Palo Alto looks to build up SD-WAN, SASE portfolio; take on Cisco, VMware with CloudGenix technology Credit: cloud With an eye towards significantly bolstering its edge networking offerings, Palo Alto has entered into an agreement to buy cloud-based SD-WAN vendor CloudGenix for $420 million in cash. Palo Alto said upon the completion of the acquisition it will integrate CloudGenix’s cloud-managed SD-WAN products to accelerate the intelligent onboarding of remote branches and retail stores into its Prisma Access package. Announced in May 2019, Palo Alto’s Prisma is a cloud-based security package that includes access control, advanced threat protection, user behavior monitoring and other services that promise to protect enterprise applications and resources. In November, Palo Alto brought SD-WAN support into Primsa with the introduction of Access, which the company described as a cloud-based, secure-access service edge (SASE) platform. Gartner says SASE-based systems meld features of edge computing, security, and wide-area networking (WAN) into a single cloud-managed package. “SASE is in the early stages of development. Its evolution and demand are being driven by the needs of digital business transformation due to the adoption of SaaS and other cloud-based services accessed by increasingly distributed and mobile workforces, and to the adoption of edge computing,” Gartner stated. Founded in 2013, CloudGenix’s flagship offering, AppFabric, lets customers set and manage application policies for WAN environments. Cloud-based AppFabric includes what the company calls Autonomous SD-WAN which “automatically builds the secure network and takes corrective actions when performance or availability issues are encountered.” The idea is to extend the breadth of the Prisma Access SASE platform, address network and security transformation requirements, and accelerate the shift from SD-WAN to SASE, Palo Alto stated. “Palo Alto had some lightweight SD-WAN offerings, and this move significantly adds to it because CloudGenix technology is strong,” said Lee Doyle, principal analyst at Doyle Research. “It’s the logical intersection between security and SD-WAN and significantly moves along Palo Alto’s move toward SASE.” The Palo Alto/CloudGenix combination will also go against some big SD-WAN players such as Cisco and VMware. With the CloudGenix buy, Palo Alto has made well over $1.4 billion worth of acquisitions in the past year or so, grabbing up security firms, Demisto, Twistlock and PureSec in 2019 alone. CloudGenix has roughly 250 customers, including companies in healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing, the company stated. Related content opinion What is DNS and how does it work? The Domain Name System resolves the names of internet sites with their underlying IP addresses adding efficiency and even security in the process. By Josh Fruhlinger and Keith Shaw Mar 29, 2024 11 mins Internet Networking news analysis Industry groups drive Ethernet upgrades for AI, HPC AI networking and bulkier data center applications are sparking advancements in Ethernet-based communication technologies. By Michael Cooney Mar 29, 2024 8 mins High-Performance Computing Data Center Networking news Nvidia GTC 2024 wrap-up: Blackwell not the only big news More happened at the Nvidia GTC conference than the Blackwell announcement, including the launch of two new high-speed network platforms. By Andy Patrizio Mar 29, 2024 5 mins CPUs and Processors High-Performance Computing Data Center analysis Network automation challenges are dampening success rates Most enterprises are juggling multiple commercial, open source, and homegrown network automation tools, and few are reporting fully successful automation initiatives. By Denise Dubie Mar 28, 2024 6 mins Data Center Automation Network Management Software Network Monitoring PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe