Leader: Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks is a Leader in this Magic Quadrant for the second time in a row following its 2020 acquisition of SD-WAN startup CloudGenix for $420 million. The company’s leading offering -- Prisma SD-WAN -- includes Instant-On Network (ION) edge appliances and orchestration, part of its Prisma SASE offering.

Gartner estimates the company has more than 2,500 SD-WAN global enterprise customers of all verticals and sizes. Palo Alto is winning in the industry thanks to its strong focus on single-vendor SASE and third-party integrations with SSE vendors, which will align with most customer needs going forward, Gartner said. The company’s gaps include the lack of a solid SD-WAN solution integrated with on-premises security. Palo Alto’s sales execution is also below average, which Gartner attributes to high pricing.