Palo Alto Networks rolled out the enterprise edition of its Okyo Garde — pronounced guard — network security gateway in a bid to extend secure access service edge (SASE) functionality to remote workers' entire home.

Announced late last summer, Okyo Garde is a low-profile WiFi 6 router imbued with Palo Alto Networks’ security stack and threat intelligence. The appliance is controlled by a mobile app, enabling user provisioning, and is available as a subscription that includes hardware, software, and security services.

“The benefits of working remotely also come with the shared responsibility between employees and employers for protecting networks. At-home use of personal devices, email, and social media accounts increases the risk of cyber attacks on the enterprise,” Kumar Ramachandran, SVP of products at Palo Alto Networks, in a statement.

Ramachandran was the CEO of SD-WAN vendor CloudGenix prior to Palo Alto Networks' $420 million acquisition of the company in early 2020.

In it’s enterprise rendition, the Okyo Garde expands its security stack to include a tunnel to Palo Alto Network’s Prisma Access security cloud, where zero-trust network access, secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, and cloud-based firewalls for additional security.

Users also have the option of provisioning a second wireless network on a separate VLAN to ensure personal and corporate traffic don’t co-mingle.

“People are working on crowded, oversubscribed, unknown, consumer-grade home networks,” Palo Alto Networks EVP Mario Queiroz told SDxCentral in September. “The networks are under heavy usage, and this is fraught with networking problems and also security challenges.”

When Okyo Guard initially launched, it was limited to onboard security functionality. Tunneling to Prisma Access for SASE security inspection was planned for early 2022, but the offering initially only targeted small to midsized business customers — not home users.

The company’s tune has since softened. Palo Alto Networks is now positioning the product as a SASE gateway for home users as well. Okyo Garde Enterprise Edition is available in the U.S. and Canada.