palo alto networks Purchasing cloud security software assets from IBM This comes as part of a broader partnership that gives cybersecurity companies access to more consultants and a larger customer base.
Palo Alto will acquire IBM’s QRadar cloud software for an undisclosed sum and migrate existing customers to the company’s Cortex Xsiam security platform, the companies said in a joint press release. Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora told CNBC that the move typically takes one to three months. IBM also plans to train more than 1,000 consulting employees on Palo Alto products.
Consolidation is accelerating in the security software industry as businesses prepare for a swarm of attacks driven by artificial intelligence. March, Cisco has completed its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk, the largest transaction in networking company history, acquiring a leading provider of security information and event management (SIEM) software.
Earlier Wednesday, two other companies in the SIEM market, Exabeam and Thoma Bravo’s LogRhythm, merge.
Arora said his company needs to be better prepared to take on Splunk.
“Obviously, this is just a hotbed of activity in cybersecurity integration,” Arora said.
Palo Alto and IBM have been working more closely together in recent months, and Arora said he has been discussing ways to advance the partnership with IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. But both were selling his SIEM software.
“We used to get stuck there,” Arora said.
Krishna said the deal with Splunk does not encourage IBM to reach an agreement with Palo Alto.
“For most things in Cisco’s portfolio, I don’t think we’re really competing,” Krishna said.
In December, IBM Said The company’s consulting group plans to offer Palo Alto’s competing Cortex Xsiam software to customers. IBM will now adopt the Prisma Sase 3.0 product bundle of Cortex Xsiam and Palo Alto. In addition to using IBM’s Watsonx large-scale language model, Palo Alto will incorporate it into Cortex Xsiam. Google.
The SIEM category has been around for over 20 years, but Palo Alto only introduced Cortex Xsiam two years ago. Adoption is growing rapidly, with more than $90 million in bookings in the latest quarter, and Arora said the company is taking market share away from “everybody.”
For IBM, a stronger lineup of modern security tools for consulting could help the company achieve its stated goal of mid-single-digit revenue growth in 2024. First-quarter revenue increased 3%, with a 2% increase. Consulting department.
Palo Alto is growing much faster than IBM. Revenue for the January quarter was 19% increase. The company is scheduled to report its latest quarterly results on Monday.
Palo Alto’s value more than doubled last year, with its stock up 6% since the beginning of the year and the company’s market capitalization topping $100 billion. Shares rose more than 1% in extended trading. IBM’s stock price has risen nearly 5% this year and is now valued at $154 billion.
The companies said the deal should close by the end of September, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.
“I look forward to growing our significant consulting business with Palo Alto’s products in the same way that we did with Azure and AWS,” Krishna said in an interview. IBM helps organizations run software on Amazon and Microsoft’s public clouds. He said he hopes to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new consulting revenue soon.
IBM will continue to sell QRadar software for use in on-premises data centers, Krishna said.
“It’s been here for years,” he said.
At the same time, Krishna said, IBM will suggest customers using it consider switching to Palo Alto’s Cortex Xsiam.
