10 Years with Zscaler: From Cloud Security Skepticism to Zero Trust Leadership

A Perspective from Jeremy Nees, Chief Product Officer at VITG 

If someone asked me what I was doing 10 years ago, I’d be hard-pressed to remember. However, this year is a little different, because 10 years ago we (The Instillery) signed up to become a Zscaler partner, and that brings back some very vivid memories. 

A decade ago, public clouds were still in the early stages of adoption. There were far more companies without a public cloud presence than there were with one. However, the concept and direction were generally accepted. People could see where the technology was headed. They knew they would be using SaaS applications and signing up with hyperscalers. 

When Cloud Security Was a Hard Sell  

But when it came to security, it was a totally different story. Walking into a customer and saying, “Hey, you should shift your network security to the cloud,” was often met with some combination of, “What? How? Why? Few were convinced. 

However, that’s often how visionary companies start, and Zscaler was no different. I’d been fortunate enough to get an early introduction to the team building Zscaler, although I wasn’t particularly open-minded initially, either. 

The Vision Behind Zscaler and the Rise of Modern Zero Trust  

I believe it all started with calls from Andy Mann (Area VP, Channel Sales, APJ at Zscaler) and Scott Robertson (formerly SVP APJ at Zscaler), which I artfully dodged while questioning who would come up with a name like Zscaler. It wasn’t until meeting Manoj Apte (Chief Strategy Officer at Zscaler), and listening to his infectious storytelling that I learned there was actually some meaning behind the name (when he wasn’t busy hiding Dhawal Sharma’s car).

How Zscaler Helped Rethink Network Security for the Cloud Era 

“The Zenith of Scalability” was all about the internet becoming the new corporate network with the advent of SaaS, cloud computing and mobility. As a result, security architecture needed to be completely rethought. Your applications would no longer live in your corporate headquarters or data centre, and your users would want to connect from anywhere, not just within your four walls. The era of the castle and moat was dead, as anyone who has sat through one of Jay Chaudhry‘s masterclasses will have had drilled into them. 

Before SASE, SSE and ZTNA: Solving Security at Cloud Scale 

The language for all of this didn’t exist yet. There was no concept of SASE or SSE, let alone Zero Trust Network Access. But what was clearly understood was that if you wanted to inspect all that traffic at scale, and do it performantly, the tools of the day simply wouldn’t cut it. 

Now, if I recall correctly, part of Zscaler lore is that the foundation of the business case came down to calculating how many unique URL strings could be stored in memory so traffic could be processed with low latency, and whether they could afford the amount of memory required. This resulted in some pretty impressive mathematics and engineering. 

Another challenge was that traffic would be proxied rather than passed and processed using traditional firewall architecture. Everyone knew proxies didn’t scale well. In fact, even firewalls didn’t scale particularly well. Oh, and by the way, the majority of internet traffic was becoming SSL encrypted, so you’d also have to decrypt it for inspection. 

Fortunately, there was one type of network device known for operating at both scale and volume: the load balancer. F5 and NetScaler were the brands of the day, and with Citrix’s acquisition of NetScaler, there was suddenly some very relevant talent available. 

Combined with Zscaler’s patented Single-Scan, Multi-Action architecture, where traffic would be processed in memory once rather than proxy-chained as was common at the time, the foundations were in place to change the future of network security. The only thing left was for everyone else to catch up and understand why they needed it. 

Building a Market for Zero Trust Security  

Early on, it wasn’t really a case of market penetration. It was market development. The market for a product like Zscaler simply didn’t exist. It had to be created. 

And that brings me right back to those early What? How? Why? conversations with customers. 

Our journey with Zscaler started as evangelists. Missionaries rather than mercenaries. We were only too happy to help with the enlightenment because we genuinely believed we could help free customers from traditional MPLS, firewall and data centre architectures, and enable them to harness the power of cloud and mobility while staying secure.

I recall Manoj taking me down to Zscaler’s Chief Innovation Officer, Patrick Foxhoven’s basement lair at Zscaler HQ, where they were building what is now known as Zscaler Private Access. At the time I didn’t get it at all… a VPN with no VPN endpoint, your data center going dark to the Internet, how on earth does that work and why does anyone need it!? So we were all learning along the way.
 

What 10 Years of Zero Trust Has Taught Us 

Over the past 10 years, there have been plenty of milestones, some big wins and a few disappointing losses. Ultimately, though, it’s been a fantastic journey. 

Zero Trust Created the Foundation for What’s Next 

And now, as we read headlines about AI-born security threats, it’s clear that the Zero Trust architectures we championed have helped prepare our customers for what’s next. 

The Real Success Story: Relationships Built on Trust  

But the ultimate measure of success for me has been the number of lifelong friendships formed through our relationship with Zscaler. 

There’s something about forging a path forward together and putting in those early hard yards, where more things go wrong than right, that creates not only great business partnerships but also personal relationships built on trust. Relationships that endure long after the business transactions are forgotten. 

To everyone I’ve worked alongside over the past decade, thank you for being part of the journey. 

Why Organisations Trust VITG and The Instillery for Zero Trust Security 

As part of Virtual IT Group, The Instillery continues to help organisations across Australia and New Zealand implement modern Zero Trust architectures and secure cloud transformation initiatives. 

Our combined expertise is backed by industry recognition, including: 

• Zscaler ANZ Partner of the Year 2026 
• Zscaler ANZ Specialisation Partner of the Year 2026 
• Zscaler ANZ ACES Award 2026, Ronnie Meekers, Security Consultant at VITG
• Zscaler Data Security Certified expertise
• Zscaler ANZ Services Partner of the Year 2025 
• ACES-certified Zero Trust specialists

These achievements reflect our commitment to helping customers secure users, applications and data through modern Zero Trust security strategies. 

Ready to Build a Secure Foundation for AI and Cloud? 

A decade ago, we helped organisations rethink security for the cloud era. Today, we’re helping them secure what’s next. From Modern Managed Services (MMS), Managed Detection & Response (MDR), and Zero Trust Detection & Response (ZDR), we provide the 24/7 SOC monitoring, threat detection, incident response and security expertise organisations need to stay resilient in a rapidly changing threat landscape. 

Whether you’re advancing your Zero Trust strategy, modernising security operations or preparing for secure AI adoption, we’re here to help. Speak with us today.