Platformization In Practice: How Optiv And Palo Alto Networks Are Reshaping Cybersecurity

Optiv and Palo Alto Networks are evolving a long-standing partnership to help customers and solution providers confront AI driven risk, faster attacks and growing security complexity. Executives from both companies say the next phase of the relationship centers on platform integration, with identity now a critical focus.

The partnership dates back more than a decade to FishNet, one of the companies that later became Optiv. Dan Campbell, president of North America sales at Palo Alto Networks, said that early relationship helped establish trust and cyber only expertise.

“FishNet was a company that believed in Palo Alto Networks. [They] did a great job with us,” Campbell said. “Optiv continued that cyber only focus, [they have] super good relevancy for Palo Alto Networks as a partner and they've always done a great job.”

Optiv CEO Kevin Lynch said that history still matters, but customer needs have changed rapidly.

“The world's not static. It hasn't stayed the same,” Lynch said. “We've had to rebuild this partnership, not out of necessity, but out of opportunity.”

For solution providers, those changes are most visible around AI. Lynch said AI proliferation is now the most urgent customer concern, as organizations struggle with visibility, governance and response.

“The largest issue that I hear in talking to customers every day right now is the proliferation of AI and then what to do about it,” he said.

Campbell tied that challenge to the speed of modern attacks and shrinking response windows.

“Attacks happen much more frequently; they're happening much faster,” Campbell said. “The mean time to be able to detect and to respond is probably the most important thing that people can do right now.”

Both leaders agree that tool sprawl is a growing pain point. Security stacks built over the span of years were never designed to work together, which has strained cybersecurity teams and budgets.

“These tools were never designed to work together,” Lynch said. “Their teams are not at scale to handle the complexity that's happened, let alone the cost.”

Campbell said Palo Alto Networks is addressing that gap by expanding its platform approach and adding identity security and access management through its CyberArk acquisition.

“CyberArk is great technology,” Campbell said. “Adding identity as the third platform for us now gives us the ability to have a platform around identity.”

For Optiv, Campbell noted, the move aligns with existing partner strengths and creates new opportunities for solution providers to help customers build long-term security capacity rather than one-time defenses.

Learn more about how Optiv and Palo Alto Networks are helping customers navigate AI, identity, and platform security at optiv.com/partners/palo-alto-networks