A secure workspace for your team - so you can focus on building, not on what could go wrong.

Every customer support agent starts their day the same way: opening a browser, logging into Zendesk, and handling sensitive customer interactions. For most early-stage teams, that workspace is completely unprotected. The browser is where your people work, where your customer data lives, and where most security incidents begin - yet it's the layer that gets secured last, if at all.

AI is now part of everyday work. Your team is using agents and AI-powered workflows to move faster. But as your AI usage scales, so does your exposure: sensitive customer data, keys, source code, credentials, and proprietary information can flow into unvetted AI tools without anyone noticing - including you. And the browser is where all of it happens.

The startup ecosystem thrives when founders can focus on building. That's why Palo Alto Networks partners with the Zendesk Startup Program to provide early-stage teams access to the same browser security used by large enterprises - so startups are not forced to choose between preserving runway and protecting their customers' data.

A secure workspace, not just a secure browser.

Picture this: a support agent on your team gets a convincing phishing email that looks like a familiar notification. They click the link, land on a spoofed login page, and enter their credentials. Within hours, an attacker has access to your support system, and every customer conversation, ticket, and piece of sensitive data inside it. You find out when a customer calls to ask why your support team reached out, asking for payment details.

This isn't a hypothetical. It's how many small business breaches actually play out - and it's exactly what Prisma Browser for Business stops. We use Palo Alto Networks’s Precision AI-powered security to recognize the destination as malicious and block it before the page ever loads. No credentials entered. The agent sees a warning and moves on with their day.

That's the core idea behind Prisma Browser for Business (PBB): a secure workspace that sits at the intersection of work, AI use and threats - the browser. PBB wraps your entire browser session in enterprise-grade security, protecting every app, every tab, and every interaction, without requiring your team to change how they work.

For Zendesk users specifically, PBB can be configured with Zendesk as a dedicated workspace app - automatically applying the right security policies to everything Zendesk-related the moment your team opens it. Phishing attempts are blocked. Data leakage from support conversations is prevented. And your agents work inside a protected environment without any extra steps on their end.

The result: your team gets a seamless experience, and you get end-to-end visibility and control over how Zendesk is accessed across every device on your team.

The security gap startups can't afford to ignore.

When you're building a company, security can feel like something to tackle later - after the product ships, after the team grows, after the next funding round. But phishing, malware, and data leakage are not enterprise problems. They're startup problems too - and they can be significantly more damaging when you don't have a dedicated security team to catch them.

Three risks in particular are growing fast for early-stage teams:

• AI tools without guardrails. Your team is almost certainly using AI tools - Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and others - to move faster. But without controls in place, sensitive customer data, internal documents, and proprietary information can flow into these tools without anyone noticing. PBB lets you set guardrails around how AI tools are used in the browser, so your team can stay productive without inadvertently exposing data they shouldn't.
• Unvetted browser extensions. Extensions are one of the most overlooked attack surfaces in any organization. A single malicious or compromised extension can silently capture credentials, intercept data, or give an attacker persistent access to your environment. PBB gives you control over which extensions can be installed across your team's browsers, and alerts you when a suspicious or malicious extension is detected - before it can do damage.
• Phishing and malware. The browser is the primary delivery mechanism for both. PBB blocks malicious sites and stops malware downloads in real time, protecting your team and your customer data at the point of risk.

PBB brings all of this together in a way that is simple to deploy and easy to manage - no security expertise required, no complex infrastructure to stand up.

Built for where startups actually are.

The Zendesk Startup Program is designed to support founders from their earliest stages through scale - including when security becomes a core business priority. Startups eligible for the program can access PBB as a practical way to evaluate enterprise-grade workspace security without a large upfront commitment. It's a way to build securely from the start, preserve runway, and scale your operations with confidence.

As a rapidly growing startup, you shouldn't have to choose between moving fast and staying secure.

• The browser is your biggest security gap - and it's where startups get hit first. Phishing, credential theft, malicious extensions: these aren't enterprise problems. They're startup problems, and they land in the browser before you even have a security team to respond.
• Security doesn't have to slow your team down. PBB applies enterprise-grade protection automatically - no behavior change required from agents, no complex infrastructure to stand up. Your team works exactly as they do today, just inside a protected environment.
• Build securely from day one, without the day-one security budget. Leverage protection large enterprises rely on - so you don't have to choose between your runway and your customers' trust.

Ready to get started?

Startups participating in the Zendesk Startup Program are eligible to apply for PBB as part of their program benefits. Visit the Prisma Browser for Business dedicated landing page for Zendesk to take advantage of our partner’s promotion.

The post Building Securely From Day One: Palo Alto Networks Partners with the Zendesk Startup Program appeared first on Palo Alto Networks Blog.

