Defying the Odds: How Cato Networks Disrupted IT Security 

On the morning of Oct 13th, SpaceX successfully performed a groundbreaking catch of its Starship booster. It was a monumental moment in space exploration, one that David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founder of Ruby on Rails and Basecamp, recently praised in his blog. As Heinemeier Hansson noted, pulling off such feats requires a rare combination of audacity, vision, and an ironclad refusal to accept failure. 

Elon Musk’s Starship is the latest example of what it takes to truly disrupt the status quo: the courage to think beyond accepted norms, the persistence to challenge failure, and a dash of craziness to push the vision forward. This audacious spirit isn’t confined to space exploration; it’s echoed in industries like IT security, where the courage to break with tradition and envision the future can redefine the landscape.

At Cato Networks, this same mindset underpins our approach to IT security and networking. Led by visionary Shlomo Kramer, Cato Networks is a collective of professionals united by a shared belief in a transformative model: the convergence of networking and security into a seamless, cloud-native platform. This vision challenged the long-standing norms, aiming to simplify and modernize enterprise security for a cloud-first, mobile workforce.

The Cato Vision: A Paradigm Shift in IT Security 

In 2015, Cato Networks introduced a revolutionary idea. At a time when networking and security operated in silos, each domain bogged down by complex, disconnected solutions, Cato reimagined what IT security could be. What if the cloud could serve as the foundation for both security and networking, merging these functions into a unified, manageable service?

This innovative approach was met with initial skepticism, as traditional vendors clung to hardware-centric models, but Cato’s commitment to this vision never wavered. In 2016, Cato Networks introduced this bold vision to the world. This was more than just a new product—it was a paradigm shift in how we think about securing and connecting businesses. By 2019, Gartner introduced the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework, a testament to the architecture that Cato pioneered.

Going Against the Odds: A Paradigm Shift in IT Security 

Cato’s vision wasn’t just to patch the existing issues in network security but to completely rebuild it from the ground up. While competitors focused on improving hardware appliances or delivering siloed point solutions, Cato saw that the true solution laid in convergence.

In 2015, this was a wild bet. Most organizations couldn’t even imagine converging networking and security into a single cloud-native platform. The industry was comfortable with its silos—networking teams worked separately from security teams, each responsible for its own set of tools and technologies. But this comfort was exactly the problem. Enterprises were spending too much time, effort, and money managing disparate solutions that were never designed to work together. Security was often an afterthought, bolted on top of complex networking architectures that couldn’t adapt to the dynamic needs of modern businesses.

Cato Networks’ approach was revolutionary. By converging all networking and security functions into a unified cloud platform, Cato delivered a simpler, scalable solution that provided seamless access and security to users everywhere. Whether employees were in the office, at home, or traveling, they could connect to Cato’s cloud service and receive the same level of security and performance.

Cato’s Single Pass Cloud Engine (SPACE), the cloud-native software that today runs in more than 85 locations around the world, was central to this vision, enabling the platform to deliver networking and security functions simultaneously without adding the overhead of multiple inspections or increased latency.

The idea was simple, but executing it at scale, and with global availability, required the kind of perseverance and courage that only true disruptors possess.

Building the Future of IT Security 

Today, Cato Networks stands as a leader in the SASE market. Our vision is now embraced by the industry, but the road to get here was anything but easy. Many questioned whether such a convergence could ever be achieved. Others doubted that enterprises would be willing to abandon their legacy infrastructure for a cloud-native model.

With the growth of remote work and cloud-first strategies, the need for scalable, unified networking and security solutions has only increased. Shlomo Kramer’s early bet on the convergence of networking and security has paid off, not just for Cato Networks, but for the entire IT security industry. Today, other vendors are following the path Cato pioneered, but none have managed to match its innovation and execution. 

Looking Ahead: A Continuing Legacy of Innovation 

Cato Networks stands as a leader in the SASE market, yet this is just the beginning. Shlomo Kramer’s vision laid the foundation, but the drive and commitment of the Cato team keep the innovation moving forward. For those of us lucky enough to be part of this journey, it’s inspiring to see what can be accomplished when someone like Shlomo Kramer challenges the status quo. At Cato, we’re not just building products—we’re building the future of networking and security.