SAN JOSE, Calif., June 25, 2007– Palo Alto Networks today announced that it has secured $18 million in Series B financing. Globespan Capital Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. The new funds bring total financing in the company to $28 million and will be used to expand sales, marketing and engineering initiatives.
Palo Alto Networks also announced today the immediate availability of its PA-4000 Series, a next-generation firewall that enables the identification and policy enforcement of applications flowing in and out of enterprise networks – regardless of port, protocol or SSL encryption. (See Release: Palo Alto Networks Delivers Next-Generation Firewall for Application Visibility and Policy Control)
Palo Alto Networks is led by top security veterans from companies such as Check Point Software Technologies, NetScreen Technologies, McAfee, Blue Coat Systems, Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks. They include two of the most internationally respected pioneers in security – Palo Alto Networks Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Nir Zuk and Shlomo Kramer, member of the board of directors. Zuk served as the CTO at NetScreen and is recognized for his role in developing stateful inspection technology while at Check Point. Kramer, a visionary in Internet security and selected by Network World as one of 20 luminaries who changed the network industry, served as co-founder and board member with Check Point.
“The rapid adoption of Web 2.0 tools and applications by business users is redefining the enterprise application landscape,” said Venky Ganesan, Managing Director, Globespan Capital Partners. “Security solutions that classify traffic based only on port and protocol are unable to identify and therefore control applications traversing the network. A new approach – built from the ground up to deal with these new realities – is required. Nir Zuk and Shlomo Kramer helped create the firewall market. Along with the Palo Alto Networks team, they’re revolutionizing the security market again. We’re thrilled to come on board as the company launches its product line into the market.”
“Globespan Capital Partners has a proven track record of success in guiding emerging companies,” said Dave Stevens, Co-founder and CEO, Palo Alto Networks. “We’re thrilled to have them join Greylock and Sequoia on our board. With this new financing, our company is well positioned to drive our initial growth phase.”
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks™ enables visibility and policy control of applications running on enterprise networks. Based on innovative App-ID™ application classification technology, the Palo Alto Networks PA-4000 Series is a next-generation firewall that accurately identifies applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or even SSL encryption – at 10Gbps with no performance degradation. Enterprises can now set and enforce application usage policies to meet compliance requirements, improve threat mitigation and lower operational costs. The Palo Alto Networks team includes security and networking industry veterans from Check Point, NetScreen, McAfee, Cisco and Juniper. It is backed by investors Globespan Capital Partner, Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.
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