Kyndryl expands network security lineup with Palo Alto SD-WAN, SASE

Kyndryl continues to fill out its stable of network security partners, most recently inking an alliance with Palo Alto Networks for cybersecurity, SD-WAN and plans for secure access service edge (SASE) services.

As part of the deal, Kyndryl will integrate Palo Alto’s security products and services into its own managed security services, which include security monitoring, incident response, and threat intelligence.  

Palo Alto brings a wide range of security offerings, including a family of next-generation firewalls, the Prisma Cloud security platform for cloud-based applications and workloads, endpoint security, and operational automation support.

Kyndryl will offer access to Palo Alto’s Prisma SD-WAN, which can help enterprises secure and connect branch offices, data centers, and large campus sites. 

The alliance also plans support for Palo Alto’s Prisma SASE, which combines SD-WAN with cloud-based security capabilities including secure access control, advanced threat protection, user-behavior monitoring, and zero-trust network access (ZTNA). A secure web gateway (SWG), cloud-access security broker (CASB) and firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) are part of the Prisma SASE bundle.

“Kyndryl’s new SD-WAN offering, powered by Prisma SD-WAN, will enable customers to transform and modernize their networks, and meet the growing bandwidth demands of the proliferation of devices and cloud traffic,” said Stephen Leonard, senior vice president of global strategic alliances with Kyndryl, in a statement about the alliance. “The new approach to network connectivity will provide a single pane of glass management to their networks, and simplifies deployment to branch-offices and edge services.”

Kyndryl will be able to help enterprises transition to a flexible and scalable network and incorporate new security approaches, such as SASE, with Kyndryl Consulting services, Leonard stated.

Kyndryl offers network consulting, fully managed networks, and SDN services to help enterprises build programmable network fabrics that include SD-WAN, data center, branch, and LAN technologies.

In February, Kyndryl, Palo Alto and Nokia set up a lab to jointly develop cloud, LTE and 5G private wireless connectivity services. Among the drivers for the lab is the opportunity to build multi-factor, zero-trust security models for private wireless development, the companies stated.

In recent months, Kyndryl has expanded or established new relationships with a number of core networking firms, including Cisco and Fortinet.

In August, Cisco and Kyndryl expanded their partnership to offer new services aimed at helping enterprise customers better detect and respond to cyber threats. Under that agreement, Kyndryl will be integrating its own cyber resiliency offering with Cisco’s Security Cloud platform, which includes security components such as Cisco’s Duo access control, extended detection and response features, and Multicloud Defense, which orchestrates security and policy across private and public clouds. 

In 2022, Cisco and Kyndryl announced their first alliance, which focused on helping enterprise customers implement a range of connectivity technologies including software defined networking (SDN), WAN, and private 5G.

In May, Kyndryl rolled out a managed SASE package based on Fortinet’s FortiSASE platform, which includes SD-WAN, SWG, FWaaS, CASB and ZTNA, all running on top of its FortiOS operating system.

On the AI front, Kyndryl in August said it would tap into Microsoft’s enterprise-grade generative AI technology to develop business applications with Microsoft Cloud. The two companies are promising to rapidly design, develop and drive new generative AI applications and services for enterprise customers.