AI model / capability types: Machine learning is used across Cato security analytics and threat detection; generative AI/LLM and agentic AI are central to Cato AI Security use cases for governing employee AI use, protecting homegrown AI applications, controlling autonomous agents, and defending against AI-enabled attacks. Cato also uses AI agents in Agentic Threat Prevention. Cato Neural Edge adds GPU-powered infrastructure for real-time AI-driven inspection and enforcement. Deep-learning specifics should be described only where a Cato product source explicitly identifies them.

Cato AI Security: https://www.catonetworks.com/solutions/ai-security/

Cato Platform: https://www.catonetworks.com/platform/

WWT AI Security: https://www.wwt.com/topic/ai-security/overview

Executive Relationship Map:

Karl Soderlund <-> Chris Konrad

Addie Finch <-> Chris Konrad

Karl Soderlund <-> Ashish Upadhyay

Cato + WWT Deck

Typical margins expected for a registered deal

• 30% off at Starter Level (current)
• 40% off at Advanced Level

GM% historical average

• Most partners retain 20-25% or higher

How to register a deal (step-by-step process)

• Go to www.catonetworks.com
• Hover over the Partners tab at top of page
• Click on Partner Portal under Quick Links
• Either sign in, or if this is your first visit, click the Sign Up button
• Once you've clicked Sign Up, send an email to rcam@catonetworks.com and ask that   someone approve your submission
• Login and click to register a deal 
  
   

How to access the partner portal (URL + login instructions)

https://partners.catonetworks.com/#/page/login

• Either sign in, or if this is your first visit, click the Sign Up button
• Once you've clicked Sign Up, send an email to rcam@catonetworks.com and ask that someone approve your submission.

Registration types: 

• Resale / MSP / Referral / Incumbent Reseller, MSP, Referral
• Incumbent protection is automatic and deal reg is not required on renewals

Deal registration approval SLA 

• We aim to either approve or reach out to discuss deal registrations within 48 hours. 
• If you have a question or need to check status, feel free to email chris.hendey@catonetworks.com or rcam@catonetworks.com to reach the channel management team who can assist.

Incumbent protection policy

•  We honor incumbency based on the last partner to sell new business to the customer in each product category.

AI Security Solutions:

There are hundreds of solutions on the market but oftentimes they address one piece of the AISecurity puzzle. Cato wins when customers want to avoid assembling separate tools for AI usage, AI applications, and autonomous agents, or when vendor longevity and consolidation risk make them uncomfortable placing a multi-year security bet on a fast-moving field of narrowly focused, early-stage vendors. 

Cato's differentiator is the platform approach: one AI-native solution, one policy framework, and one control point for all three AI use cases - the AI employees use, the AI applications teams build, and the agents operating across the environment - with AI activity connected to the broader network and security context.

SASE:

Zscaler - Cato wins against Zscaler when customers want one operating model for networking and security rather than separate service domains, predictable application performance, or a mature path from SSE to full SASE. The differentiators that matter are Cato's single policy model, single data lake, single operations plane, private backbone, and integrated SD-WAN; 

Netskope - Cato wins against Netskope when customers need to expand beyond SSE and DLP into branch networking, private applications, east-west traffic, and full SASE without re-architecting later. Cato's private backbone, mature SD-WAN, consistent enforcement across all traffic paths, and one architecture that can expand use case by use case without integration debt are the key differentiators.

Palo Alto Networks - Cato wins against Palo Alto when the buying priority is operational simplification, faster rollout, and avoiding a growing portfolio of modules, consoles, policy domains, and integration work. Customers that value one cloud-native architecture, one policy model, one data lake, and one operation plane often see Cato as the cleaner path to network, security, ZTNA, and AI convergence.

Fortinet - Cato wins against Fortinet when customers want to reduce appliance refresh, capacity planning, and emergency patch cycles, or when rapid branch rollout and cloud-delivered operations matter more than preserving a firewall-centric architecture. Cato differentiates with cloud-native enforcement, no customer-managed appliance lifecycle for core SASE, and unified policy, telemetry, and operations.

Cisco - Cato wins against Cisco when customers want faster SASE deployment, simpler day-to-day management, predictable global performance, and less licensing and hardware complexity. Cato's unified management, private backbone, zero-touch provisioning, and converged security stack are especially strong when customers are replacing MPLS/VPNs or multiple point products; internal Cisco win examples cite eliminating backhauling, consolidating point products, and easier management as win drivers.

