In a sign of just how big of an impact the SolarWinds breach had across the security industry, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora kicked off his company’s second fiscal quarter 2021 earnings call by discussing the massive attack, which compromised at least 100 U.S. corporations’ networks.

“Cybersecurity, in all candor, is the need of the hour given the complete reliance on technology at this time,” Arora said. “We expect that this attack will be a wake-up call to all enterprises to modernize cybersecurity and will serve as a net incremental tailwind, not just for us but also for the industry.”

Palo Alto Networks XDR Blocked SolarStorm Attempt

And, he added, Palo Alto Networks’ extended detection and response (XDR) platform, Cortex XDR, protected the security vendor’s own infrastructure during the breach. “Cortex XDR instantly blocked a SolarStorm attempt on Palo Alto Networks, thanks to its behavioral threat protection capability. We continue to be bullish on the rapid pace of innovation that is going into our Cortex XDR.”

In fact, 66% of the Fortune 100 use Cortex, up from 65% in the first quarter. The vendor also claims a growing customer count among the Global 2000, with 35% of those companies using the threat detection and response product.

Turning back to the security vendor’s second-quarter financials, Palo Alto Networks posted better-than-expected results. This included earnings of $154.2 million, or $1.55 per share, on revenue of $1 billion, up 25% compared to the second fiscal quarter of 2020.

Prisma Access Scores $20M Deal in Q2

The company’s secure access service edge (SASE) platform, Prisma Access, was largely responsible for Palo Alto Networks’ strong Q2, Arora said. During the quarter, the vendor closed a $20 million deal, which included Prisma Access, hardware firewalls for the data center, and virtual firewalls for cloud environments. This represented the largest deal in product history for Prisma Access, which now claims about 1,000 customers compared to less than 100 last year, Arora said. Some 30% of Fortune 100 are Prisma Access customers, and the product saw more than 100% year-over-year growth in billings during Q2.

“In Q2 we closed an eight-figure deal with a leading technology company with over 100,000 employees with business in over 100 countries as part of their digital transformation,” he said. “The company was launching a new remote work initiative. … Palo Alto Networks was ultimately chosen over several of our security peers as the customer saw us as the only vendor that was offering a true SASE solution.”

Prisma Cloud Claims 2K Customers

While Prisma Access drove the network security side of the business in Q2, Prisma Cloud boosted Palo Alto Networks’ cloud security and artificial intelligence (which it calls ClaiSec) with more than 2,000 customers on the 2-year-old cloud security platform. This includes 74% of the Fortune 100, up from 70% in Q1. Also during the second quarter, Palo Alto Networks closed its largest-ever Prisma Cloud, which Arora said also came in at eight figures. Prisma Cloud now protects 2.5 billion cloud workloads, up from 1.8 billion last quarter.

“Perhaps I was too cautious at the outset of the pandemic,” Arora said. “The current sustained performance, resilience of our teams and execution has me turning more optimistic.”

And in that vein, the vendor raised its outlook for the full year. For the fiscal third quarter 2021, the company expects total billings in the range of $1.22 billion to $1.24 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 20% and 22%. It also forecast total revenue in the range of $1.05 billion to $1.06 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 21% and 22%.

For the fiscal year 2021, Palo Alto Networks raised guidance and now expects total billings in the range of $5.13 billion to $5.18 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 19% and 20%. And total revenue in the range of $4.15 billion to $4.20 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 22% and 23%.

Palo Alto Networks Pledges Carbon Neutrality

In addition to reporting Q2 financial results, Palo Alto Networks also committed to be carbon neutral by 2030. To accomplish this, the company will use 100% renewable energy for its global offices, reduce emissions in alignment with science-based targets, and invest in carbon offsets for any remaining emissions.

“We will keep you informed of progress along the way,” Palo Alto Networks CFO Luis Visoso said. “We will continue to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project and start sharing plans and progress using protocols set by the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures. It will take creativity, collaboration, and visionary thinking to protect our planet, and we’re up for the challenge. We call on others to join us. Consider aligning to the Paris Agreement and make your commitment to do your part.”