Gartner named Netskope and Zscaler as “leaders” for the second year in a row in its annual Magic Quadrant ranking of  security services edge (SSE) vendors, while Palo Alto Networks replaced McAfee Enterprise (rebranded as Skyhigh Security last March) in that prestigious quadrant for the first time.

The analysis firm noted Palo Alto Networks last year expanded its Prisma Access SSE capabilities, including better integration with Prisma SD-WAN, and improvements to its explicit Proxy, zero-trust network access (ZTNA) and Software-as-a-Service security posture management (SSPM) capabilities.

Palo Alto Networks claims the recognition makes it “the only cybersecurity company recognized as a leader in both Magic Quadrant reports for SSE and SD-WAN,” which is in line with its single-vendor secure access service edge (SASE) push, according to Kumar Ramachandran, SVP for products and SASE at Palo Alto Networks.

In last year’s report, Gartner put Palo Alto Networks in the “challengers” category along with Cisco. Gartner cautioned the security giant’s SSE offering was not well integrated, required multiple modules for full SSE functionality, and its strategy was built on acquired functionality and the use of firewall rules.

This year, the firm noted Palo Alto Networks offered a complete unified console for SSE and has simplified platform management. Gartner did note that clients find Prisma Access licensing remains complex and confusing, and that the platform appeals primarily to existing Palo Alto Networks customers.

Netskope recently announced plans to combine its SSE product with a new Endpoint SD-WAN, which the vendor considers the first true SASE product for remote workers.

The company bought Infiot in 2022 to support this single-vendor SASE vision and WootCloud for IoT visibility. It also expanded its ZTNA to allow for on-premises termination to support universal ZTNA use cases, Gartner noted in the latest ranking.

Gartner expects Netskope to have strong revenue and growth in the SSE space relative to its competitors but noted it is reported as one of the most expensive options.

The firm also continues to see strong revenue growth from a large base for Zscaler, perhaps backed by user complaints about pricing.

Last year, Zscaler acquired Priatta Networks and ShiftRight for IoT discovery and security workflow automation and enhanced its artificial intelligence-powered data security capabilities, Gartner noted.

Cisco was named as the only challenger in the report; Skyhigh Security, Forcepoint and Lookout were tabbed as “visionaries”; and Broadcom, iBoss and Cloudflare labeled as “niche players.”

Gartner defines SSE as a security framework that safeguards access to the web, cloud services and private applications regardless of user location, device or Application hosting, which enhances security and visibility for SaaS, platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

The firm sees a security consolidation trend that is expected to benefit the SSE market as it predicts a majority (85%) of organizations seeking to procure Cloud Access Security Broker, secure web gateway (SWG) or ZTNA solutions will obtain these services from a converged solution like SSE and SASE.

And it forecasts that by 2025, 70% of organizations that implement agent-based ZTNA will choose an SSE or SASE provider for ZTNA instead of a standalone offering. Gartner also expects that by 2026, nearly half (45%) of organizations will prioritize advanced data security features for inspection of Data at Rest and in motion as a selection criterion for SSE.