Cloudflare - Cato wins against Cloudflare when customers want enterprise SASE with managed SD-WAN and last-mile optimization, built-in advanced security, and an operating model that does not require customer engineering to extend or maintain security controls. Cato differentiates with integrated edge SD-WAN, a converged security stack, and a managed platform where Cato - rather than the customer's developers - owns enforcement, updates, and platform accountability.

• For a full list of Cato Networks Integration partners, please visit: https://www.catonetworks.com/integrations/
• Cato Networks and Crowdstrike also benefit from a mutual GTM partnership with each side's sellers being compensated for bringing the other vendor into an opportunity.

Cato Networks is in the early stages of moving into the ATC. We continue to work with the SASE/SSE team to determine which use cases the ATC environment will be built around. Stay tuned!

• S&P Global - $2.9M ACV - Cato AI Security / AI Firewall for approximately 45,000 employees across 70 offices in 35 countries. The customer needed unified AI visibility, governance, and control across AI usage spanning AWS, Azure, and GCP. WWT relationships, executive alignment, persona-based discovery, and a strong proof of value helped Cato win; the solution displaced Zscaler and beat Noma/other AI-security startups. Outcome: centralized AI governance, stronger security posture, and a safer path for future AI initiatives.

Gartner – 2026 Magic Quadrant™ for SASE Platforms
Cato Networks was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SASE Platforms, marking the third consecutive year Cato has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant.

GigaOm – 2026 Radar for Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
Cato Networks was named a Leader and Outperformer in the 2026 GigaOm Radar for SASE, marking the third consecutive year Cato has earned both distinctions. Cato was positioned closest to the center of the Radar among all evaluated vendors and ranked highest on Emerging Features and Business Criteria.

GigaOm – 2026 Radar for Security Service Edge (SSE)
Cato Networks was named a Leader and Outperformer in the 2026 GigaOm Radar for Security Service Edge (SSE). The assessment highlighted Cato's strengths across areas including agentless secure access, multivector threat protection, and next-generation deep packet inspection.

GigaOm – 2026 Radar for SD-WAN
Cato Networks was named a Leader and Outperformer in the GigaOm Radar for SD-WAN, giving Cato Leader and Outperformer recognition across all three core GigaOm categories: SASE, SSE, and SD-WAN.

Forrester Consulting – 2026 Total Economic Impact™ of Cato SASE Platform
A Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ study commissioned by Cato Networks found that a composite organization modeled from Cato customers could achieve 235% ROI, $18.9 million in total benefits, $13.2 million in net present value, and payback in less than six months with the Cato SASE Platform.

• Financial Services - Strong fit for globally distributed institutions that need consistent policy, zero-trust access, AI governance, and cloud security. The WWT + Cato S&P Global win is the anchor proof point for AI Security in a complex financial/data-services environment.
• Healthcare & Life Sciences - Use Cato to consolidate network and security controls across clinics, remote workers, SaaS/cloud applications, and third parties while improving visibility and protecting sensitive data. Cato customer references include multi-location healthcare organizations and AI Security use cases involving patient data.
• Manufacturing - Cato is well suited to multi-site manufacturers modernizing MPLS, connecting plants and clouds, improving IoT/OT visibility, and reducing security appliance sprawl. Cato performs especially well in challenging China environments with multiple Points of Presence inside mainland China and a Hong Kong gateway for any traffic that does need to leave China. 
• Retail / Distributed Enterprise - Retailers and other branch-heavy organizations can use Cato to improve site connectivity, cloud/SaaS performance, secure internet access, and operational consistency across hundreds of locations.
• Public Sector / SLED / Federal - Zero Trust, network modernization, secure remote access, and cloud connectivity are relevant to public-sector customers. Cato's FedRAMP High authorization process is underway and expected in 2027.

