System integrator Kyndryl is bundling AI security software from Palo Alto Networks into its own secure access service edge (SASE) offer. Its SASE services afford a “unified network security posture”, it said. Integration of Palo Alto Networks’s ‘zero-trust’ Prisma solution unites “network and security into a unified cloud-delivered service”, it said. The arrangement will drive adoption of the SASE product from Palo Alto Networks. Kyndryl has tasted its own medicine, as it were, shifting from on-premise to “cloud-first” network architecture since it was spun-off from IBM as an independent concern in 2021. It used Palo Alto Networks for SASE services, also.
The US-based IT infrastructure services provider said its new offer brings “granular control over user authentication and authorization, enabling secure access to business applications, as well as edge and IoT technologies.” Since 2021, it has used security tech firms, including Palo Alto Networks, to deliver its own “network modernization transformation”. It stated: “Kyndryl has shifted from an on-premises network architecture with 54 data centers to cloud-first, SASE-based, zero-trust security principles…. The simplified security posture currently supports Kyndryl’s global hybrid workforce, enabling employees to access business applications across devices.”
It has resulted in lower operational IT spend, it said. “Nearly half of the world’s mission-critical business technology is out-of-date or nearing end-of-life,” it said, citing its own research as well, that 94 percent of businesses see “tech modernisation” as a high priority, but only 39 percent reckon their IT infrastructure is “prepared to manage future risks”. Kyndryl said it will use the “same expertise used in its own successful migrations”, including the “AI-powered” Prisma solution, plus in-house advisors that have been certified by Palo Alto Networks.
The full “end-to-end” SASE suite of services includes: consultancy and advisory services to run “health assessments” on network security, and make recommendations for enterprises; design and implementation services to oversee network modernisation projects; infrastructure management services to monitor and maintain new ‘cloud-first’ network infrastructure; and SD-WAN integration services, as with its own Kyndryl Bridge platform to observe, integrate, and orchestrate customers’ “entire technology environment and hybrid IT connectivity”.
Paul Savill, global practice leader for network and edge computing at Kyndryl, said: “To mitigate operational risk, business leaders need to prioritise upgrading IT infrastructure and enhancing cybersecurity measures – as research shows nearly half of the world’s mission-critical business technology is out-of-date or nearing end-of-life. As AI becomes a key focus… our new SASE services, combined with Palo Alto Networks’… Prisma SASE solution, will enable businesses to transform securely by adopting a zero-trust approach to protect against cyber threats in real-time.”
Kristy Friedrichs, chief partnerships officer at Palo Alto Networks, said: “Implementing a SASE approach is one of the biggest network and security initiatives for an organization to take on, requiring significant transformation. These organizations need a solution that helps them scale at the speed of their business, especially with a hybrid workforce and an ever-expanding threat landscape. We’re offering our joint customers exactly what they need to help them transform by combining Prisma SASE, the industry’s most complete AI-powered SASE solution, with Kyndryl’s new SASE services.”
