Cato Networks is expanding its managed SASE strategy with SMB FlexPool, a new pooled licensing model designed to give MSPs more control over how they provision, package, and scale SASE services across small and midsize business customers.
The program provides participating MSPs and service providers with a dedicated pool of Cato licenses that they can allocate and reallocate among eligible SMB customers, eliminating the need for a separate licensing transaction with Cato each time a partner adds a customer.
Karl Soderlund, global channel chief at Cato Networks, told Channel Insider the model grew out of conversations with service providers that increasingly want operational control alongside new security technology.
“They’re being pressured to bring innovation out at record speeds right now,” Soderlund said. “What is different for them is that they’re really looking for some level of operational simplicity and controls that they’ve never had in the past.”
Cato targets licensing friction in SMB SASE deployments
SMB FlexPool is designed to address a fundamental challenge in selling managed security to smaller organizations: the economics and operational overhead of repeating procurement and provisioning processes across many comparatively small accounts.
Under the program, partners can independently create customer accounts, allocate licenses, and activate Cato services.
Capacity can move between eligible customers as demand changes, and partners can gradually increase utilization of their committed pool as their customer base grows.
FlexPool gives MSPs more control over service packaging
For Soderlund, however, the key differentiator is what he described as “controlled autonomy.”
“I can self-provision licenses myself without going to the vendor. I can build services bundles that are under my own SKU without going to the vendor. I can provision accounts up and down,” he said, pointing to seasonal customers as one example where bandwidth requirements could fluctuate over time.
That flexibility also extends to how MSPs package the underlying Cato technology. Rather than requiring partners to sell a standardized Cato-defined service, the program allows them to build their own commercial offers and managed service bundles.
READ MORE: 11:11 Systems brought its Cato-powered managed SASE offering to market in July.
“The MSPs are closer to the customer than we are,” Soderlund said. “They understand the end user’s needs [and] what they can do to help.” If partners identify a repeatable customer need, he added, they can build a service bundle around it and “rinse and repeat” that model across their customer base.
Business Center centralizes MSP operations and visibility
FlexPool is supported by Cato’s existing managed SASE Partner Platform and a newly launched MSASE Business Center, which gives managed service partners a consolidated view of customer accounts, orders, license utilization, invoices and lifecycle activity.
Partners can manage SMB and enterprise customers in the same environment, rather than switching between separate tools.
Soderlund said that the operational layer matters because MSPs have been asking for more visibility into customer usage and day-to-day business workflows, not just another security product.
The goal, he said, is to create a shared workspace that can be used across sales, operations, customer success and technical teams while allowing each provider to determine how extensively it wants to use those capabilities.
Cato expands its managed SASE partner strategy
The launch builds on Cato’s broader effort to increase the role of managed service providers in its go-to-market strategy. The company introduced its MSASE Partner Platform in 2024 with multi-tenant management, lifecycle tools and go-to-market resources intended to help providers build managed SASE practices.
For Cato, the SMB opportunity is also about expanding the number of customers the company can reach through partners. Soderlund argued that smaller businesses often face security requirements similar to those of large enterprises but lack the internal staff and security expertise to manage those environments themselves.
“They really look to partners and MSPs specifically to say, ‘Help solve my problem,’” he said. “I don’t want to know the details. I want to know that I’m safe, I’m secure, and it’s working.”
Cato targets broader FlexPool adoption among service providers
Cato already has multiple partners and customers using the model, according to Soderlund, who said the company wanted FlexPool operational at scale before announcing it publicly.
Over the next 12 months, he expects hundreds of service providers to adopt the offering as Cato expands its staffing, training and partner support around the program.
The broader opportunity for MSPs is to make SASE a more repeatable SMB service rather than treating each deployment as a standalone vendor transaction.
If the pooled model works as intended, partners gain more control over provisioning and economics while Cato gains a scalable route into a segment that often relies on MSPs to serve as its de facto IT and security team.