SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today unveiled NextWave 3.0, a significant set of enhancements, incentives and training to its award-winning NextWave Partner Program. Designed to help partners leverage all of Palo Alto Networks technologies, NextWave 3.0 will help partners differentiate their services, build new security expertise and grow profitable businesses as they meet customers' needs in a dynamic security market.

Enterprises everywhere are expanding connectivity, growing their cloud capabilities and turning to automated solutions to protect themselves against sophisticated cyberattacks. Palo Alto Networks continues to expand its integrated platform of cloud, network and AI-driven threat protection capabilities to meet these market and customer dynamics. Its partner ecosystem has been instrumental in providing complementary solutions to help customers implement the best security architectures.

As digital transformation fuels the demand for specialized security expertise and creates a new economy of services, Palo Alto Networks is committed to delivering the products, programs and resources to enable its NextWave partners. Developed in consultation with the company's partners, NextWave 3.0 will:

• Enable differentiation with new specializations. Partners can build their security expertise through three new Prisma SASE (Prisma Access and Prisma SD-WAN, formerly CloudGenix), Prisma Cloud and Cortex XDR/XSOAR specializations. These new specializations include corresponding partner training and certifications.
• Enhance partner profitability with three new specialization incentives for Prisma SASE, Prisma Cloud and Cortex XDR/XSOAR deals, along with other new incentives, deal boost and new rebates for its NextWave Diamond Innovator partners. 
• Expand partner opportunities by boosting existing deal referral incentives on all Palo Alto Networks products, extending partner-delivered support across more of Palo Alto Networks' technologies and offering new education credits. Further, NextWave partners can now resell Prisma Cloud via a two-tier go-to-market strategy.
• Empower partner success. NextWave 3.0 includes a host of new enablement resources and ways for partners to earn or maintain NextWave status, expanding Certified Professional Services certification to include the new specializations, Technology Education credits and technology adoption discounts.

"The future of our business and that of our partners are fundamentally linked," said Karl Soderlund, senior vice president of Worldwide Channels. "The NextWave partner of tomorrow will enable digital transformation for our customers by embracing new technology, offering product-specific expertise, and leading with services. NextWave 3.0 helps our partners do just that. It is the most sweeping set of enhancements we have done to help our partners become security experts across our entire technology portfolio."

About the NextWave Partner Program

• Palo Alto Networks NextWave partner program includes approximately 6,500 partners who help 80,000 customers around the world succeed with the company's technologies. In FY'20, 900 NextWave partners doubled their business through Palo Alto Networks.
• In the company's most recent Partner Satisfaction survey, more than 3,300 NextWave partners ranked Palo Alto Networks No. 1 in Partnership, Growth, Enablement and Profitability, when measured against top competitors. 
• Today, more than 18,000 partner engineers hold over 40,000 Palo Alto Networks technical certifications.

Partner Quotes

WWT

"As enterprises accelerate digital transformation, the need for agile and adaptable security solutions has never been greater," said Mike McGlynn, Vice President and General Manager of Global Security, World Wide Technology (WWT). "Palo Alto Networks' NextWave 3.0 offers a comprehensive security suite that enables WWT to help organizations construct and evolve their security infrastructures in the cloud, at the edge, and through AI-driven automation, tailored to their unique transformation needs."

Sirius 

"As a national integrator of technology-based business solutions that span the enterprise, including the data center, Sirius builds solutions on products and services from the world's top technology companies through our dedicated teams of highly-certified experts," said Deborah Bannworth, Senior Vice President of Partner Alliances, Inside Sales, Maintenance Sales & Services, Sirius. "NextWave 3.0 supports Sirius in aligning its world-class expertise to the Palo Alto Networks platform of technologies and will help us continue to meet the needs and priorities of its customers, which have shifted in 2020."

Presidio

"More than ever, our customers in every industry are looking for IT to transform businesses with advanced technologies – to drive innovation, connectivity, lower costs, and optimize processes," said Chris Barney, Senior Vice President, Cyber Security Practice, Presidio. "We are very pleased to partner with Palo Alto Networks, and to leverage NextWave 3.0, which will help us build our security services and expertise across the lifecycle of security needs for our customers."

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, the global cybersecurity leader, is shaping the cloud-centric future with technology that is transforming the way people and organizations operate. Our mission is to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life. We help address the world's greatest security challenges with continuous innovation that seizes the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, analytics, automation, and orchestration. By delivering an integrated platform and empowering a growing ecosystem of partners, we are at the forefront of protecting tens of thousands of organizations across clouds, networks, and mobile devices. Our vision is a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.

Palo Alto Networks, Cortex, Prisma, and the Palo Alto Networks logo are trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States and jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names, or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE Palo Alto Networks, Inc.