remote work, and rapidly changing application environments.
Conclusion
Graphiant’s architecture is particularly valuable because it directly addresses the persistent structural weakness of many environments: the network itself is still often treated as a trusted zone. Graphiant eliminates that assumption. Through its stateless core, Edge-based enforcement, encrypted payload handling, zone-based security policies, application-aware controls, cloud gateways, SASE capabilities, Data Exchanges, centralized Portal, IAM, APIs, playbooks, and telemetry, Graphiant provides a superior foundation for Zero Trust networking.
For Federal agencies seeking a modern, scalable, and mission-ready Zero Trust networking architecture, Graphiant offers a highly compelling path: secure connectivity delivered as a service, governed by policy, protected by encryption, enforced at the edge, and designed to support the next generation of cloud, AI, partner, and data-driven mission operations.