Zscaler Zenith Live Is Coming – Here Is What to Expect

Next week, Zscaler is holding its annual user event, Zenith Live, in Las Vegas. This event is a gathering and a community-building experience for Zscaler customers. It's a mix of keynotes, educational sessions, and networking opportunities, all aimed at helping attendees advance their security strategies.

Zscaler has been a pioneer in the evolution of security, transitioning from an on-premises model to a cloud-first one. The need for cloud-delivered security has never been more critical as the world has grown more complex from digital transformation, work-from-home, and cloud evolution. At Zenith Live, you'll have the chance to connect with industry leaders, share insights, and build relationships that can drive your business forward.

Here’s an in-depth look at what attendees can expect to learn at this event:

Cloud Security Innovation. While Zscaler has driven innovation in networking and digital experiences, it is, at its core, one of the leading cloud security providers. At Zenith Live 2024, cloud security will take center stage, as it always has. Through keynote sessions, interactive workshops, and real-world case studies, participants will gain insights into

AI for security. One of the practical benefits of moving security to the cloud is that security can now be centralized and analyzed. Zscaler has steadily grown its customer base and now has vast data to apply AI to. Of all the areas AI can impact, security is expected to be one of the most significant. It empowers cyber professionals to find needles in haystacks even when the engineer doesn’t know where the haystack is. The tagline for Zenith Live is “Where Zero Trust Meets AI,” and attendees can look forward to gaining practical advice on leveraging AI as a powerful security tool.

Customer stories. One of the reasons I love going to user events is they are filled with customers. Generally, if I have a choice of a technical session or a customer one, I’ll always defer to the latter as it helps me understand customer transformation and the ROI realized. Zscaler has a wide range of big-name companies that are sharing their experiences with security evolution. This includes Cigna, CVS, FedEx, MGM Resorts, Nationwide, and ServiceNow.

At a previous Zenith Live, I had the opportunity to interview Liberty Mutual about its use of Zscaler. James Colson, the Business Information Security Officer, explained how the company took the leap to ZTNA and explained the provided benefits. Hearing one story is valuable, but Zenith Live is a place to hear these in volume.

Network evolution. While Zscaler is best known as a security vendor, the company has built a broad network portfolio over the years. It offers SD-WAN, Cloud, and IoT connectivity, as well as zero-trust networking. Last year, the company rolled out an on-premises appliance to simplify connectivity, which was a surprise given that its mission since its inception has been to remove local hardware. As good companies do, Zscaler listened to its customers and found there were some use cases where a branch appliance made sense, and it complied.

At Zenith Live, attendees should hear more about emerging networking areas like cloud-native networking and network-security integration. While I'm not ready to declare Zscaler a vendor that can lead with networking, the company is trending that way, and Zenith Live 2024 should be another step in that direction.

Compliance and governance. With increasing regulatory requirements and the growing importance of data privacy, compliance, and governance are critical focus areas. Zenith Live 2024 will cover:

The world continues to grow increasingly complex and uncertain. The combination of AI-based threats, uncertain macro global issues, and remote work has taken the security practitioners’ jobs and made it nearly impossible to keep up. Zscaler has been a force for change and legitimized delivering security from the cloud. The company has moved from start-up to mainstream security vendor, increasing customer expectations. I’ll be at Zenith Live 2024 and hope the company addresses each of the categories outlined above.  

Zeus Kerravala is the founder and principal analyst with ZK Research.

Read his other Network Computing articles here.

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