SASE Adoption Grows Among Fortune 500 as Cato Networks Reports Multiple 1,000 Site Deployments and Fourth Consecutive Year of Over 200% Growth

Large enterprise deployments, exponential growth, and $1B valuation underscore strong adoption of Cato's groundbreaking SASE platform

TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cato Networks, the provider of the world's first SASE platform, reported today its incredible 2020 financial results that saw bookings grow by over 200% for the fourth consecutive year, the signing of multiple Fortune 500 organizations and 1,000+ site deployments. Cato's business momentum drove an additional $207 million investment across two financing rounds and more than a $1B valuation. 800 enterprises with 9000 locations and 200,000 remote users rely on Cato SASE Cloud every day.

"SASE has become the de facto standard for building the secure network of the digital business. Cato strongly benefitted from this trend that accelerated due to the global pandemic," says Shlomo Kramer, CEO and co-founder of Cato Networks. "The most demanding enterprises adopted Cato SASE for its simplicity, agility, and scalability, that is unmatched by legacy architectures."

Large Enterprises Embrace Cato's SASE Platform

During 2020, large enterprises moved from telco- and MSP-managed network solutions to Cato SASE Cloud. Large enterprise wins during 2020 included a:

• Fortune 500 Grocery Chain that replaced its MPLS service connecting 500+ stores with Cato. The company leveraged Cato's global private backbone, IPS and NextGen Anti-Malware security services, and Hands-Free Management service.
• Major Car Rental Company that turned to Cato to connect and secure its 1,000+ locations. The company leveraged Cato's private backbone to avoid the cost of MPLS and Cato's security services to avoid the performance penalty of backhauling traffic for inspection and purchasing new branch firewall appliances.
• Global Automotive Parts Manufacturer with 40,000 employees was spun out from its publicly traded parent company, providing the IT team with the unique opportunity to build a modern, global enterprise network from a clean slate. After evaluating a wide range of architectures and technologies, the team selected and gradually deployed Cato SASE as the secure network platform for the business.
• Leading Construction Company that connected its 1,200+ locations with Cato's global private backbone replacing legacy connectivity solution. The company is also securing those sites with Cato IPS and Cato NextGen Anti-Malware, and relying on Cato's Hands-Free Management service for easy administration. 

2020: The Year of the Cloud-Scale SASE Architecture

Cato's 2020 results demonstrated the importance of a global, cloud-scale architecture. Cato saw remote and mobile usage grow by 500%, serving more than 200,000 remote users as organizations shifted to work-from-home (WFH). With industry-leading global cloud footprint spanning more than 60 locations (growing by eight new locations in 2020), the Cato global network allowed customers to instantly connect and secure remote users everywhere.

"Within 30 minutes, we had 1,200 users configured with Cato SDP clients," says Edo Nakdimon, senior IT Manager at Geosyntec Consultants, an environmental engineering firm. By contrast, most IT organizations had to invest heavily in updating legacy VPN infrastructure and still spend weeks and months transitioning to a remote workforce.

Cato launched many new SASE capabilities at Cloud Speed

Cato added 136 features and 2725 enhancements to its global infrastructure during 2020. New capabilities provided customers with increased connectivity options, greater automation, and improved security efficiency and protection. More specifically:

• The Cato Cloud API enabled enterprises and MSPs to automate Cato provisioning and monitoring from SIEMs and other third-party platforms
• Clientless Remote Access extended Cato's SDP offering, allowing enterprises to connect remote users with and without deploying end-point software.
• IPS False Positive Elimination was made possible by Cato's deployment of the first purpose-built reputation assessment system combining threat intelligence and real-time network information. The result: the practical elimination of false-positive alerts, which have long crippled IPS solutions.
• Support for 2 Gbps tunnels into the SASE service with full decryption and all security services active. This single tunnel capacity exceeds all competitive SASE offerings for locations and end users.

Cato SASE Ignites the Channel with 240% Channel-led Booking Growth

During 2020, Cato saw the number of channel partners grow by 255%, with new channel-led customer bookings growing by 240%. To support its strategic channel expansion, Cato appointed Anthony D'Angelo as vice president of global channel sales and business development.

"We chose to partner with Cato because they have a solution that has executed really well and is priced cost-effectively," says Mathew Toth, founder of C3 Technology Advisors. "They really look out for the success of our organization and our customers."

Cato continued to invest in its partner community in 2020 with numerous programs and improvements such as our SASE technical support accreditation with new online courses. Cato's partner portal's strong adoption continued in 2020 with 630 new certifications attained by our partners.

To learn more about how Cato can help you, visit https://www.catonetworks.com

About Cato Networks

Cato is the world's first SASE platform, converging  SD-WAN, network security, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) into a global, cloud-native service. Cato optimizes and secures application access for all users and locations. Using Cato Cloud, customers easily migrate from MPLS to SD-WAN, optimize connectivity to on-premises and cloud applications, enable secure branch Internet access everywhere, seamlessly integrate cloud datacenters into the network, and connect mobile users with Cato SDP client and clientless access options. With Cato, the network, and your business, are ready for whatever's next.

Contact:

Dave Greenfield
Director, Technology Evangelism
press@catonetworks.com