Junaid Siddiqui

Junaid Siddiqui asked if Qualys is observing a shift in budgets towards proactive security, aligning with the Risk Operations Center's focus, versus reactive detection and response.

Answer

Sumedh Thakar, President and CEO of Qualys, confirmed that conversations with customers indicate a growing focus on proactive risk management. While customers have invested heavily in reactive solutions like EDR/XDR, they are experiencing fatigue with fragmented 'XPM' tools that provide dashboards without preventing breaches. He noted positive discussions about leveraging existing or new budgets for proactive solutions like ETM, which offers a more comprehensive approach than traditional exposure management or RBVM, allowing customers to shift budget towards operationalizing risk reduction.

Junaid Siddiqui asked if Qualys is observing a shift in cybersecurity budgets towards proactive risk management, as championed by the Risk Operations Center (ROC), versus traditional reactive detection and response (SOC).

Answer

Sumedh Thakar (President and CEO, Qualys) confirmed that conversations indicate a growing focus on proactive risk management. Customers, having invested heavily in reactive solutions like EDR/XDR, are now experiencing "dashboard fatigue" from multiple XPM tools that don't prevent breaches. He noted that customers are either reallocating existing exposure management budgets or seeking new funds to adopt ROC, which offers a more comprehensive and operationalized approach to risk reduction.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist Securities asked if Qualys is observing any changes in sales cycles from customers as it pivots more into a platform play.

Answer

CEO Sumedh Thakar noted no notable changes, highlighting that the platform's ability to ingest data from existing tools can accelerate POCs and demonstrate value quickly, even if a customer has a competing VM scanner. He mentioned early adopters started with Qualys VMDR findings in ETM but quickly expanded to include twice as many assets from other tools, increasing ETM license counts.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about the potential for Fortinet's software firewall business to accelerate further with AI transformation and the future mix of hardware and software firewalls. He also inquired about the deceleration in SecOps billings from Q3 and its underlying drivers.

Answer

Ken Xie, Fortinet's Founder, Chairman, and CEO, noted that software and hardware firewalls grew at a similar pace (20%) in Q4, mentioning leveraging software approaches (NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU) while highlighting the advantage of Fortinet's secure ASIC for performance and cost. Christiane Ohlgart, Fortinet's CFO, added that most enterprise customers use hybrid models. Regarding SecOps billings, Christiane Ohlgart attributed the Q4 deceleration to billings volatility and strong success in secure networking and Unified SASE, not a trend. Ken Xie added that Secure Networking and Unified SASE can be leading indicators for future SecOps.

Junaid Siddiqui asked if Fortinet's software firewall business could accelerate further with the increasing AI transformation across enterprises and how this might influence the future hardware-software firewall mix. He also inquired about the drivers behind the deceleration in SecOps billings observed in Q4 compared to Q3.

Answer

Ken Xie, Fortinet's Founder, Chairman, and CEO, noted that software and hardware firewalls grew at a similar pace (20%) in Q4. He mentioned leveraging software approaches through partnerships like NVIDIA's BlueField-3 DPU, but also emphasized the performance and cost advantages of Fortinet's ASIC technology. Christiane Ohlgart, Fortinet's CFO, added that most enterprise customers utilize hybrid models. Regarding SecOps billings, Christiane stated that billings can be volatile and advised looking at annual growth, which remains compelling for ARR and revenue. Ken Xie added that strong demand in Unified SASE and Secure Networking might have shifted sales focus, and SecOps is a long-tail business where product sales often precede operational services.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about the factors driving the accelerated growth in OT security and Fortinet's differentiation against competitors in this market.

Answer

Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, explained that OT security addresses the need to secure a rapidly increasing number of devices in sectors like healthcare, utilities, and manufacturing, where network security is often the most viable solution due to device limitations. He highlighted Fortinet's long-term investment (over 10 years), ability to handle diverse protocols and physical platforms, and leadership in industry reports as key differentiators. He sees significant market potential with limited competition in this space.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about the factors driving the accelerated growth in OT security and Fortinet's differentiation against competitors in this market.

