South African technology service provider iOCO has expanded its managed cybersecurity portfolio through a partnership with Cato Networks. This collaboration enables the provision of a unified, cloud-centric Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform to corporate clients.
The offering is designed to meet the growing needs of South African organizations in cybersecurity amid increasing cyber risks, accelerated adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the complexity of hybrid and cloud environments.
This partnership builds upon iOCO's existing solutions in Zero Trust and managed cybersecurity operations. Clients receive support ranging from consulting and architectural services to migration, integration, security assurance, and continuous optimization.
The goal of this agreement is to provide organizations with access to necessary expertise and capabilities without having to build and maintain these functions entirely in-house. The Cato platform unifies networking and security functions into a single cloud environment, offering organizations a holistic view, context, and control over the use of AI tools and agents.
Gartner has named Cato a leader in its 2026 Magic Quadrant for SASE platforms three times in a row. The service targets small, medium, and large enterprises with distributed and complex technology environments, including organizations with multiple branches, geographically dispersed users, hybrid or multi-cloud infrastructure, remote and mobile workforces, as well as legacy WAN or MPLS networks.
These organizations generally align with the profile of iOCO's existing cybersecurity clients. Neelse Pretorius, Head of Managed Security at iOCO, noted that 'Cato provides capabilities specifically designed for managed SASE and security service delivery partners, including multi-tenant management, which allows service providers like iOCO to efficiently manage multiple client environments.'
He added that 'together, Cato and iOCO provide the right technological platform with the resources, operational capabilities, integration experience, and customer context needed to turn this technology into a managed business service.'
The companies emphasized that the managed cybersecurity model is particularly relevant in a market facing shortages of cybersecurity talent and capacity. A national cybersecurity survey conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at the end of the 2023/24 financial year showed that 63 percent of cybersecurity positions were partially or fully unfilled.
Richard Tsalavutas, Director of Corporate Sales for Africa at Cato Networks, stated: 'South Africa is an important market for us, and working with a provider that already manages security operations at an enterprise scale means that clients receive architecture along with additional operational support and expertise.'
Tsalavutas also mentioned that AI security has become a growing concern for clients, and Cato has integrated AI security capabilities into its unified SASE cloud offering to help businesses govern AI usage, protect AI applications, and ensure the security of AI agents alongside other network interactions.
This collaboration is part of iOCO's broader strategy to expand its managed cybersecurity and network services amidst the continued growth of the SASE market. Gartner forecasts that the global SASE market will exceed US$18 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent between 2025 and 2030, driven by hybrid workforces, increased adoption of multi-cloud solutions, and the need to secure AI access.
Pretorius stated that this partnership will combine Cato's SASE platform with iOCO's capabilities in security, networking, cloud technologies, and service management, supporting clients from initial architecture and migration through ongoing operations and optimization. He noted that the aim is to support organizations undergoing network and security transformation, as well as those seeking a cloud-based alternative to traditional WAN and security architectures.
Pretorius concluded that 'we are also seeing a significant improvement in the maturity of the cybersecurity posture among our SASE adopting clients, and we expect that the unified approach of Cato Networks will accelerate the improvement of threat and risk management.'
iOCO, which is listed on the JSE, is one of South Africa's largest technology service providers, offering IT full-lifecycle services including software development, data analytics, automation, cloud services, cybersecurity, and proprietary applications. The group employs over 4,300 people, serves more than 4,000 clients, and operates in 10 countries.
