Palo Alto Networks Preps Security Operations Center Platform Expansion -

Palo Alto Networks' new SOC (security operations center) platform -- known as XSIAM -- has found its first paying customer, and a broader industry rollout is planned for the first half of fiscal 2023, Chief Product Officer Lee Klarich (pictured above) disclosed on the security company's August 22 earnings call.

Some context: The Palo Alto Networks fiscal year 2023 started on August 1, 2022 -- which means the company is planning to extend the new SOC platform to a broader set of customers no later than January 2023.

Palo Alto Networks XSIAM vs. SIEM

Initial XSIAM details surfaced in February 2022. At the time, Palo Alto Networks said the platform would seek to disrupt the traditional SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) market -- which remains in growth mode.

Indeed, global SIEM revenues will reach $6.24 billion by 2027, up from $2.83 billion in 2019 -- which represents a 10.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), The Insight Partners forecasts.

Among the potential SIEM market twists: XSIAM's overall platform cost will be nearly 50 percent less than legacy SIEM products, Palo Alto Networks claimed.

A limited number of design partners have been testing XSIAM in recent months. Describing the results so far, Klarich on August 22 said:

"The results of this design partner program are incredibly encouraging, proving our assumptions about the value of good quality data powering AI-based attack detection and native automation simplifying and speeding response. And I'm happy to say our first paid customer was a seven-figure purchase and most of the other design partners are likely to purchase in the coming months. We are on track to launch the product into a broader set of our customers in the first half of fiscal '23."

Palo Alto Networks Business Momentum

Meanwhile, the overall Palo Alto Networks business continues to show momentum. For its fiscal Q4 of 2022:

Revenue was $1.6 billion, up 27% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
GAAP net income was $3.3 million, compared to a GAAP net loss of $119.3 million in Q4 of fiscal 2021.

The financial results generally beat Wall Street's expectations. Still, Palo Alto Networks during the earnings call did not describe how MSP and MSSP partners are influencing the company's growth.