Answer

Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, explained that OT security addresses the need to secure numerous devices in sectors like healthcare, utilities, and manufacturing, often through network security due to device limitations. He highlighted Fortinet's decade-long investment, leadership in reports like Westland, and ability to cater to unique physical platform requirements as key differentiators.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist Securities asked about the momentum of Fortinet's sovereign SASE solution and how it serves as a competitive differentiator.

Answer

CEO Ken Xie explained that sovereign SASE is a key long-term trend, as customers and service providers are increasingly concerned about data sovereignty. He highlighted that Fortinet's ability to deliver all SASE functions in a single OS that can be deployed locally by partners is a huge advantage over other cloud-based players. He believes sovereign SASE could eventually represent nearly half of the total SASE market.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about Fortinet's traction in the CNAPP market with Lacework, asking about the competitive landscape, market dynamics, and key differentiators.

Answer

COO John Whittle stated that Fortinet sees a significant opportunity in the CNAPP space, citing recent market disruption. He described the Lacework solution as very strong but acknowledged that it represents a new sales motion for the company that requires further refinement to capitalize on the large market opportunity.

Junaid Siddiqui noted that Fortinet's strong SMB performance was different from other vendors and asked what was underpinning this demand.

Answer

CFO Keith Jensen credited the company's mature channel program and a renewed focus on collaborating with channel leadership to structure tailored incentives. CEO Ken Xie emphasized the technology advantage, where a single OS (FortiOS) with ASIC acceleration provides superior performance and functionality in SMB-focused products. He noted a large, underpenetrated market opportunity exists as most SMBs still lack network security.

Junaid Siddiqui from Truist asked about Varonis' gross margin expectations as MDDR becomes a material contributor, given its software-like gross margins, and whether any changes are anticipated from the current high 70s-low 80s range.

Answer

Guy Melamed, CFO and COO, stated that Varonis does not expect any material change to gross margins, which remain healthy and in line with long-term targets. Yaki Faitelson, CEO, added that MDDR is an AI-based offering where most alerts are reviewed and closed by AI agents, highlighting its efficiency.

Junaid Siddiqui from Truist Securities asked about Varonis' gross margin expectations, specifically if they anticipate any changes from the high 70s-low 80s range as MDDR, which is expected to have software-like gross margins, becomes a more material contributor to the business over time.

Answer

Guy Melamed, CFO and COO, stated that Varonis does not expect any material change to gross margins, noting that MDDR has been well-received and adopted, and the company feels good about its path. Yaki Faitelson, CEO, added that MDDR is an AI-based offering where most alerts are reviewed and closed by AI agents, highlighting its efficiency.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about the source of incremental budget for Varonis's platform expansion into adjacent use cases like SaaS and cloud infrastructure, asking if it comes from budget reallocation or net new customer spend.

Answer

Yaki Faitelson (CEO) stated that customers are allocating more budget to data security, indicating it is an important area for them, suggesting a combination of reallocation and increased focus on this critical spend.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about the source of incremental budget for Varonis Systems' platform expansion into adjacent use cases like SaaS and cloud infrastructure, asking if it comes from budget reallocation or net new spend.

Answer

CEO Yaki Faitelson stated that customers are allocating more budget to data security, recognizing its importance, and this is how Varonis Systems is serving them.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about the recently launched identity protection suite, asking about its key differentiators compared to offerings from dedicated identity security vendors.

Answer

CEO Yaki Faitelson clarified that the capability is not a new module but is integrated into the core platform. He explained that Varonis does not manage identity access but rather analyzes identity from a threat perspective—monitoring behavior and configuration to detect anomalies. This is critical because compromised identities are the starting point for data breaches.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist inquired about the influence of Satori on customer adoption and deal sizes in ransomware-driven evaluations, asking about its specific differentiating capabilities and expected contribution to growth over the next 12-18 months.

Answer

President and CEO Sanjay Mirchandani explained that Satori is being integrated into the Commvault Cloud Unity Platform as an implicit feature, rather than a standalone product. He emphasized that Satori's value lies in providing integrated data inspection, policy-related compliance, and protection capabilities, which is already raising value in customer conversations and is aligned with expectations.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about the influence of Satori on customer adoption and deal sizes, particularly in ransomware-driven evaluations. He also inquired about Satori's most differentiating capabilities in competitive wins and its expected contribution to growth over the next 12-18 months.

