Palo Alto Networks Reinvents the Firewall
For a startup, Palo Alto Networks can lay claim to an impressive achievement. Not only did the company’s PA-4000 Series Next Generation Firewall win the Security category, it also grabbed the top honor – 2008 Best of Interop Grand Prize Winner. Being best of the best is not just a flash in the pan for a company that set out to reinvent a fundamental piece of every enterprise’s security infrastructure – the firewall. Nir Zuk, founder and CTO of Palo Alto Networks, discusses the company’s new approach to firewalls.
Why is your product a breakthrough innovation for IT?
It represents the first significant new firewall technology in the last 15 years. Legacy firewalls no longer do much to protect the enterprise. Hackers have evolved, but the firewall hasn’t. Our technology allows IT to control a new generation of Internet applications and stop the threats they often carry.
How does the product advance business technology efficiencies?
Because of the limitations of existing network security products, enterprises have been reluctant to take full advantage of all that the Web can offer today. Traditional firewalls cannot control Web 2.0 applications; therefore, enterprises cannot use them securely. We all know there are great productivity benefits to using Web 2.0 applications. Our product enables the secure use of these collaboration and productivity applications, while controlling the use of non-productive and high-risk applications.
What are the benefits to the enterprise?
We see three main benefits. The first is efficiency. The second benefit is to leverage a new generation of employees who are comfortable with Web 2.0 tools. If you want the benefit of what these tech-savvy employees can do, you have to provide an environment where they can use Web 2.0 tools. The third benefit is additional security.
What will be the impact of your technology 10 years from now?
The impact of what Palo Alto Networks is doing is already being felt. Stateful inspection is being replaced with our new core technology called App-ID, which identifies and classifies applications on the network regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or SSL encryption. This technology, combined with our integrated threat prevention engine, makes it easier to control and block hacker threats, as well as enable more granular policy controls.
