Landmark Cybersecurity Deal Embeds Prisma AIRS in Google Cloud for AI Protection
An expanded partnership between Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud will see the cybersecurity company leaning on the tech giant’s compute complements Google’s proposed $32 billion buy of Wiz.
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The multi-billion collaboration announced Friday aligns Palo Alto’s network and AI security offerings with Google Cloud’s infrastructure and AI tools, including Vertex AI and Gemini. This partnership expansion aims to build security directly into every layer of modern cloud and AI deployments, especially as customers adopt multi-cloud strategies, according to the companies. The agreement requires Palo Alto to pay Google nearly $10 billion over several years, reported Reuters, citing a “person with direct knowledge of the matter.”
“It’s a bit of an interesting, unexpected announcement,” said Forrester analyst Andras Cser. He views the move as a significant strategic step by Google to shore up its cloud security capabilities by integrating with a leading third-party vendor rather than solely relying on internal development.
The partnership gives Google access to Palo Alto’s broad portfolio – especially the Prisma AIRS platform – to better secure AI workloads, endpoints and development environments on its platform, Cser said (see: Agentic AI Drives Enterprise Productivity and Innovation).
“This is definitely acknowledgement on Google’s part that their cloud security strategy has been generally okay, but nothing really good or outstanding, and they just wanted to be able to offer their customer base something that for multi-cloud security purposes exceeds what Google Cloud’s native security can do,” Cser said.
Cser sees Google’s simultaneous acquisition of Wiz and reliance on third-party partnerships such as with Palo Alto Networks as a signal of potential fragmentation in its cloud security strategy. Such an approach covers broader enterprise needs, with Wiz enhancing its internal portfolio and the Palo Alto partnership addressing more mature customer demands, especially in hybrid or multi-cloud setups.
“This is a different type of relationship, more like a network with security side effects,” Cser said. “But it’s interesting to see how large cloud providers want to stand on multiple legs. They decided to purchase their own giant cloud security vendor in Wiz, and they’re adding this cloud into this network security story as an add-on.”
Why Google Is Competing, Partnering With Palo Alto Networks
Although Wiz under Google will compete directly against Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex Cloud product, Cser said Google must support external security vendors because customers often have existing investments and operational dependencies on those tools. A client may use Palo Alto’s firewalls and cloud security controls across private cloud and on-prem environments, and Google has no choice but to support that.
“If customers have a big Palo Alto on-prem presence or private cloud presence, then that’s a bridge to sell Google Cloud infrastructure services through Palo Alto security,” Cser said. “That’s another angle to interpreting this.”
Google already has one of the most advanced AI infrastructures in the industry, and by plugging into the company’s AI stack, Cser said Palo Alto Networks gains access to powerful capabilities that would be costly and time-consuming to build independently. If Palo Alto deeply embeds Google’s AI infrastructure into its products for real-time threat detection and policy recommendations, the impact could be major.
“This partnership from the AI perspective can benefit Palo Alto more than it does Google,” Cser said. “Because Google has already Vertex AI and Gemini, but having all this infrastructure, as well as intellectual property integrated more with the Palo Alto stack, that’s definitely a potential benefit.”
Because many enterprises have already standardized on Palo Alto security tools, cloud providers like Google, AWS and Microsoft are under pressure to maintain compatibility, and failing to do so could alienate customers and disrupt workloads. Unlike niche vendors or CSP-native tools, Cser said Palo Alto Networks offers a unifying security layer that enterprises can rely on across platforms.
“It also highlights Palo Alto’s position as an independent, multi-cloud capable cloud security vendor, no cloud service provider can ignore,” Cser said. “Better be on good terms with Palo Alto, because they have such high penetration and presence in cloud security, as well as on-prem security, you’re going to lose customers that are already standardized on Palo Alto security infrastructure.”
Many high-profile strategic partnerships fail to deliver meaningful results, with announcements generating buzz but companies lacking the operational follow-through needed to make the partnership truly impactful. It’s easy to put out a press release and appear aligned but it’s much harder to build lasting integrations, maintain engineering alignment and create joint value for customers.
“These types of partnership announcements are easy to make and very difficult to sustain over a long period of time,” Cser said. “A lot of times, they’re very difficult to support. After two years, it’s really difficult to draw a conclusion whether there’s been more than just a set of PowerPoint slides and everything else, a press release, versus something that was really substantial.”