Zscaler (ZS) holds FedRAMP High JAB authorization for its Zero Trust Exchange, positioning it as network-layer zero trust — replacing VPNs and perimeter firewalls with cloud-brokered access. It's the incumbent on the "network and applications" pillars of M-22-09, serving the bulk of cabinet-level agencies already.
Okta (OKTA) holds FedRAMP High for Okta for Government High, covering core identity, Identity Governance, and Workflows — the "identity" pillar, which OMB and CISA have flagged as the pillar agencies are furthest along on. Identity is the entry point of zero trust architecture; whoever owns the login owns the renewal conversation for everything downstream.
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) rounds out the field with FedRAMP-authorized Prisma Access and next-gen firewall lines, competing for the same network-pillar dollars as Zscaler with a broader existing DoD footprint to cross-sell into.
Who is exposed. The collision isn't cross-sector, it's internal: ZS and OKTA both increasingly market "zero trust platform" positioning that overlaps at the access-control layer — Zscaler pushing identity-aware network access, Okta pushing device-and-network-aware identity. GSA schedule budgets for zero trust are not growing fast enough to fund duplicate full-stack builds at every agency; one vendor consolidating a pillar tends to squeeze the other's expansion revenue within the same account, even as both post authorization headlines. Fortinet (FTNT), still building out its FedRAMP High footprint relative to ZS and PANW, risks getting boxed out of agency-wide network-pillar awards it can't yet bid on at the same authorization tier.
The play. Watch GSA schedule contract vehicle awards and agency zero-trust implementation plans (posted via CISA and OMB) for language specifying "identity-centric" versus "network-centric" zero trust architecture — that word choice picks the incumbent. Track FedRAMP Marketplace status changes for FTNT and S as the tell on whether the field widens or stays a two-horse identity/network race.
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