Pulse Secure

What Pulse Secure does

Pulse Secure was an enterprise secure access vendor headquartered in San Jose, California, formed in 2014 when Siris Capital acquired the Junos Pulse business from Juniper Networks and simultaneously acquired MobileSpaces to add mobile security capabilities. The company sold a focused suite of on-premises and hybrid secure access products: Pulse Connect Secure (SSL VPN for remote workforce access), Pulse Policy Secure (Network Access Control for endpoint policy enforcement), Pulse Zero Trust Access (PZTA, a zero-trust framework reducing reliance on traditional VPNs), Pulse Secure Access Client (endpoint client software), and Pulse One, a centralized policy management plane launched in 2015 that unified policy across endpoints, mobile devices, and on-premises/cloud applications.

The company served primarily large enterprises and government/defense organizations with complex hybrid network environments, sold through an enterprise field sales motion with quote-based pricing and 24/7 technical support, and generated revenue predominantly via recurring software licensing and subscriptions plus support and maintenance services. Pulse Secure was acquired by Ivanti on December 1, 2020, and its product portfolio has since been rebranded under the Ivanti label (Ivanti Connect Secure, Ivanti Policy Secure, Ivanti Neurons for Zero Trust Access, Ivanti Secure Access Client). Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and the standalone Pulse Secure entity no longer operates as an independent business unit; the customer base contracted from approximately 50,000 to 34,000 following publicized vulnerabilities exploited by Chinese state-sponsored actors and subsequent CISA-mandated disconnections at U.S. federal agencies and defense customers.

Name

Pulse Secure

Legal name

Pulse Secure

Website

https://pulsesecure.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Pulse Secure, founded in 2014 and acquired by Ivanti in 2020, provided enterprise secure access solutions — SSL VPN, zero trust network access, network access control, and centralized policy management — to large enterprises and government/defense customers via enterprise field sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Enterprise Network Security

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) / Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) (HDADABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Identity Orchestration & Policy (Zero Trust Access, Conditional Access) (HDADAAAL), Network Security Services (Firewall/VPN/ZTNA/SASE Integration) (BPAEAEAG)

Keywords

• Enterprise secure access
• Zero trust network access
• SSL VPN solutions
• Network access control
• Mobile device security

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Enterprise Software Licenses and Subscriptions: Pulse Secure generates revenue through enterprise software licensing and subscription models for its secure access product suite including VPN, zero trust, and NAC solutions
2. Support and Maintenance Services: Provides 24/7 technical support, software updates, and maintenance services to enterprise customers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Pulse Secure delivered enterprise secure access solutions spanning Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), SSL VPN remote access, Network Access Control (NAC), and mobile device security. Its product suite included Pulse Zero Trust Access (PZTA), Pulse Connect Secure, Pulse Policy Secure, Pulse Secure Access Client, and the Pulse One centralized policy management platform. Since the December 1, 2020 acquisition by Ivanti, the portfolio has been rebranded under the Ivanti brand.

Product overview

Pulse Secure was a standalone company formed in 2014 when Siris Capital acquired the Junos Pulse business from Juniper Networks. The company delivered enterprise secure access solutions including Pulse Zero Trust Access (PZTA), Pulse Connect Secure (VPN), Pulse Policy Secure (Network Access Control), and Pulse Secure Access Client. These products provided comprehensive secure access for workforce productivity through seamless mobility and mobile security. Pulse Secure was acquired by Ivanti on December 1, 2020, and the product portfolio has since been rebranded under the Ivanti name.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pulse Zero Trust Access (PZTA) Zero Trust Access solution providing secure enterprise access with continuous verification and least-privilege access controls for organizations adopting zero trust security models.
• Pulse Connect Secure Enterprise SSL VPN solution providing secure remote access to corporate networks and applications for distributed enterprise workforces.
• Pulse Policy Secure Network Access Control (NAC) solution for enforcing security policies and controlling endpoint access to corporate networks.
• Pulse Secure Access Client Endpoint client software providing secure connectivity to corporate networks and cloud resources for enterprise users.
• Pulse One Centralized policy management platform launched in 2015 that enabled secure access for all endpoints and mobile devices to corporate applications on-premises and in the cloud.

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• IvanticoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2020Ivanti acquired Pulse Secure on December 1, 2020, integrating Pulse Secure's zero trust and VPN products into Ivanti's security portfolio, with products now branded as Ivanti solutions.
• MobileSpacescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Pulse Secure acquired MobileSpaces, a leading mobile security provider, in 2014 to strengthen its mobile security capabilities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Netskope: Netskope Private Access is a direct ZTNA competitor to Pulse Secure PZTA, with a cloud-native SSE architecture aimed at the same enterprise secure access buyer.
• MobileIron: Acquired by Ivanti on the same day as Pulse Secure (December 1, 2020); MobileIron's mobile device management capabilities are now integrated with Pulse Secure's network access control products.
• Cloudflare (Cloudflare Access / Magic WAN): Cloudflare Access provides ZTNA as a cloud-native service directly competing with Pulse Secure PZTA; targets the same enterprise secure access use case with a developer-friendly architecture.
• Okta: Okta Workforce Identity and Okta Identity Governance compete with Pulse Secure's identity and access policy capabilities and increasingly overlap in the zero trust access stack.
• Zscaler: Cloud-native Zero Trust and SSE leader whose Zscaler Private Access directly competes with Pulse Secure's ZTNA product line; both target the same enterprise secure access use case.

Broad incumbents

• F5 (NGINX Plus / Distributed Cloud): F5 BIG-IP APM and NGINX Plus provide VPN replacement and zero trust application access comparable to Pulse Connect Secure and PZTA; F5 also acquired the Brocade vADC business that Pulse Secure previously acquired.
• Fortinet (FortiGate / FortiClient): FortiGate VPN and FortiGate ZTNA compete directly with Pulse Connect Secure and PZTA, particularly in enterprise and government segments with on-premises deployment preferences.
• Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Access): Prisma Access delivers cloud-delivered ZTNA and SASE that competes head-to-head with Pulse Secure's VPN and zero trust offerings; broader cybersecurity incumbent portfolio.
• Cisco (Secure Access / AnyConnect): Cisco AnyConnect/secure client VPN and Duo Security IAM compete with Pulse Connect Secure and PZTA; Cisco is a broad incumbent in enterprise networking and security.

Emerging players

• Tailscale: Emerging WireGuard-based zero trust networking platform gaining enterprise traction as a lightweight alternative to legacy VPN/ZTNA appliances like Pulse Connect Secure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PulseSecure1
• Facebookfacebook.com/pulsesecure1
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pulse-secure

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pulse Secure