Darling Ingredients Consolidates Vendors, Increases Agility, and Saves $750K+ Annually with Cato

Baltimore Aircoil Replaces MPLS with Cato, Improving Voice Quality, Enabling Video Conferencing, and Increasing Agility Summary: As Darling Ingredients expanded, so did the opportunity to modernize how its global operations are connected and secured. With the Cato SASE Platform, the Darling Ingredients’ IT team replaced complexity with consistency, reduced costs, and gained the agility to support smarter growth, elevating IT as a strategic partner to the business. Key Results: $750k+ saved annually 23.5% reduction in the number of FTEs in the network team 66% faster threat evaluation and neutralization 2 million+ threats blocked per month Up to 83% fewer resources required for priority-one incidents A Mission-Driven Global Company Stretched by Complexity For more than 140 years, Darling Ingredients has powered critical supply chains by repurposing materials that would otherwise go to waste into high-value products. Rooted in sustainability and scaled across continents, it’s now the largest publicly traded company of its kind. As Director of Enterprise Technology, David Daniels helps ensure the infrastructure behind those operations stays just as resourceful and resilient. When Daniels joined seven years ago, Darling Ingredients was in the middle of a growth surge, at one point growing by 50% in just 18 months. And with every new site came added complexity. The underlying network couldn’t keep pace with the speed of business. To support a mission built on sustainability and agility, Darling Ingredients needed an IT foundation that could scale just as efficiently. Too Many Vendors, Too Many Solutions Darling Ingredient’s global footprint relied on a patchwork of solutions built over time. To connect and secure across its more than 260 global facilities, approximately 16,000 employees, 14 data centers, and four private points-of-presence (PoPs), the company used a vendor for each need: SD-WAN, physical and virtual firewalls, URL filtering, and VPN for remote access. Every layer worked differently, logged differently, and had to be managed differently, creating fragmentation at global scale. Daniels and Global Network Manager Alex Lai found themselves operating an ecosystem of disjointed parts. “It was too many tools, too many vocabularies, too many uncorrelated data sets,” Daniels says. Troubleshooting became a major challenge. “When incidents happened, it became an exercise in finger-pointing. It could take days to identify where the issue was,” says Lai. The complexity extended to security, where the team relied on collecting disparate logs and sometimes struggled to correlate events in a meaningful way, wasting hours. This fragmented approach was no longer sustainable, especially for Darling Ingredients’ projected growth. “For M&A, we’re accountable on day one,” Lai explains. “Without a standard we could deploy instantly, that was impossible.” “For M&A, we’re accountable on day one. Without a standard we could deploy instantly, that was impossible.” Alex Lai, Global Network Manager, Darling Ingredients  The Right Time to Migrate to SASE When contracts for several legacy systems came up for renewal, Darling Ingredients’ IT leaders saw a chance to rethink the entire architecture. They launched a broad RFP process, exploring traditional networking models alongside the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Their requirements were clear: Global reach, including enterprise-grade service in China Mature security across in-scope technologies Rapid deployment (critical for M&A) A single rule set applied consistently everywhere One console unifying visibility for networking and cybersecurity A true partner, not just a vendor “We wanted a single vendor that could do it all—not three, not two. Just one. And honestly, we weren’t sure that was even possible,” says Lai. “We wanted a single vendor that could do it all—not three, not two. Just one. And honestly, we weren’t sure that was even possible.” Alex Lai, Global Network Manager, Darling Ingredients  Turns out, it was possible. A converged, cloud-native SASE platform was the only way to deliver the speed, simplicity, and consistency Darling Ingredients needed—standardizing globally, securing new acquisitions instantly, and unifying four separate management consoles. Among the options, the Cato SASE Platform stood out for hitting every mark. But for Daniels, one signal mattered most: “Cato stood out as a competitive solution. Critically, it was also a solution that our Information & Cybersecurity (ICS) team was excited about.” “Cato stood out as a competitive solution. Critically, it was also a solution that our Information & Cybersecurity (ICS) team was excited about.” David Daniels, Director of Global Infrastructure, Darling Ingredients That confidence carried into deployment. Thanks to the platform’s cloud-native design, Darling Ingredients completed its rollout to 260+ facilities ahead of schedule. What used to involve staging, shipping, and on-site setup became a centrally managed rollout, with Cato Sockets drop-shipped and online in minutes. Consistency as a Catalyst for Stronger Security and Simplicity As the rollout progressed, the impact of operating from one rule set, one policy engine, and one console became unmistakable. Consistency replaced fragmentation and the environment became faster, clearer, and easier to run. “Simplicity comes through consistency. Instead of four tools and four vocabularies, we have one,” says Daniels. The results speak for themselves: Stronger security posture, deeper visibility A true 360-degree view: A single management console, the Cato Management Application (CMA), surfaces correlated events instantly, allowing the cybersecurity team to respond based on full-picture context. “Our ICS team has the same visibility to the information that I have. I can sleep a lot better at night knowing they have my back,” says Lai.  Instant insight into millions of threats: What once required hours of manual compilation now appears in real time, with more than 2 million threats blocked each month. “Our ICS team has reduced time to evaluate and neutralize threats to one-third (down 66%) of what was required before implementing the Cato SASE Platform,” says Daniels. Consistent enforcement everywhere: Identity-based ZTNA ensures every user, in the office, on the road, or on the plant floor, receives the same security controls. Operational efficiency at global scale Faster troubleshooting through unified telemetry: Unified telemetry in the CMA speeds root-cause analysis and eliminates finger-pointing. Priority-one incidents now require only two to three responders, down from 10–12 (up to 83% reduction), and are resolved in a third of the time. Additional IT teams—like Service Desk and Workplace—now have access and can troubleshoot directly. Global changes with a single update: Policies and configurations apply instantly across all 260+ sites, no more juggling vendors or reconciling conflicting rule sets. Rapid integration of new sites: “If we had a new location signed today, we could probably have it up and running by the end of the week,” Lai says. Significant cost savings Leaner operations: Darling reduced the number of FTEs in the network team by 23.5% and eliminated two to three contractor positions. $750,000+ saved annually: Achieved by consolidating vendors, simplifying operations, and reducing contractor and licensing costs. IT as an Integral Business Driver  With a platform they could trust in place, Darling Ingredients’ IT leaders shifted from firefighting to forward-thinking. “As opposed to answering questions about downtime, we’re having higher-level conversations with leadership,” says Daniels. Freed from the drag of daily complexity, the team is now focused on enterprise infrastructure transformation, AI initiatives, and using analytics to drive business efficiency—positioning IT as a proactive force in Darling Ingredients’ continued growth. “IT has become a true partner to the business,” Lai says. IT is supporting growth, enabling agility, and helping sustain the circular mission at the heart of Darling Ingredients’ work.

