Having snubbed a $23bn approach from Google last July, Wiz earlier this month agreed to be acquired by the cloud and search giant for $32bn.
It is the largest acquisition in both Google and cybersecurity history.
Once closed, Wiz will join Google Cloud, with the duo stressing the cloud security specialist’s products will continue to work and be available across all major clouds, including AWS and Azure.
The move comes after Wiz announced a UK hiring blitz last summer.
But does the deal get the thumbs up from Wiz’s and Google’s respective partner communities, and what advice would they have for how Google goes about the integration?
What will it mean for rival hyperscalers? And is it a good use of $32bn?
IT Channel Oxygen grabbed Wiz partner Softcat, analyst Futurum Group, and Google Security and Wiz ally SEP2 to find out….
“There’s an opportunity to use the Wiz model to define how Google work with the channel”
William Day, Cyber Security Alliances Lead, Softcat
Vested interest: Wiz partner
As a Wiz partner, what was your snap reaction to the deal?
My initial reaction was, wow, what an incredible result for the Wiz founders and breathtaking example of high-stakes negotiation in M&A. Then, okay, so what will this mean for us as partners, the wider vendor landscape in this space and of course Microsoft, AWS and even OpenAI.
Are we going to see Google move from towards the back of the pack to take the lead with the first truly cloud-native AI security platform, and how are they going to stitch it all together and take it to market?
Wiz reached $500m ARR faster than any other software vendor in history. How would you characterise the level of growth you’ve enjoyed with Wiz at Softcat, and where have you seen the most customer success with Wiz?
Our Wiz partnership to date has been one of hypergrowth. Within weeks of being onboarded at Softcat, the level of customer demand, for a young organisation that was new to the UK, took us by surprise and it was clear Wiz were executing incredibly well across their go-to-market and had the technology to back it up.
Customer success has been wide reaching, across verticals including FSI, telco, pharma and retail, but ultimately any organisation with a significant cloud investment, as you’d expect. The appetite they have demonstrated to grow via the channel and invest in partners has been equally impressive and the team over there are a pleasure to work with and full of creative energy.
Assuming the acquisition closes, what advice would you have for Google in terms of how it approaches the integration?
The power and presence of the Wiz brand in the market is of course a huge part of the value Google have placed on the acquisition, so it goes without saying that should be maintained. The channel has been widely credited as central to the growth rates Wiz have achieved and there’s an opportunity here to use the Wiz model to define how Google work with, and invest in, the channel moving forward.
To what extent do you see potential synergies between Wiz and the wider Google portfolio, particularly in terms of what this could potentially strengthen your offering as a partner?
It’s important to understand what being part of Google means for Wiz’s existing multicloud strategy that gives their security platform unique strength in the market and their mature relationships and revenue streams across the hyperscalers and marketplaces.
If Google can deliver this integration without disrupting the current approach, their offering will be truly unified – the opportunity to remove the fragmentation, inefficiencies and security risk most potential customers will be seeing with their existing siloed cloud systems is vast.
Wiz’s CNAPP code-to-cloud portfolio combined with Google’s AI led SecOps offering will be a game-changer and a conversation we’ll be looking to take to market, hopefully under an evolved Google partner program building on the successful ecosystem developed by Wiz.
“I would expect AWS to start leaning into other cybersecurity relationships”
Alex Smith, VP, Channels Research and Practice Operations, The Futurum Group
Vested interest: Curious analyst
Is this $32bn well spent for Google?
At a revenue-to-value price of 45x to 65x, Google is clearly paying a premium.
But they are one of a handful of companies that can afford to make this type of bet, and this signals that Google Cloud is investing in its enterprise software stack.
Google doesn’t make this bet because it wants to gain share in a corner of the cybersecurity market – it believes it can be an option for enterprise’s core security operations platform. In this respect, it takes on Microsoft Sentinel, Palo Alto Networks Cortex, Cisco Splunk, and others.
To what extent will the deal disrupt Wiz’s ties with AWS and Azure?
In order to succeed in that ambition, Wiz does need to remain a multi-cloud product so in theory, established relationships with AWS and others will need to continue to be nurtured. But naturally I would expect AWS to start leaning into other cybersecurity relationships that remain independent. AWS, now more than Google and certainly Microsoft, is the Switzerland for the cybersecurity industry.
“This acquisition further cements Google’s position as a leader in cyber security”
Paul Starr, Co-founder & CEO, SEP2
Vested Interest: Google Cloud Premier Partner and Wiz Authorised Partner
As a partner of both Google and Wiz, what will this deal mean for SEP2?
Having recently signed up as a Virus Total Analytics Partner as part of our commitment to the Google Threat Intelligence platform to add additional service items into our Wingman MDR and XDR offering, we are excited as to what the future with Google Cloud Security and their acquisition of Wiz will look like.
We pride ourselves on partnering with the best in the industry, and this acquisition further cements Google’s position as a leader in cyber security.
The integration of Wiz with Google’s existing security infrastructure offers tremendous potential. Wiz’s innovative cloud security solutions are a perfect complement to Google’s offerings, enhancing our ability to provide cutting-edge security services to our clients. I firmly believe this is a strategic move that will benefit partners like SEP2.
Given Google’s significant presence in the cloud sector, it will be intriguing to observe how they ensure Wiz remains a genuine multi-cloud vendor rather than evolving into solely Google Cloud native tooling. This has been demonstrated within the SecOps ecosystem, where despite having a substantial customer base comprising of Google Cloud and Workspace users, we also serve clients who do not utilise other Google solutions but still benefit from SEP2’s premier MDR service.
When I speak to Wiz customers, they are complimentary of the technology, which was validated earlier in the year by Check Point choosing to withdraw from competition and instead partnering with Wiz. As a Check Point Elite partner, I find this partnership personally exciting and promising.
With Google’s acquisition and SEP2 being one of the leading Google Security partners in the UK, I am optimistic about the potential opportunities we have to continue protecting our customers.
