Paris, France – 5 February, 2026 – IPknowledge, a leading international provider of secure networking solutions for global enterprises, has been awarded EMEA Partner of the Year by Cato Networks at the Cato Partner Summit 2026 in Paris.
The EMEA Partner of the Year award is one of the most prestigious recognitions within Cato Networks’ global partner ecosystem. It is selected based on Cato partners’ measurable customer satisfaction and impact, technical excellence, and regional growth across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
“What sets IPknowledge apart is their deep technical expertise, strong collaboration with the local Cato teams, and their willingness and ability to continually raise the bar,” stated the official award citation.
“Being recognized as Cato Networks’ EMEA Partner of the Year is a major milestone for us,” said Steven de Graaf, CEO of IPknowledge. “It reflects the trust our customers place in us, the strength of our partnership with Cato Networks, and the dedication of our team to deliver real outcomes at global scale.”
The award marks the second consecutive year of recognition for IPknowledge by Cato Networks. In 2025, IPknowledge was named Best EMEA Managed Services Provider (MSP) at an award ceremony in London.
As one of Cato’s early partners in EMEA, IPknowledge has built a long-standing relationship with Cato Networks through close collaboration at both business and technical levels. Together, the two organizations support global enterprises in modernizing their IT infrastructure to accelerate cloud transformation, enable productive hybrid workforces, improve business agility, whilst significantly and demonstrably reducing risk and cost.
Looking ahead, IPknowledge and Cato Networks will continue to deepen their collaboration to help global enterprises address the rapidly evolving security challenges in this new AI era, including ever-evolving threat landscapes and the growing demand for powerful, fast, flexible and yet cost-effective secure network solutions.
In September 2025, Cato Networks announced its acquisition of Aim Security, marking a strategic move to extend SASE leadership and secure enterprise AI transformation.
“When I first heard the news, it naturally raised questions,” de Graaf recalled. “Usually, it is hard to believe in vendors that try to create SASE by buying other vendors (M&A) and duct-taping together various components. But thanks to the hard work done by Cato Networks and Aim Security, all capabilities of the Aim platform are now seamlessly integrated and delivered through Cato’s SASE cloud.”
The remarkable integration empowers IPknowledge to help its enterprise customers safely integrate generative AI into their workflows. “There is no need to go through the inefficient process of ‘lift and shift’ or installing another point solution in their networks”, added de Graaf.
IT leaders’ expectations have also continued to evolve. While early SASE adoption focused on replacing legacy WAN, firewall, and VPN infrastructure, enterprise demand has expanded to advanced cloud-delivered security capabilities such as Remote Browser Isolation (RBI), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Today, the same SASE platform can further control and secure AI interactions, with new capabilities activated instantly.
“Many CIOs and CISOs in Switzerland were early adopters of SASE. They are true visionary IT leaders,” said Yves-Alain Gueggi, Managing Director of IPknowledge Alps AG. “But those early architectures were built before the cloud era. The good news is that we now have a unified platform born in the cloud, with the power, agility, and elasticity required to secure AI-driven enterprise environments”, he pointed out.
As AI becomes embedded in everyday business operations, the ability to secure data, users, and interactions in real time is emerging as a defining requirement for enterprise resilience.
For organizations entering the next phase of digital transformation, the message is clear: secure networking must be cloud-native, AI-ready, and built for continuous change. In close collaboration with Cato Networks, IPknowledge is ready to take the lead and serve as a trusted partner on that journey.
IPknowledge is a leading international service provider helping enterprises worldwide modernize their IT infrastructure through simplified, cloud-first networking and security solutions.
Founded in 2004, IPknowledge was among the first providers to deliver successful SD-WAN implementations in the Netherlands, and in 2018 became the world’s first Cloud-Native Virtual Network Operator (VNO). Today, IPknowledge serves customers from its headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and its office in Switzerland. The company operates Network Operations Centers (NOCs) in the Netherlands, the Philippines, and Indonesia, providing 24/7 network and security operations services on a follow-the-sun basis.
With a global ecosystem of 500+ Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across more than 100 countries, IPknowledge enables fast, reliable connectivity at enterprise scale. Its flagship offering, sNaaS (Secure Network as a Service),combines global connectivity for sites, users, and devices with state-of-the-art cybersecurity and managed services in one integrated solution, delivered fully managed (“hands-free”) or co-managed.
IPknowledge supports customers ranging from fast-growing mid-market organizations to multinational enterprises across industries including manufacturing, retail, financial services, agriculture, and more.
Since 2025, IPknowledge has been an official business supporter of the World Wild Fund (WWF).
Xiao Yang
Digital Marketing Manager
