The new cloud service is delivered through an infrastructure Palo Alto will manage and maintain, but it’s an offering partners can resell, not one that will compete with them.
Today, Palo Alto Networks announced GlobalProtect, a new offering that takes Palo Alto’s Next-Generation Security Platform and makes it available as a cloud-based service for remote offices and mobile users.
“The problem that we are addressing here is how to deliver consistent security in a more operationally efficient manner,” said Matt Keil, Director of Product Marketing, Public Cloud, at Palo Alto Networks. “We will take all the security that we deploy in a hardware device and put it into a cloud-based infrastructure for remote locations or mobile users, which will be consumed through our Panorama console.” Panorama provides a single management interface across a hybrid physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure.
Those security capabilities include application visibility and control, Threat Prevention, URL Filtering, and WildFire threat analysis service. They facilitate scalable log collection through a new Palo Alto logging service. They will be delivered through a multi-tenant, cloud-based security infrastructure that Palo Alto Networks will manage and maintain.
“It gives customers a more operationally efficient option to secure remote locations,” Keil said.
GlobalProtect cloud service can be accessed through an on-premise IPsec VPN capable device, or through a Palo Alto technology integration partner that supports SD-WAN or IPsec VPN connectivity options. Out of the gate, GlobalProtect cloud service integration partners include Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company; CloudGenix, Nuage Networks from Nokia, VeloCloud, Viptela and VMware
At the same time, Keil emphasized that Palo Alto is not becoming a service provider with this offering, and that they most definitely are not creating a cloud solution that would compete with traditional partner offerings.
“We are not entering into the service provider business,” he said. “It’s a shared ownership model. We manage the infrastructure and keep the lights on. The customer will use Panorama to push the policies out.”
Keil also emphasized that this is something that Palo Alto partners can resell themselves, not something that will compete with them.
“We are very much still a channel-fronted company,” he said. “GlobalProtect will be available for partners to sell in the same manner as our hardware or our virtualized firewalls. It will be another revenue opportunity for our partners and another solution opportunity for our customers.”
The GlobalProtect cloud service is scheduled for general availability in August 2017. GlobalProtect service for remote networks will be licensed according to bandwidth requirements, from 200 Mbps to 100,000 Mbps. GlobalProtect service for mobile users will be licensed per user, from 200 users to over 100,000.
