Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: PANW[1]
Industry	Network Security
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Santa Clara, CA, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Mark D. McLaughlin Chairman, President, and CEO Nir Zuk Founder and CTO Rajiv Batra Founder and Vice President, Engineering
Revenue	USD 1.4 Billion [2]
Website	www.paloaltonetworks.com

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is a network and enterprise security company based in Santa Clara, California. The company’s core products are a platform that includes advanced firewalls designed to provide network security, visibility and granular control of network activity based on application, user, and content identification and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security.

History

Palo Alto Networks was founded in 2005 by Nir Zuk, a former engineer from Check Point and NetScreen Technologies. Zuk served in the elite Unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces^[3] and, was the principal developer of the first stateful inspection firewall and the first intrusion prevention system.^[4] When asked why he started Palo Alto Networks, Zuk cited his objective of solving a problem enterprises were facing with existing network security solutions: the inability to safely enable employees to use modern applications, which entailed developing a firewall that could identify and provide fine-grained control of applications.^[5]

The company produced and shipped its first firewall in 2007^[6] and debuted on the NYSE with its July 20, 2012 initial public offering.^[7]

Technology

In 2009 Gartner, Inc. released a publication defining the "next-generation firewall".^[8] In its definition, Palo Alto Networks firewalls contain application awareness, full stack visibility, extra-firewall intelligence, and upgrade paths in addition to the full capabilities of both traditional firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. Additionally, the company defines its firewall technology by the following abilities:

1. Identify applications regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or Secure Sockets Layer
2. Identify and control users regardless of IP address, location or device
3. Protect against known and unknown application-borne threats
4. Fine-grained visibility and policy control over application access/functionality
5. Multi-gigabit, low latency, in-line deployment^[9]

Since 2013 Gartner, Inc. produces an annual Magic Quadrant for Enterprise firewalls in which Palo Alto Networks is one of the companies listed in the "leaders quadrant" for this category.

Products

In 2013 MSM - Mobile Security manager was added to extend the firewall security down to mobile devices. In 2014 TRAPS was added to the product list. Traps serves as a version on endpoint protection, client protection without the standard virus file - rather it takes a different view and attempts to monitor, detect and thwart the entry of the virus into the client by monitoring common entry points.

Competitors in this space include Check Point, FireEye and Sourcefire (now owned by Cisco Systems).

Acquisitions

• Morta Security was acquired for an undisclosed sum in January 2014^[10][11]
• Cyvera was acquired for approximately $200 million in April 2014^[12][13]
• CirroSecure was acquired for an undisclosed sum in May 2015^[14]

Recognition

Recognition from industry analysts and labs for Palo Alto Networks firewalls include:

• The 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant identified Palo Alto Networks as a leader in the enterprise firewall.^[15]
• NetworkWorld granted short list status to Palo Alto Networks’ firewalls in its next-generation firewall review in 2011 and 2012.^[16]
• NSS Labs rated Palo Alto Networks firewalls “Recommended” in 3 network security tests:
  • IPS Group Test (2011) in which NSS Labs notes it exceeded datasheet performance^[17]
  • Traditional Firewall Group Test (2011); additionally, evaluated as best cost solution per protected megabit^[17]
  • Next-Generation Firewall Group Test (2012) also receiving an evaluation as best cost solution per protected megabit^[18]
• The Forrester Research Market Overview for Intrusion Prevention Systems in 2011 credited Palo Alto Networks with “[disrupting] the detente between IPS and firewalls” and “pushing the entire vendor community toward further innovation.”^[19]

References