Answer

Sanjay Mirchandani, President and CEO, explained that Satori is being integrated into the Commvault Cloud platform as a feature, not a standalone capability, to provide customers with integrated data inspection, policy, and compliance capabilities. He believes this implicit part of the platform raises value by offering better protection out-of-the-box without third-party integrations, and it's performing as expected in early days.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about Commvault's pricing and packaging strategies to facilitate greater platform consumption amidst increasing innovation. He also inquired about the company's capital allocation strategy, specifically regarding share buybacks and the historical allocation of free cash flow.

Answer

Sanjay Mirchandani (CEO, Commvault) indicated that Commvault is making it 'super easy' for customers to consume additional services and capabilities, whether cloud-delivered or on-premise/edge, allowing them to logically build resilience over time. He also mentioned building automation for testing and readiness into the product and packaging. Jen DiRico (CFO, Commvault) confirmed that the capital allocation strategy remains consistent across share buybacks, M&A, and organic investment. She noted $118 million in share buybacks in conjunction with the convertible notes, totaling $146 million year-to-date, and stated that Commvault expects to be opportunistic and active, with the share count remaining approximately flat at 45 million shares.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about potential hurdles in customer adoption of Agentic AI for identity security and how SailPoint prepares organizations to trust AI-driven identity decisions at scale.

Answer

Mark McClain (Founder and CEO, SailPoint) distinguished between managing the proliferation of agents (from major vendors and bespoke) and building customer trust in SailPoint's use of AI. He emphasized developing technology to manage the 'Agentic explosion' and leveraging AI internally for risk pattern detection, root cause analysis, and bespoke Agentic technologies like Harbor Pilot to address these challenges.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about potential hurdles in customer adoption of Agentic AI for identity security and how SailPoint is preparing organizations to trust AI-driven identity decisions at scale.

Answer

Mark McClain, Founder and CEO, clarified two distinct aspects: helping customers manage the proliferation of agents (from major vendors and bespoke creations) and building trust in SailPoint's use of AI within its security solutions. He emphasized developing technology to manage the 'Agentic explosion' and leveraging AI internally for risk pattern detection and root cause analysis, including their own Agentic technology, Harbor Pilot.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist asked if Rubrik's platform contributes to lowering cyber insurance premiums for customers and if the convergence of identity and data security acts as a differentiator for cyber insurance and compliance frameworks.

Answer

CEO Bipul Sinha affirmed that complete cyber resilience, encompassing both identity resilience and cyber recovery, is highly attractive to insurance companies for underwriting, noting that one insurance company customer became a reseller. He emphasized that Rubrik is in the early stages of leading the expanding cyber resilience market, with significant opportunities including those related to insurance.

Junaid Siddiqui asked if the MCP protocol adoption could expand Rubrik's role from data protection into a broader security orchestration platform.

Answer

Rubrik CEO Bipul Sinha clarified that Rubrik's core focus is on cyber resilience and recovery, not prevention or detection. He described Rubrik as a secure data lake leveraging Annapurna and Predibase for AI operations, including fine-tuning, serving, and Agent Rewind, positioning Rubrik as a 'security and AI company.'

Junaid Siddiqui inquired whether the adoption of the MCP protocol could expand Rubrik's role from data protection into a broader security orchestration platform, viewing it as a strategic growth lever.

Answer

CEO Bipul Sinha clarified that Rubrik's focus is on cyber resilience and recovery, not prevention and detection, based on the belief that 'you can't prevent the unpreventable.' He described Rubrik as a secure data lake used for application and system recovery, governed and classified. Bipul highlighted their holistic AI approach, including the Annapurna platform for vectorized search, Prettibase for fine-tuning and serving, and Agent Rewind for undoing AI agent actions, positioning Rubrik as a 'security and AI company' focused on cyber resilience and AI operations.

Junaid Siddiqui asked CEO Bipul Sinha how Rubrik views the adoption of the MCP protocol across the cybersecurity ecosystem and whether it could expand Rubrik's role from data protection into a broader security orchestration platform.

