NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks have announced a multi-year strategic alliance aimed at helping organizations securely adopt artificial intelligence, modernize cybersecurity, simplify complex technology environments and strengthen cyber resilience for the AI era.
The agreement, which represents Palo Alto Networks’ first strategic alliance of this kind with a global systems integrator, targets $1 billion in joint business by the end of 2029. It combines Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered cybersecurity platforms with NTT DATA’s consulting, engineering and managed services capabilities.
Through joint engineering, co-innovation and coordinated global delivery, the companies will help organizations assess cyber risk, deploy AI securely and continuously optimize their security environments. The collaboration is designed to provide clients with a unified approach spanning cybersecurity strategy, implementation and managed services.
Building on the companies’ existing Frontier AI collaboration, the alliance brings together Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 threat intelligence with NTT DATA’s global cybersecurity expertise, AI governance capabilities and managed services.
The partnership will be supported by joint investments, more than 2,000 certified experts and dedicated Forward Deployed Engineers. Through direct engineering collaboration, NTT DATA will also gain early access to new platform features, supporting faster delivery of AI security services to customers.
The initial solutions will target cybersecurity challenges across highly regulated and critical industries, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and the public sector. Six strategic transformation areas will form the foundation of the collaboration.
The first is autonomous Security Operations Centers, combining Agentic AI and managed services to help organizations detect, investigate and respond to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats while reducing operational complexity.
The second focuses on AI governance, embedding security, governance and risk management across the AI lifecycle to help organizations manage emerging risks while scaling AI innovation with greater accountability and control.
Identity security will address human, machine and AI agent identities, as well as workloads and devices, through a framework designed to discover, manage, secure and govern identities across enterprise environments.
The alliance will also deliver Zero Trust and SASE capabilities designed to secure users, applications and data across increasingly complex attack surfaces through unified secure-edge architectures and AI-driven threat detection.
Resilient cloud solutions will help organizations improve visibility, compliance and risk reduction across multi-cloud environments through AI-enabled security posture management and stronger governance.
The sixth area, firewall modernization, will focus on reducing complexity, improving visibility and strengthening enterprise security across modern firewall environments.
Palo Alto Networks Chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora said the partnership reflects the growing importance of ecosystem collaboration as AI reshapes both business and cybersecurity. NTT DATA CEO and Chief AI Officer Abhijit Dubey said the collaboration will combine AI-powered security with industry expertise and global scale to help organizations accelerate AI adoption while addressing the rapidly changing threat landscape.
NTT DATA brings more than 7,500 cybersecurity professionals, over 70 delivery centers and more than 20 Cyber Defense Centers to the alliance. Combined with Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered platforms and Unit 42 threat intelligence, the partnership is designed to provide enterprise customers with technology, expertise and global reach for securing AI adoption across complex environments.
