Palo Alto Networks to buy SD-WAN player CloudGenix to bolster network, security solutions

Santa Clara based cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks has announced that it will acquire CloudGenix, a cloud-based SD-WAN solutions provider for $420 million in an all-cash deal.    

The deal is expected to be closed by the fourth fiscal quarter of Palo Alto Networks, subject to regulatory approvals.

San Jose, California based CloudGenix was founded in 2013 by Cisco Veterans Kumar Ramachandran, Mani Ramasamy and Venkataraman Anand. Post the deal, the trio will join Palo Alto Networks -- however, their new roles have not been revealed.

CloudGenix provides software-defined wide-area-network solutions (SD-WAN) to its clients in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), retail, healthcare, technology, legal, and service organisations. 

The company also offers policies for applications according to the business intent of users, along with direct access to multi-cloud and dev-ops frameworks. Its trademark SD-WAN platform is Cloud-Blades.

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In April 2019, CloudGenix had announced a Series C funding round of $65 million led by investors such as Bain Capital Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Intel Capital, among others. It had raised $99 million in total and also claimed a 300% year on year growth in FY2019.

Palo Alto Networks plans to integrate its secure access service edge (SASE) platform offering, called Prisma Access, into CloudGenix’s SD-WAN based products.

“The combined platform will provide customers with a complete SASE offering that is best-in-class, easy to deploy, cloud-managed, and delivered as a service,” Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO, Palo Alto Networks, said. 

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SASE, coined by Gartner in 2019, refers to the convergence of the functions of network and security point solutions into a single cloud-native service. The new method of functioning helps information technology (IT ) teams to provide a holistic, agile and adaptable service to digital business.

“This combination will extend the breadth of the Prisma Access SASE platform, address network and security transformation requirements, and accelerate the shift from SD-WAN to SASE,” the release said.

CloudGenix claims to have around 250 customers, including Fortune 1000 companies. It was also named a 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice Company.

“By joining forces with Palo Alto Networks, we will accelerate our ability to serve customers and partners in their network and security transformation,” Ramachandran, co-founder and CEO, CloudGenix, said.

The global SD-WAN market size is expected to grow from $1 billion in 2018 to $4.1 billion by 2023 at a compound annual growth rate of 32.7%, according to a report by research firm MarketsandMarkets.