How Partners Can Turn Marketplace Momentum into Customer Value.

Cloud marketplaces have become an increasingly important way for customers to buy technology. They can offer a familiar route to procurement, help organizations use their precommitted cloud budgets for eligible purchases and support goals such as consolidating IT spend and simplifying governance.

For partners, though, the opportunity goes well beyond the transaction. A recent report from Canalys (now Omdia) predicts that by 2027, more than half of all hyperscaler marketplace business will flow through partners. That points to an important shift in how technology is bought and sold – and creates an opportunity for partners to bring much more than purchasing convenience to the table.

Partners know their customers. They understand their environments, priorities and cloud investments. Many also bring the services and technical expertise needed to migrate, integrate, deploy, and manage technology after it’s purchased. When we combine that customer intimacy with the reach and capabilities of leading cloud service providers (CSPs) and the Palo Alto Networks platform, marketplaces can become a powerful vehicle for creating value across the ecosystem.

Meeting Customers Where They Want to Buy.

One of the most important principles in any marketplace strategy is also one of the simplest: Meet customers where they want to buy.

Organizations have established relationships with CSPs and, in many cases, significant cloud commitments. They may also have specific pricing arrangements, governance requirements and procurement processes tied to those relationships. A marketplace purchase can allow them to work within that existing framework rather than introduce an entirely separate buying motion.

The opportunity for partners is to understand those dynamics early. Does the customer have a cloud commitment? Is there a marketplace budget available? Are there CSP programs that could support the opportunity? Would purchasing through the marketplace make the process easier or provide a commercial advantage?

Palo Alto Networks works across the four major CSP ecosystems – AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) – giving partners the flexibility to follow customers to the cloud environments and marketplaces that make sense for them. Through Palo Alto Networks agreements with CSPs and benefits available through the reimagined NextWave Partner Program, marketplace transactions can also carry relevant pricing advantages for eligible partners and customers.

The goal is to understand how and where the customer wants to buy, then build the opportunity from there. 

Bringing More Value to the Transaction.

Of course, procurement is only the beginning. A marketplace can make technology easier to purchase, but partners can help customers turn that purchase into adoption and value.

Say a customer is looking to secure AI adoption, migrate infrastructure to the cloud, modernize on-premises infrastructure or transform its network. Addressing any of those priorities takes more than selecting technology. The customer may also need help assessing their IT environment, deploying and integrating new capabilities, and connecting their investment to a broader security strategy.

Partners are often closest to those needs because they already have trusted relationships with customers. Many are also managed security services providers (MSSPs) or have other services capabilities they can provide around a marketplace transaction.

That creates an opportunity to do more than facilitate a sale. Partners can combine Palo Alto Networks technology with their own services and expertise to develop a more complete offer for the customer. In turn, that can expand the value of the engagement, support technology adoption and create opportunities to develop and expand more strategic customer relationships.

Palo Alto Networks has long recognized this role for partners. The newly evolved NextWave Partner Program includes marketplace, resale, managed security services, support and delivery models, reflecting the different ways partners contribute throughout the customer lifecycle.

Turning a Customer Need into a Broader Platform Conversation.

Marketplace opportunities can also open the door to platform discussions. Customers rarely look for “platformization” from the outset. Most often, they just want to solve a specific problem. They may need to protect an AI initiative, secure a cloud migration, modernize infrastructure or improve connectivity for a cloud-first environment. But those priorities often intersect with other cybersecurity needs.

That gives partners an opportunity to start with the customer’s immediate need and identify how a more integrated, consolidated approach can deliver additional value. This is where complementary capabilities across the ecosystem can come together. CSPs provide the cloud platforms and services customers use. Palo Alto Networks extends security across those environments. And partners bring the technical expertise, services and customer context needed to connect those capabilities to specific needs.

Rather than viewing each technology purchase in isolation, partners can help customers consider how it contributes to a broader security strategy. And as we develop marketplace sales motions in additional areas, including identity, partners will have even more opportunities to connect capabilities around customers’ evolving needs.

Collaboration: The Key to Unlocking Marketplace Opportunities.

For all the attention cloud marketplaces receive as a digital route to market, much of the opportunity today is still deeply relationship-based. It starts with identifying the customer need, understanding that customer’s cloud strategy and commitments, bringing the right value proposition and then getting the right people around the table.

Success hinges on effective collaboration between the partner, the customer, the CSP, and our dedicated Palo Alto Networks account and alliance teams. Through early qualification and joint account planning, we can collectively pinpoint customer challenges, determine the best purchasing route, and define how each stakeholder can contribute to the solution.

