South African technology services provider iOCO has expanded its managed cybersecurity portfolio through a collaboration with Cato Networks. This partnership brings Cato's unified, cloud-native Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform to enterprise customers, addressing growing cybersecurity demands in South Africa. The offering is designed to help organisations manage increasing cyber risks, artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, and complex hybrid and cloud environments.
The collaboration builds on iOCO's existing Zero Trust and managed cybersecurity operations. It provides customers with comprehensive support, including advisory and architecture services, migration, integration, security operations, and ongoing optimisation. This arrangement enables organisations to access required expertise and capabilities without having to build and staff these functions entirely in-house. Cato's platform combines networking and security in a single cloud-native environment, offering unified visibility, context, and control over AI tools and agents.
Gartner recognised Cato as a Leader in its 2026 Magic Quadrant for SASE Platforms for the third consecutive year. The service targets small, medium, and large enterprises with distributed and complex technology environments. These organisations typically have multiple branches or operating locations, geographically dispersed users, hybrid or multi-cloud infrastructure, remote and mobile workforces, and legacy WAN or MPLS networks. iOCO's existing cybersecurity customer base aligns with this profile.
Neels Pretorius, Managed Security Executive at iOCO, highlighted the benefits of the partnership. He noted that Cato provides capabilities specifically designed for managed SASE and security service partners, including multi-tenant management. This allows service providers like iOCO to manage multiple customer environments efficiently. Pretorius emphasised that the collaboration offers the right technology platform with the necessary resources, operational capability, integration expertise, and customer context to turn that technology into a managed business service.
The managed cybersecurity model is particularly relevant in South Africa, where a national cybersecurity survey conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that 63 percent of cybersecurity roles were partially or fully unfilled. Richard Tsalavoutas, Enterprise Sales Director for Africa at Cato Networks, stressed the importance of the South African market. He noted that working with a provider that already runs security operations at enterprise scale means customers get the architecture and additional operational support and expertise together.
The partnership addresses growing concerns about AI security, with Cato incorporating AI security capabilities into its unified SASE Cloud offering. This helps enterprises govern AI use, protect AI applications, and secure AI agents alongside other network interactions. The collaboration is part of iOCO's broader strategy to expand its managed cybersecurity and network services as the SASE market continues to grow. Gartner expects the global SASE market to exceed US$18 billion in 2026, with compound annual growth of 23 percent between 2025 and 2030.
The objective of the collaboration is to support organisations undertaking network and security transformation, as well as those seeking a cloud-first alternative to traditional WAN and security architectures. Pretorius expects the partnership to improve cybersecurity posture maturity for customers adopting SASE. iOCO, one of South Africa's largest technology services providers, offers services across the IT value chain, including software development, data and analytics, automation, cloud services, cybersecurity, and proprietary applications.
Key points
- iOCO partners with Cato Networks to enhance managed cybersecurity services for South African enterprises.
- The partnership addresses growing cybersecurity demands, including increasing cyber risks, AI adoption, and complex hybrid and cloud environments.
- The collaboration aims to support organisations undertaking network and security transformation, as well as those seeking a cloud-first alternative to traditional WAN and security architectures.