Answer

CEO Bipul Sinha clarified that Rubrik is focused on cyber resilience and recovery, not prevention and detection, based on the belief that 'you can't prevent the unpreventable.' He described Rubrik as a secure data lake, using its data for application/system recovery, governed and classified. He then connected this to AI, mentioning the Annapurna platform, Prettibase, and Agent Rewind, positioning Rubrik as a 'security and AI company' focused on cyber resilience and AI operations.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about Samsara's growth versus profitability framework given continued sales capacity additions. He also inquired about the reasons for the ticking up non-GAAP gross margin and its sustainability.

Answer

Dominic Phillips (CFO) emphasized balancing both growth and profitability, noting four consecutive quarters above a Rule of 40, accelerating net new ARR, and continued investments for growth. He attributed gross margin strength to efficiencies across the entire COGS stack (supply chain, inventory, cloud, cellular, customer support), expecting future leverage to come more from other OpEx line items.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist Securities inquired about the adoption of worker experience products, such as workflows and training, and how these solutions are contributing to overall platform sales.

Answer

Co-Founder and CEO Sanjit Biswas noted strong adoption of digital workflows, which are being enhanced with new AI capabilities like visual intelligence. He explained that the ability to deliver relevant, in-context training helps customers reduce risk, and this clear value proposition is helping to drive sales of the broader platform.

Junaid Siddiqui inquired about the role of data security and privacy in customer discussions and whether it serves as a competitive differentiator for Samsara.

Answer

CEO Sanjit Biswas affirmed that security is a significant differentiator. He explained that Samsara's scale allows for substantial R&D investment in security, which is a key concern for its large enterprise customers. He highlighted certifications like ISO 27001 as proof points that resonate with sophisticated buyers and noted the company will continue to invest heavily in this area.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about the additional levers, apart from hiring more sales reps, that Samsara can use to further drive penetration within large enterprise customers.

Answer

CFO Dominic Phillips highlighted capital allocation and R&D investment as a key lever. He explained that creating more products opens up more opportunities for customer conversations, allows Samsara to solve more problems, and ultimately creates more ROI and impact for large customers, which in turn drives faster growth in that cohort.

Junaid Siddiqui asked for an update on the progress of sales and channel enablement initiatives aimed at driving adoption of the Exposure Command platform.

Answer

CEO Corey Thomas stated that while partner channel initiatives are progressing, the adoption of Exposure Command is manifesting differently than initially expected. Instead of smaller, high-velocity upgrades, Rapid7 is winning larger, more strategic consolidation deals with significantly higher ASPs, which have longer sales cycles. He noted this dynamic is positive for the mid-term but has been factored into the updated guidance.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist Securities asked about Tenable's cloud security (CNAPP) strategy and whether Google's acquisition of Wiz has resulted in any tangible benefits, such as increased RFPs or business growth.

Answer

Co-CEO Mark Thurmond confirmed a strong Q2 for cloud security and noted an increase in inbound RFPs following the Wiz-Google announcement. While customers are not replacing Wiz, the deal is opening doors for dual-vendor strategy discussions. He reiterated that Tenable's success in CNAPP is primarily driven by selling it as an integrated part of the differentiated Tenable One platform.

Junaid Siddiqui of Truist Securities requested an update on the SASE business following the Perimeter 81 acquisition, focusing on go-to-market progress, technology integration, and the key differentiators of Check Point's SASE vision.

Answer

CEO Nadav Zafrir reported solid 40%ish growth in SASE and noted the go-to-market is expanding from a specialist overlay team to the broader field sales force. He highlighted the key differentiator as a hybrid architecture (not cloud-only), which delivers a better user experience, lower cloud costs, and superior on-device protection.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about the potential pricing uplift from newer solutions like Privileged Access and Identity Threat Protection, similar to how OIG adds one-third to contract value.

Answer

CEO Todd McKinnon indicated that Privileged Access, while still early, appears to be in the 'same zone' as Governance, potentially adding around 30% to a deal's value. He described the uplift from Identity Threat Protection as significant and comparable in scale to the value added by Advanced Multi-Factor Authentication.

Junaid Siddiqui asked about the market traction of the new MSP console and what other initiatives are helping to drive new logo growth.

Answer

CEO Matt Cohen described MSPs as a vital and growing channel, noting the new MSP console has received 'rave reviews' for simplifying management. He highlighted that MSPs are now embracing the full CyberArk platform beyond just PAM, driving new use cases like developer security with Secure Cloud Access, as exemplified by a recent win at SAP.