Palo Alto Networks this week introduced a series of managed service provider (MSP)-focused updates targeted at expanding its networking and security empire, and eliminating barriers to adoption. They include a hierarchical multi-tenant dashboard and open APIs designed to help operators automate secure access service edge (SASE) deployment and management.

The dashboard also introduces role-based access controls to the SASE platform to make it easier for MSPs address the differing needs of one customer to the next.

While multi-tenancy isn’t exactly new, it was delivered as part of Palo Alto Network’s Panorama management platform.

“What we wanted to do is take it to the next level and provide a true SASE-type portal that allows providers to have the hierarchical management you need for reporting and provisioning,” Keith O’Brien, CTO of Palo Alto Network’s service provider business unit, told SDxCentral.

The capabilities were developed in concert with the security vendor’s MSP partners, which include AT&T.

Palo Alto Networks has moved rapidly over the last year to expand its MSP footprint with Prisma SASE leading the way. The service provider now counts more than a dozen MSP partners, including AT&T, which tapped with vendor for managed SASE early last year. According to O’Brien, these partnerships are key to driving the company’s business down market.

And as enterprises optimize networking and security around specific applications — Office 365 or Salesforce for example — they’re also looking for more granular service level agreements (SLAs), he explained.

Here, Palo Alto Networks hopes to lend a helping hand, by utilizing its existing SD-WAN and cloud-security capabilities.

“ADEM provides telemetry and reporting and metrics to that MSP where they can theoretically build a service that they can proactively report back to their customers as a service is starting to degrade one of their applications,” O’Brien explained, referring to the vendor's Autonomous Digital Experience Management platform. “A typical telco would would look at SLAs on is my circuit up or down. … This is more of can I reach Office 365 in a reasonable amount of time?”

Palo Alto Networks also sees MSPs as a means to capitalize on changing workforce dynamics including those surrounding remote and hybrid work.

Last year, the vendor announced a home network security appliance called Okyo Garde, that claimed to provide enterprise-grade cybersecurity for remote workers and small businesses while protecting corporate assets and employees’ homes. The product is the first of many planned for remote workers and small to midsized business, O’Brien said.