NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks Forge Global Strategic Partnership to Advance Secure AI Transformation

MALAYSIA, August 21, 2026 — NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks have announced a multi-year global strategic alliance aimed at helping organisations adopt artificial intelligence securely while strengthening cybersecurity and building greater resilience against emerging digital threats. The collaboration brings together Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered cybersecurity platforms with NTT DATA’s consulting, engineering and managed services capabilities to provide businesses with a more integrated approach to AI security and digital transformation.

The alliance marks Palo Alto Networks’ first strategic partnership of this nature with a global systems integrator and is targeting US$1 billion in joint business by the end of 2029. Through joint engineering, co-innovation and coordinated global delivery, the two companies will help organisations assess cyber risks, deploy AI securely and continuously optimise their security environments.

The partnership builds on the companies’ existing Frontier AI collaboration and combines Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 threat intelligence with NTT DATA’s global cybersecurity expertise, AI governance capabilities and managed services. Supported by joint investments, more than 2,000 certified experts and dedicated Forward Deployed Engineers, the alliance is designed to streamline technology deployments and accelerate outcomes for clients.

Initial solutions will focus on key cybersecurity challenges faced by highly regulated and critical industries, including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and the public sector. Six strategic transformation areas have been identified, covering autonomous security operations centres, AI governance, identity security, Zero Trust and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), resilient cloud environments and firewall modernisation.

Under the Autonomous SOC offering, organisations will be able to leverage agentic AI and managed services to detect, investigate and respond to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats more quickly. AI governance solutions will help organisations manage security and risk throughout the AI lifecycle, enabling them to scale AI adoption with greater accountability, transparency and control.

The alliance will also address identity security by helping organisations protect human, machine and AI agent identities, including workloads and devices. Meanwhile, Zero Trust and SASE solutions will provide a unified approach to protecting users, applications and data across increasingly complex digital environments, supported by AI-driven threat detection and prevention capabilities.

For cloud environments, the partnership aims to improve visibility, compliance and risk management across multi-cloud infrastructures through AI-enabled security posture management. Firewall modernisation will also help organisations simplify complex legacy environments, improve visibility and strengthen overall enterprise security.

Palo Alto Networks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Nikesh Arora said the rapid evolution of AI and cybersecurity highlights the importance of deeper collaboration across technology ecosystems. He noted that the expanded alliance with NTT DATA will help organisations operate cybersecurity platforms at global scale while reducing legacy complexity and accelerating AI adoption without compromising security.

NTT DATA Chief Executive Officer and Chief AI Officer Abhijit Dubey said the rapid transformation of AI is creating new opportunities while simultaneously reshaping the cybersecurity threat landscape. He emphasised that organisations require a new approach to cyber resilience that combines AI-powered security, industry expertise and global delivery capabilities to enable safer and faster AI adoption.

NTT DATA brings more than 7,500 cybersecurity professionals, over 70 delivery centres and more than 20 Cyber Defense Centers to the collaboration. Combined with Palo Alto Networks’ AI-powered security platforms and Unit 42 threat intelligence, the partnership is positioned to provide enterprises with the technology, expertise and global reach required to secure AI adoption across increasingly complex technology environments.

As organisations accelerate their use of AI, the NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks alliance highlights the growing importance of embedding cybersecurity, governance and resilience into digital transformation strategies from the outset. By combining advanced security technology with consulting, engineering and managed services, the partnership aims to help enterprises navigate the evolving threat landscape while unlocking the benefits of AI more securely.