NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks have formed a multi-year global strategic alliance to help businesses secure the adoption of artificial intelligence, with the companies targeting $1 billion in joint business by the end of 2029.
The agreement combines Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered cybersecurity platforms and Unit 42 threat intelligence with NTT DATA’s consulting, engineering and managed services, the companies said on Tuesday.
The partnership is Palo Alto Networks’ first strategic alliance of this kind with a global systems integrator, according to the companies, as businesses increasingly deploy AI systems while facing new cybersecurity, governance and compliance risks.
The companies will work together on cybersecurity strategy, implementation and managed services, supported by joint engineering, co-innovation and coordinated global delivery.
“AI is reshaping both business and cybersecurity, making deep ecosystem collaboration more important than ever,” Palo Alto Networks Chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora said.
The alliance will initially focus on six areas: autonomous security operations centers, AI governance, identity security, Zero Trust and secure access service edge, resilient cloud environments and firewall modernization.
The companies said the solutions will initially target highly regulated and critical industries, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and the public sector.
Focus on AI security
The partnership comes as companies move from experimenting with generative AI toward deploying more autonomous systems and AI agents across business operations.
Those systems can introduce new security challenges by gaining access to corporate applications, data and infrastructure. Managing the identities and permissions of AI agents, while ensuring their actions can be monitored and governed, is becoming an emerging concern for enterprise security teams.
NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks said their AI governance offering will help organizations manage security and risk throughout the AI lifecycle.
The companies will also work on identity security covering employees, machines, workloads, devices and AI agents.
Their autonomous security operations offering will use agentic AI and managed services to help organizations detect, investigate and respond to cyber threats more quickly.
The alliance also includes Zero Trust and SASE architectures designed to protect users, applications and data, as well as cloud security capabilities aimed at improving visibility, compliance and risk management across multi-cloud environments.
Firewall modernization will be another area of focus as enterprises seek to reduce the complexity of legacy security infrastructure.
Thousands of certified professionals
NTT DATA will support the alliance with more than 2,000 Palo Alto Networks-certified professionals, as well as dedicated Forward Deployed Engineers and joint engineering teams.
The Japanese technology services company said it has more than 7,500 cybersecurity professionals, more than 70 delivery centers and more than 20 Cyber Defense Centers globally.
Palo Alto Networks will contribute its cybersecurity platforms and Unit 42 threat intelligence capabilities.
The companies said NTT DATA will receive early access to new platform features through direct engineering collaboration, allowing it to develop and deliver security services around new capabilities more quickly.
“AI is redefining every aspect of the enterprise, but it is also transforming the threat landscape at unprecedented speed,” NTT DATA CEO and Chief AI Officer Abhijit Dubey said.
The alliance is intended to give enterprises a single approach covering cybersecurity consulting, technology deployment and ongoing managed services, the companies said.
For Palo Alto Networks, the agreement expands its reach through a global technology services provider with expertise across enterprise infrastructure and industry-specific systems.
For NTT DATA, it strengthens its cybersecurity and AI services offering as businesses seek to deploy AI while managing the associated security risks. The companies aim to generate $1 billion in joint business from the alliance by the end of 2029.