• Cato Readiness & Migration Assessment - Inventory sites, circuits, remote users, cloud connectivity, security policies, and operational dependencies; produce migration waves, risk controls, and success criteria.
• SSE / SASE Market Scan and Architecture Workshop - Assess current-state network/security architecture, business drivers, incumbent stack, and target operating model; map where Cato is the best fit and define a phased adoption plan.
• Implementation & Migration Services - Design and deploy Cato sites, users, cloud connectivity, routing, policies, integrations, and cutover plans while minimizing business disruption.
• Security Policy / Zero Trust Optimization - Rationalize firewall, SWG, CASB/DLP, ZTNA, and segmentation policies; reduce policy sprawl and align controls to business risk.
• Shadow AI Assessments – Leverage Cato Network's AI Security solution to demonstrate to clients where Shadow AI exists and why a project to defend against such instances is necessary
• AI Security Governance & Proof-of-Value - Define approved AI-use policy, protect homegrown AI applications/agents, and validate controls through a structured POV and future ATC/AI Proving Ground lab.
• Managed SASE / Operational Services - Provide ongoing monitoring, policy operations, lifecycle management, incident coordination, and optimization around the Cato environment where WWT has the appropriate service capability.

Our sweet spot for a wholistic SASE project tends to be upper mid-market and lower enterprise customers, where lean teams cannot keep up with the complexity of dozens of disparate point solutions. 

Our AISecurity solution scales from mid-market to enterprise, as well, but the best fits tend to be mature AI-oriented companies who are developing their own applications or connecting agents to corporate resources and applications. 

Cato Neworks Majors Sellers tend to focus on accounts 25,000 seats and greater and lead with AI Security discussions whereas enterprise and regional sales directors focus on eliminating complexity in accounts 1,000 to 10,000 seats, in size, via SASE initiatives.

The important thing to note is that there are many doors into a Cato Networks opportunity and each of these can be sold as a stand-alone starting point: AI Security, SD-WAN/MPLS Replacement, SSE and/or ZTNA.

Once customers purchase one element of the platform, they tend to very quicky look to spin down their existing infrastructure and collapse more features/functionality onto the Cato platform. 

Industries / Verticals:

• Financial services and data-intensive enterprises
• Healthcare and life sciences
• Manufacturing and industrial organizations
• Retail / distributed branch enterprises

Business Characteristics

• Multiple point products for SD-WAN, firewalls, SSE, VPN/ZTNA, CASB/DLP, or remote access with high operational overhead.
   
• MPLS or legacy WAN renewal approaching, or pressure to improve global application performance and resiliency.
   
• Rapid cloud/SaaS adoption across AWS, Azure, and/or GCP with inconsistent network and security policy.
   
• Shadow AI, GenAI adoption, AI application development, or agentic-AI initiatives that lack unified governance and runtime controls.
   
• Need to secure contractors/unmanaged devices while modernizing remote access and Zero Trust.
   
• M&A, geographic expansion, branch growth, or divestiture activity requiring faster connectivity and policy standardization.

1. "How many separate products or teams are involved today in WAN, internet security, remote access, CASB/DLP, and threat response?" 

Reveals toolchain fragmentation, operational cost, and platform-consolidation potential.

2. "When your MPLS, SD-WAN, firewall, SSE, or VPN contracts renew, which parts of the architecture are you willing to change?" 

Identifies timing, incumbent lock-in, and the best Cato landing motion.

3. "How are you governing employee use of ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, and other generative AI tools today?" 

Surfaces Shadow AI, data leakage, policy, and AI-governance needs.

4. "Are your development teams building AI applications or agents that need runtime protection against prompt injection, data leakage, or unsafe tool use?" 

Qualifies Cato AI Security for applications/agents and an AINE-aligned motion.

5. "How consistently can you apply security policy across branches, remote users, cloud workloads, and unmanaged devices?"

Tests for gaps created by separate network, security, and access stacks.

6. "Where do users experience latency, outages, or inconsistent performance when accessing cloud and SaaS applications globally?" 

Reveals network-modernization and global-backbone value.

7. "What compliance or data-sovereignty requirements constrain how traffic, prompts, logs, or sensitive data are inspected and stored?" 

Identifies regulatory fit, data-residency requirements, and architecture constraints early.

8. "If we could reduce the number of consoles and vendors, which operating costs or staffing bottlenecks would you most want to eliminate?" 

Connects technology consolidation to measurable business and services outcomes.

• Cato AI Security overview - Current AI Security positioning, user/application/agent governance and protection.
• Cato SASE Platform - Platform architecture and converged network/security capabilities.
• Partner Sales Toolkit – (Requires Partner Portal Login, which can be requested at this link, as well) Customer Presentation Deck, Vertical-specific use case decks, competitive resources and more