Another day, another acquisition closes for Palo Alto Networks as the security giant saw its deal for AI production firm Portkey over the line.

Revealed back in May, the deal sees Palo Alto Networks acquire a company that helps users build AI production stacks and control planes. Portkey’s offering acts as an effective gateway, providing secure access to AI models.

The acquisition sees Portkey become the de facto AI gateway for the Prisma AIRS platform, securing AI interactions by inspecting traffic in real time while also enforcing governance policies.

Commenting on the closure, Lee Klarich, chief product and technology officer of Palo Alto Networks, said: “AI is evolving so rapidly that organizations often feel forced to choose between two failing strategies: scrambling to integrate a patchwork of 'point products' to stay current, or falling behind while waiting for legacy platforms to catch up.

“We're breaking that cycle. By making Portkey a critical component of the comprehensive Prisma AIRS platform, we do the heavy lifting of integration so our customers don't have to, enabling them to adopt the latest AI capabilities with speed and security.”

Portkey was founded in 2023 by Rohit Agarwal and Ayush Garg, veterans of AI-driven content platform Pepper Content.

Having received backing from Elevation Capital and Lightspeed Ventures, the firm was working with Palo Alto prior to being purchased. AIRS was plugged into Portkey’s gateway and observability layer.

The acquisition looks to establish the now firmly Portkey-infused AI Gateway as a “mission-critical control plane for the enterprise, enabling organizations to accelerate AI innovation with confidence.”

“We joined Palo Alto Networks to bridge the trust gap that prevents AI from reaching its full potential. Our mission is to help enterprises move fearlessly,” said Agarwal, who served as Portkey’s CEO. “By combining our gateway with Palo Alto Networks AI security platform, we are helping organizations scale from experimental pilots to core business operations without compromising on safety or reliability.”

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. It marks the latest in a long line of Palo Alto Networks acquisitions, with Portkey joining Koi, Chronosphere, and CyberArk, the latter of which was rebranded as Idira.