Information security professionals in the UAE have told AKJ Associates that Palo Alto Networks is among the three solution providers which best fulfil their priorities.
In a research project conducted over the course of the past year, over 150 information security experts from the Middle Eastern region (predominantly based in the UAE) told us – among other information – which security solutions providers were the best fit for their priorities, and most effective across a range of security areas. Given the saturation 
in the security solutions market, and the sheer volume of (often rather unspecific) marketing information end-users must wade through when making purchasing decisions, the need for information-sharing of this type is serious.
Overall, Palo Alto Networks received the sixth highest number of votes, and was voted the third best fit for participants’ priorities. This implies a high level of customer satisfaction, but also reveals specific information about the company’s perception, as participants were also asked to specify their top three priorities in a provider.
Participants who said that Palo Alto Networks best fulfilled their priorities said that those priorities were integration with existing systems, reputation / client testimonials, and quality of customer support. However, they were less likely to name either affordability or transparency as priorities, despite these being highly rated by other participants.
Integration with existing systems was the highest-rated priority overall – no great surprise, given the growing complexity of both security stacks specifically, and IT infrastructure in general.
It’s a priority Palo Alto Networks has recognised the importance of.
“We really have to work together,” Ercan Aydin, Director of Emerging Markets at Palo Alto Networks, told us. “Any vendor in the industry can put their solution on our platform. It doesn’t matter if it’s our license or someone else’s, our mission is to prevent cyber-attacks. Our main enemy is the cyber-criminals.”
We also observed some other trends among participants who named Palo Alto Networks as either best fitting their priorities, or the most effective in a specific area of risk.
Participants from banking and finance were most likely to say that Palo Alto Networks was the best fit
for their priorities, though other sectors (including education, retail, construction, professional services and more) also showed a high proportion of Palo Alto Networks voters.
Furthermore, participants at companies with 100-1000 employees were most likely to nominate Palo Alto Networks in any category, making up 2/3 of all Palo Alto Networks voters.
One interesting point to note is that although Palo Alto Networks was extremely highly rated overall, and was voted second most effective in the broad ‘network security’ category, in other specific risk areas it received relatively few votes.
Although a reputation as a good all-rounder is by no means a bad thing, the distribution of votes may reflect a lack of awareness about more specific Palo Alto Networks products, for example those geared at mobile device security – a category in which the company received no votes at all.
