NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks forge global alliance to secure enterprise AI adoption
NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks have announced a multi-year global strategic alliance aimed at helping enterprises adopt AI while strengthening cybersecurity, governance and resilience.
The partnership combines Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered cybersecurity platforms with NTT DATA’s consulting, engineering and managed services capabilities. The companies are targeting $1 billion in joint business by the end of 2029.
The alliance is described as Palo Alto Networks’ first strategic partnership of this kind with a global systems integrator. It will use joint engineering, co-innovation and coordinated global delivery to help organisations assess cyber risk, deploy AI securely and continuously optimise their security environments.
The partnership builds on the companies’ existing collaboration around Frontier AI and will combine Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 threat intelligence with NTT DATA’s cybersecurity expertise, AI governance capabilities and managed services.
More than 2,000 Palo Alto Networks-certified professionals and dedicated Forward Deployed Engineers will support the alliance. NTT DATA will also receive early access to new platform capabilities through direct engineering collaboration, according to the companies.
Initial solutions will focus on financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and the public sector, with six areas of transformation.
These include autonomous security operations centres using agentic AI and managed services to support detection, investigation and response; AI governance covering security and risk management across the AI lifecycle; and identity security covering human, machine and AI-agent identities.
The alliance will also address Zero Trust and SASE architectures, resilient cloud environments through AI-enabled security posture management, and firewall modernisation aimed at reducing complexity and improving visibility.
“AI is reshaping both business and cybersecurity, making deep ecosystem collaboration more important than ever,” said Nikesh Arora, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Palo Alto Networks. “Expanding our alliance with NTT DATA allows us to operationalize platformisation at true global scale, helping enterprises eliminate legacy complexity and move fast without sacrificing safety.”
“AI is redefining every aspect of the enterprise, but it is also transforming the threat landscape at unprecedented speed,” said Abhijit Dubey, Chief Executive Officer and Chief AI Officer, NTT DATA, Inc. “Organizations need a new approach to cyber resilience that combines AI-driven security, deep industry expertise and global scale.”
He added that the partnership would bring together Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered cybersecurity capabilities with NTT DATA’s consulting, engineering and managed services to support secure AI adoption and respond to evolving threats.