Prisma SD-WAN: The New Face of CloudGenix

Feb 24, 2021
5 minutes
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Since Palo Alto Networks acquired CloudGenix approximately 10 months ago, we have been relentlessly executing on the strategy we announced at acquisition: extending our leadership in next-generation SD-WAN and delivering the industry’s most comprehensive secure access service edge (SASE) solution to the market. Palo Alto Networks is now recognized as a leader in the 2020 Gartner WAN Edge Infrastructure Magic Quadrant. We delivered machine learning-based capabilities to dramatically simplify network operations and enhanced our SASE solution with Prisma Access 2.0 integrated with Prisma SD-WAN. We are truly grateful to our customers and partners for trusting us with their SD-WAN and SASE needs.

 

Prisma SD-WAN

When we started CloudGenix in 2013, we chose the name to reflect the “Cloud Generation” of IT that needed a fundamentally different solution compared to the legacy packet-routing approaches of other vendors. Due to COVID-19, we have now seen nearly 10 years worth of IT acceleration in 10 months – in digital transformation, work from anywhere and hybrid cloud adoption.

At Palo Alto Networks, our brand name “Prisma” captures these transitions best as this brand represents the journey toward the cloud for our customers. As a result, today, we are renaming CloudGenix SD-WAN to Prisma SD-WAN. Prisma SD-WAN delivers the industry’s first next-gen SD-WAN with the following unique characteristics:

Prisma SD-WAN is application defined (visibility, policy and path decisions at Layer 7, not Layer 3), autonomous (Automation using ML and data science, not manual configuration and troubleshooting), and suited for the cloud-delivered branch (All branch services delivered from the cloud, enabling a direct-to-app architecture).

SASE Leadership With Prisma SD-WAN and Prisma Access

Prisma SD-WAN integrated with Prisma Access delivers the industry’s most complete SASE solution. We provide seamless integration across SASE by extending CloudBlades support for third party service integrations, delivering single sign-on with RBAC for SASE management and enabling Autonomous Digital Experience Management across SASE.

ESG Practice Director and Senior Analyst, Bob Laliberte, states:

“ESG research indicates that more than two thirds of respondents (69%) would prefer to use a single vendor to provide both SD-WAN and edge security functions. The tight integration with Prisma Access enables organizations to work with a single vendor to accelerate the adoption of a comprehensive SASE solution. Plus, Prisma SD-WAN’s autonomous capabilities and cloud-based delivery will drive operational efficiencies while application level visibility ensures optimal experiences for users. Both of these benefits are cited in ESG research as top goals for digital transformation initiatives.”

 

Customers Love Prisma SD-WAN

As another testament to the power of our next-gen SD-WAN solution, Gartner recently published their 2021 Gartner Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’: WAN Edge Infrastructure report where Prisma SD-WAN repeatedly beat all other vendors with a perfect score of 5/5! Many other vendors dropped their positions, while Prisma SD-WAN grew stronger in every category. This is a direct result of our maniacal focus on solving customer problems and delivering customer delight.

 

Delivering 243% ROI

In addition, Forrester Research recently conducted an independent study of Palo Alto Networks next-generation SD-WAN and found that an average customer who deploys Prisma SD-WAN would receive a 243% return on their investment within three years! For more information, read “The Total Economic Impact(™) of Palo Alto Networks for Network Security and SD-WAN,” a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Research on behalf of Palo Alto Networks, September 2020.

 

Leading With Innovation: Autonomous Infrastructure

Our customers will not stop innovating and neither will the Prisma SD-WAN team! In the past few months, we’ve announced several additions to our next-generation Prisma SD-WAN solution including:

  • Machine learning-based capabilities to further simplify network operations.
  • A small form factor SD-WAN appliance designed for retail and small offices/home offices (SOHO).
  • A high-performance SD-WAN appliance suited for large campus locations.
  • Seamless integration of Prisma Access cloud-delivered security.

Our vision for Prisma SD-WAN and SASE is to deliver secure, autonomous infrastructure by natively integrating Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM) with our SASE solution. With ADEM, you can monitor end user experience and provide segment-wise insights across the entire application delivery path. Our vision doesn’t stop with visibility and insights – Prisma SD-WAN uses a wealth of DEM data on application and network traffic to auto-correct application performance, steer around network bottlenecks and identify root causes for issues where possible. Much like self-driving vehicles are ushering in a new era in transportation, ADEM integrated with the Palo Alto Networks’ SASE solution heralds a new era of autonomous infrastructure and security.

We couldn’t be more excited about this iconic rebrand moment here at Palo Alto Networks. Learn how Prisma SD-WAN can help simplify management of your branch locations in our free trial.

This shows the Palo Alto Networks and the Prisma SD-WAN logos

 

ESG Research : Transitioning Network Security Controls to the Cloud, 2020

ESG Research: Technology Spending Intentions, 2021

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure, 23 September 2020, Jonathan Forest | Andrew Lerner | Naresh Singh

Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates.

 


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