This is also where marketplace strategy connects directly to the value exchange in cybersecurity I’ve discussed previously. Partners, vendors and other members of the ecosystem invest in different capabilities – technology, knowledge, skills, services and customer relationships – and create greater value when those investments are aligned around the customer. Public cloud marketplaces give us another way to put that model into action.

We Are Only Scratching the Surface of What’s Possible.

Cloud marketplaces are already changing how customers purchase technology; however, I believe we have only scratched the surface of what partners, CSPs and technology providers can accomplish together as these marketplaces evolve.

For partners, the next step is to understand the CSP initiatives and marketplace programs relevant to their customers, identify where their own services and expertise can add value, and be ready to act when the right opportunity emerges. 

Ready to Make the Most of Cloud Marketplaces? 

Reach out to your Palo Alto Networks team to schedule a sales enablement session, learn the relevant CSP sales motions, identify opportunities within your customer base and understand how to submit deal registrations through the NextWave Partner Program.

Key Takeaways:

• Meet customers where they want to buy. Cloud marketplaces can align purchases with existing cloud relationships, commitments and procurement preferences.
• Partners add value beyond the transaction. Customer knowledge, services and technical expertise can help turn purchases into adoption and lasting business value.
• Collaboration expands the opportunity. Early coordination among partners, Palo Alto Networks and CSPs can uncover opportunities and support a broader platformization strategy.

The post Making the Most of the Cloud Marketplace Opportunity appeared first on Palo Alto Networks Blog.

At the 2026 Executive Partner Summit, Palo Alto Networks President BJ Jenkins made one thing clear: the AI era is the platform era — and above all, the AI era is the partner era. Palo Alto Networks tightly integrates its platforms to work seamlessly together and give customers full end-to-end protection. 

But securing the world’s largest organizations requires both advanced AI security technology and the combined power of our ecosystem, spanning resellers, service providers, cloud providers, distributors, and strategic advisors, to drive success at every stage. From initial architecture and deployment to 24/7 managed services, our partners ensure complex environments stay protected at scale.

As organizations navigate unprecedented technological transformation, partners are more critical than ever before in helping our customers modernize by adopting AI-powered platform security.

Anar Desai
North America Channel Sales at Palo Alto Networks

Together, Palo Alto Networks and our partner community are redefining what it means to secure the enterprise. As we continue to deepen our commitment to our partner ecosystem, we're proud to announce the winners of the Palo Alto Networks 2026 North America Partner of the Year Awards. 

This year’s award winners have demonstrated exceptional performance, deep expertise, and an unwavering commitment to our joint customers. Together, they reflect what is possible when Palo Alto Networks and our partners align around a shared goal: helping customers secure today while preparing for what’s next.

Congratulations to our:

• North America Cloud Provider of the Year: Amazon Web Services
• North America Distributor of the Year: TD SYNNEX
• North America Managed Security Services Provider of the Year: Norlem
• North America Service Provider of the Year: AT&T Business
• North America Solution Provider of the Year: World Wide Technology 
• North America System Integrator Partner of the Year: Deloitte
• North America Frontier AI Partner of the Year: NTT DATA
• North America Idira Advisory Partner of the Year: Accenture
• North America Idira Partner of the Year: Optiv
• North America Network Security Partner of the Year: Sycomp
• North America Prisma AIRS Partner of the Year: Cognizant
• North America SASE Partner of the Year: Trace3
• North America Cortex Partner of the Year: Presidio
• North America Software Firewall Partner of the Year: AHEAD
• North America Commercial Select Partner of the Year: GuidePoint Security
• North America Federal Growth Partner of the Year: Vibrint
• North America Federal Partner of the Year: ThunderCat Technology
• North America Growth Partner of the Year: Insight Enterprises
• North America Small-Medium Business Partner of the Year: CDW
• North America State, Local & Education Partner of the Year: NWN
• Canada Partner of the Year: Kyndryl
  

Building a more secure future, together. 

Our awards honor a shared commitment to customers. Our partners bring their expertise, capabilities and perspective to the table, and that collaboration helps turn our technology into outcomes. 

For our partners, this award celebrates the shared effort that keeps our customers safer every single day. As trusted advisors, they bring the strategic guidance and domain experience clients rely on to navigate an ever-changing threat landscape. Together, we help customers turn complex security challenges into lasting confidence and trust. 

To our 2026 North America partner award winners: thank you for your relentless commitment to protecting our customers and setting the standard for excellence across our ecosystem. We look forward to deepening our alignment and driving the next wave of platform innovation together.

Join us in securing the frontier and protecting our digital world. Learn more about our Palo Alto Networks Partner Program and how to become a partner today.

The post Celebrating excellence: Palo Alto Networks announces the 2026 North America Partner of the Year Awards appeared first on Palo Alto Networks Blog.