Palo Alto Networks Firewall Consulting
Palo Alto Firewall Consultants for Design, Migration and Ongoing Care
Specialist Palo Alto Networks expertise for organizations that need their next-generation firewalls designed well, migrated safely and kept healthy, without paying for a large integrator’s overhead.
Specialist depth, scoped to what you need
SK IT Solutions was founded on Palo Alto Networks firewall consulting, and it is still the core of what we do. Our consulting team brings 24 years in information technology, including the last ten years as a Palo Alto Networks firewall architect. We have designed greenfield deployments, migrated organizations from other manufacturers’ firewalls and integrated Palo Alto firewalls with the major network-infrastructure platforms that surround them.
Certifications held over our founder’s career (past and present) include Palo Alto Networks PCNSE and PCNSA, and Cisco CCNP and CCNA.
Large partners and vendor professional-services teams do excellent work, but their engagements are built for large projects. Many organizations need something different: a senior engineer who can review an inherited configuration, plan an upgrade, clean up a rulebase that has grown for years, or stand behind the internal team during a migration weekend. We offer only the services you need, from a full design and deployment to a single health check.
As a Palo Alto Networks NextWave Partner, we work directly with clients and also alongside IT partners who need niche Palo Alto skills for their own customers.
Services
Palo Alto Networks services
Design & Deployment
Firewall-focused network architecture for new and redesigned environments: security zones, App-ID and User-ID based policy, high availability, decryption strategy and threat prevention profiles that are actually enforced.
Firewall Migrations
Migrations from Cisco ASA and other manufacturers’ firewalls. We convert the policy, modernize it toward application-based rules, validate it and cut over with a tested rollback plan.
Health Checks & Policy Cleanup
SK Palo Health, our signature program: a structured review of PAN-OS versions, configuration, rulebase hygiene, logging and hardening, with ongoing care to keep it that way.
Panorama Management
Centralized management for multiple firewalls: device-group and template-stack design, shared policy, log collection and a commit process your team can trust.
GlobalProtect & Remote Access
Remote-access VPN built on strong authentication, sensible tunnel design, endpoint posture checks and a portal that is hardened against the attacks that target it.
Azure & Cloud NGFW
VM-Series and Cloud NGFW architectures for Microsoft Azure and hybrid networks, designed to work with your on-premises Palo Alto firewalls and Panorama.
Situations we are called in for
- You inherited a Palo Alto firewall and nobody can explain half of the rules.
- The rulebase has grown for years and is full of broad, shadowed or unused rules.
- An audit, cyber-insurance questionnaire or compliance review is coming up.
- A critical PAN-OS advisory was published and you need to know whether you are exposed and how to patch safely.
- Your Cisco ASA or other firewall is approaching end of life and you are moving to Palo Alto.
- You are adding branches, a data center or Azure and need the design to scale.
- A key engineer left, or your team is overloaded and maintenance is falling behind.
Administrative work clients hand off to us
Not every engagement is a project. Clients regularly offload recurring work that slips when internal teams are busy:
- Security policy rule cleanup
- PAN-OS patch and upgrade management
- Vulnerability review against new advisories
- Log reviews
- Audit reviews and evidence
- Change-management process development
- Firewall documentation
- Palo Alto Networks administrator training
Process
How a Palo Alto engagement works
Discover
We start with a conversation about goals, constraints, deadlines and risk tolerance, then gather configuration exports and existing documentation.
Assess
We review the configuration and environment against Palo Alto Networks best practices and your requirements, and identify what matters most.
Design & validate
Changes are planned in writing, peer-checked and, where it matters, validated in a lab or staged in a maintenance window with a rollback plan.
Implement & hand off
We implement, verify and document the result, then hand off with knowledge transfer, or continue with ongoing care.
What you receive
- A written assessment with findings ranked by risk and effort
- As-built documentation and diagrams of the final design
- Change plans with pre-checks, verification steps and rollback
- Configuration backups taken before and after changes
- Clear recommendations for what to do next, and what can wait
Industries we know
Firewall requirements differ by industry. Our consultants have worked with legal, health care, nonprofit, banking, manufacturing and energy organizations, including generation and transmission environments subject to NERC CIP. We understand the regulatory pressure behind firewall changes and build processes that keep security effective for the life of the deployment.
Learn more about SK IT Solutions.
Ways to engage
- Project engagements for designs, deployments, migrations and upgrades, scoped up front.
- SK Palo Health for ongoing health management and monitoring of your Palo Alto firewalls.
- Staff augmentation and on-call coverage for maintenance windows, upgrades and staffing gaps. See Staff Augmentation.
- Partner engagements where we deliver Palo Alto expertise on behalf of your IT partner on a pass-through basis.
- Hardware and licensing through our IT Sales service, with fast quote turnaround.
Need broader technology leadership as well? Many firewall clients also use our fractional CTO and technology advisory services.
Palo Alto consulting FAQs
Do you work with organizations that already have an IT team or MSP?
Yes. Most of our work is alongside internal IT staff or a managed service provider. We bring the Palo Alto depth and documentation; your team keeps ownership and day-to-day operations.
Can you work on firewalls you did not install?
Yes, and that is one of the most common requests. A health check is usually the best starting point because it gives both of us a clear picture of the current configuration before any changes are made.
Do you only work in Central Florida?
No. We are based in Fruitland Park, Florida, and serve clients throughout Florida and across the U.S. Most firewall work can be done remotely, and on-site work is available when the project needs it.
How do Palo Alto engagements start?
With a free initial consultation, usually about an hour by video call or in person. We discuss your environment and goals, and you receive a written summary afterward. There is no obligation.
Get a second set of expert eyes on your firewalls
Tell us what is going on with your Palo Alto environment. The first conversation is free, and you will come away with practical next steps either way.