Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the leading global cybersecurity firm, and Google Cloud have announced a significant expansion of their partnership. Palo Alto Networks has deepened its commitment to Google Cloud with a substantial, multi-year investment in the ten-figure range, designating Google Cloud as its preferred provider for AI and infrastructure. Google Cloud has long viewed Palo Alto Networks as its preferred next-generation firewall (NGFW) provider, and this expanded agreement solidifies their partnership. The collaboration underscores the critical role of platformization, driven by AI, in automating and consolidating multiple solutions to deliver security resolutions in near real-time.
This expanded partnership aims to deliver customer value by enabling new and existing workloads to be developed and managed with:
Zero Trust and World-Class Network Security: Palo Alto Networks’ Network Security platform, including the VM Series, is integrated into Google Cloud to support a Zero Trust Network posture and enhance defenses against threats targeting applications, devices, and users. It will also leverage Cloud Delivered Security Services (CDSS) offerings. This integrated solution offers protection and scalability across public cloud and Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) deployments, even in air-gapped network environments.
Advanced AI Capabilities: Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSIAM, the AI-driven security operations platform designed for modern Security Operations Centers (SOC), leverages over a decade of expertise in machine learning models and a comprehensive data store. Supported by Google’s advanced cloud infrastructure and AI services like BigQuery and Gemini models, this combination provides global scale and near real-time protection across all cybersecurity offerings.
Nikesh Arora, President and CEO of Palo Alto Networks, highlighted the growing importance of AI-powered platformization in safeguarding organizations’ most critical assets amidst an escalating threat landscape. Arora emphasized that the expanded partnership with Google Cloud enables customers to pursue their digital transformation goals without compromising on security. He expressed excitement about leveraging Google’s capabilities to accelerate and deliver AI-driven cybersecurity advancements.
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, emphasized the strategic significance of Palo Alto Networks as one of Google Cloud’s key partners. He underscored their shared commitment to delivering solutions that address customers’ complex security challenges. Kurian expressed confidence that through this expanded partnership, they will combine their security expertise, product leadership, and trusted infrastructure to help businesses defend against sophisticated threats using tools powered by Google Cloud’s AI technology.
