1/3 - NETWORK SECURITY PLATFORM and the need for it. Thank you all for engaging in the debate around platformization. I read most of the comments, points of view and perhaps cases for why this could be a challenge. For sure "change is not easy" - and change happens fast when the solution offers a radically superior outcome and approach. Incremental approaches rarely result in speed of adoption. I have to caveat this with the fact that i came to this industry 5 years ago, and every day is a day of learning something new. Here is what i learnt about network security. From a first principle - all network traffic for the most part needs to be inspected as technology has evolved, organizations have been forced to layer on network security tools atop and beside one another to safeguard their networks. Initially, campus and data centers were equipped with firewalls to inspect incoming and outgoing traffic. As applications moved to virtualized servers, new virtual firewalls were offered. As applications moved to the cloud, each cloud service provider (CSP) developed their own firewall. With the advent of hybrid workforce, SASE offerings were added. With all of these policies and network sensors and management panes in place, the challenge lies in making sense of it all, ensuring policy consistency, and achieving a unified view of your network security. And the complexity doesn't stop there. For each new type of threat, organizations had to deploy a new network security solution, like DNS Security, sandboxes, and more. We have built one UI, one approach to address all of this complexity, and can both analyze and recommend policies and help remediate using AI. It is called the Strata Network Security Platform, and it delivers best of breed quality, no other company has been recognized as a leader by industry analysts in 9 Network Security categories (SASE, SSE, SD-WAN, Next-Generation Firewalls, Browser Security, ZTNA, Zero Trust, OT Security, Medical IoT). The customers we talk to want this transformation to this single integrated zero trust approach through a single AI-powered platform and a single UI, but it often gets delayed by different economic arrangements or lack of internal resources to effect this transformation. Together we can resolve this for you, our customers. #gopaloaltonetworks Heres the integrated UI, there are AI recommendations how to harmonize and improve policy. This is not economic bundling, or silos together - this is integration for better security and lower TCO. More to come.
Ian Snowden
2mo
While I may work at a PAN competitor, I certainly appreciate and commend your willingness to come out and defend your position against the masses. Rarely do you see a CEO own their decision in such a public matter. To that end, I will continue to sell ZS as aggressively as I can but now with a much more profound respect for PAN and their leader.
Deepak Seth
2mo
Nikesh Arora Fascinating read on network security evolution and Strata Network Security Platform's approach! Your insights into AI-driven policy management and unified security are enlightening. I have a few questions: 1. Integration: How does it integrate with existing systems, especially legacy ones? 2. Policy Management: Can you elaborate on AI's role in policy consistency? 3. Adapting to Threats: How does the platform stay ahead of new cyber threats? 4. Overcoming Barriers: Strategies for organizations facing economic/resource challenges? 5. Zero Trust Transition: How does it facilitate this shift? 6.Differentiation: What sets the platform apart, especially in AI capabilities? 7. Customer Insights: Any transformation stories from users? 8. Future Plans: What’s next for the platform? Thanks for sharing your insights, looking forward to more discussions!
Zsolt N.
2mo
UI improvements may benefit some users, they may not significantly ease the challenges faced by those who prefer API and CLI access.
Nipun Gupta
2mo
Slick UI with relevant categories covered. Looks like a great idea for executive dashboard but does it serve various teams involved and embeds within their workflows? That’s what I would expect a platform to do.. be useful for both the user (various network security engineers to take policy recommendations, simulate, and implement them) and the buyer (real-time security posture measurement and reporting).
Pinaki Mukherjee
2mo
Wondering how the economics will work. What will be the incentive for competition to sign up on this platform vs keeping their own? How will value=margins be distributed? Does PA platform protocol limit or delay innovation for the other players?
Nikesh, your willingness as a CEO to proactively engage, defend and influence the evolution of cybersecurity solutions is commendable and crucial for driving forward-thinking transitions; platformization in cybersecurity is essential and evident that vendors are at various stages of embracing and implementation. However, in a simplified view the cybersecurity landscape can essentially be divided into two main areas. Access - focuses on implementing controls with the belief that with the right set they will prevent any security breaches (SSE, SASE, ZTNA, Firewalls, VPN, remote access, networking stack, etc). Post-Access: Contrarily, operates under the assumption that despite best efforts, breaches "will" occur 100% of the time (EDR, XDR, MDR, SOC/SIEM, xSPM, etc) emphasizing the necessity for 24/7 visibility, monitoring and action. The critical challenge - and the opportunity - lies in integrating these two realms at several layers: where data is visualized/harmonized/integrated, policy, responses/actions to be synchronized, etc to drive higher security efficacy and of course in the “business decision process” given the fact that the personas segmented. The cybersecurity market needs this impetus!
Bill Frank
2mo
Nikesh Arora I started working with Palo Alto Networks in the summer of 2009. At the time, firewall, network intrusion detection, and URL Filtering were three separate appliances. Palo Alto's NGFW combined those three functions in one appliance, which processed the packets in a single pass, and provided a single user interface for configuring those policies. While there was a lot of interest in Palo Alto due to the product and administrative cost savings, there were many network security engineers that were worried about how Palo Alto was destroying their network defense-in-depth architecture. There was also concerns at larger enterprises that had different teams responsible for firewall and intrusion detection implementation. That does not even take into consideration issues related to using Palo Alto's "User-ID" functionality because the network security team never before had to coordinate with the IAM team. So based on my experience, a network security "platform" makes total sense. The question then is, do I buy my endpoint security "platform" from the same company that I buy my network security platform? The answer is not going to be the same for all companies. A risk assessment might help answer that question.
Todd Humphreys
2mo
Palo Alto Networks puts their weight behind building a platform. When they acquire companies they always have a plan for integrating the tech. As a former Cortex seller and currently a big advocate at Worldcom Exchange Inc., I believe a real platform (properly integrated capabilities) is the right move. We look at the current SOC stacks and architectures at many of our customers and they are poorly integrated, ineffective, and extremely expensive to buy and maintain (The Rube Goldberg approach - ask me about it). We are advocating XSIAM (and the Strata / Prisma solutions) to simplify the stack while greatly improving MTTD / MTTR and driving down costs. Keep it up...
Chief Revenue Officer at Certes. The leaders in DPRM Data Centric Security - Keep your data Secret, Keep your data Certes.
2moI think you have built a fantastic company Nikesh Arora. And I am a huge admirer. I agree there is a need for platform consolidation to remove the complexity faced by many organisations managing different point solutions. However, what REALLY needs to happen is a shift to protecting the DATA itself. When hackers log in and I mean log in they aren’t trying to steal an organisations network or infrastructure. They are stealing the DATA. Vendors must start looking at how they can offer solutions that protect the DATA, so when networks, applications and infrastructures are breached ….. and they will be…. the DATA has a wrap of security around it that makes it useless to any attacker. Data Centric - Data Protection and Risk Mitigation. Now the vendor who can add that onto a single platform…. They would really have a differentiator to intice customers off of competitor platforms