CIAL Dun & Bradstreet Improves Networking and Security in Latin American with Cato Summary: As Darling Ingredients expanded, so did the opportunity to modernize how its global operations are connected and secured. With the Cato SASE Platform, the Darling Ingredients’ IT team replaced complexity with consistency, reduced costs, and gained the agility to support smarter growth, elevating IT as a strategic partner to the business. Key Results: $750k+ saved annually 23.5% reduction in the number of FTEs in the network team 66% faster threat evaluation and neutralization 2 million+ threats blocked per month Up to 83% fewer resources required for priority-one incidents A Mission-Driven Global Company Stretched by Complexity For more than 140 years, Darling Ingredients has powered critical supply chains by repurposing materials that would otherwise go to waste into high-value products. Rooted in sustainability and scaled across continents, it’s now the largest publicly traded company of its kind. As Director of Enterprise Technology, David Daniels helps ensure the infrastructure behind those operations stays just as resourceful and resilient. When Daniels joined seven years ago, Darling Ingredients was in the middle of a growth surge, at one point growing by 50% in just 18 months. And with every new site came added complexity. The underlying network couldn’t keep pace with the speed of business. To support a mission built on sustainability and agility, Darling Ingredients needed an IT foundation that could scale just as efficiently. Too Many Vendors, Too Many Solutions Darling Ingredient’s global footprint relied on a patchwork of solutions built over time. To connect and secure across its more than 260 global facilities, approximately 16,000 employees, 14 data centers, and four private points-of-presence (PoPs), the company used a vendor for each need: SD-WAN, physical and virtual firewalls, URL filtering, and VPN for remote access. Every layer worked differently, logged differently, and had to be managed differently, creating fragmentation at global scale. Daniels and Global Network Manager Alex Lai found themselves operating an ecosystem of disjointed parts. “It was too many tools, too many vocabularies, too many uncorrelated data sets,” Daniels says. Troubleshooting became a major challenge. “When incidents happened, it became an exercise in finger-pointing. It could take days to identify where the issue was,” says Lai. The complexity extended to security, where the team relied on collecting disparate logs and sometimes struggled to correlate events in a meaningful way, wasting hours. This fragmented approach was no longer sustainable, especially for Darling Ingredients’ projected growth. “For M&A, we’re accountable on day one,” Lai explains. “Without a standard we could deploy instantly, that was impossible.” “For M&A, we’re accountable on day one. Without a standard we could deploy instantly, that was impossible.” Alex Lai, Global Network Manager, Darling Ingredients  The Right Time to Migrate to SASE When contracts for several legacy systems came up for renewal, Darling Ingredients’ IT leaders saw a chance to rethink the entire architecture. They launched a broad RFP process, exploring traditional networking models alongside the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Their requirements were clear: Global reach, including enterprise-grade service in China Mature security across in-scope technologies Rapid deployment (critical for M&A) A single rule set applied consistently everywhere One console unifying visibility for networking and cybersecurity A true partner, not just a vendor “We wanted a single vendor that could do it all—not three, not two. Just one. And honestly, we weren’t sure that was even possible,” says Lai. “We wanted a single vendor that could do it all—not three, not two. Just one. And honestly, we weren’t sure that was even possible.” Alex Lai, Global Network Manager, Darling Ingredients  Turns out, it was possible. A converged, cloud-native SASE platform was the only way to deliver the speed, simplicity, and consistency Darling Ingredients needed—standardizing globally, securing new acquisitions instantly, and unifying four separate management consoles. Among the options, the Cato SASE Platform stood out for hitting every mark. But for Daniels, one signal mattered most: “Cato stood out as a competitive solution. Critically, it was also a solution that our Information & Cybersecurity (ICS) team was excited about.” “Cato stood out as a competitive solution. Critically, it was also a solution that our Information & Cybersecurity (ICS) team was excited about.” David Daniels, Director of Global Infrastructure, Darling Ingredients That confidence carried into deployment. Thanks to the platform’s cloud-native design, Darling Ingredients completed its rollout to 260+ facilities ahead of schedule. What used to involve staging, shipping, and on-site setup became a centrally managed rollout, with Cato Sockets drop-shipped and online in minutes. Consistency as a Catalyst for Stronger Security and Simplicity As the rollout progressed, the impact of operating from one rule set, one policy engine, and one console became unmistakable. Consistency replaced fragmentation and the environment became faster, clearer, and easier to run. “Simplicity comes through consistency. Instead of four tools and four vocabularies, we have one,” says Daniels. The results speak for themselves: Stronger security posture, deeper visibility A true 360-degree view: A single management console, the Cato Management Application (CMA), surfaces correlated events instantly, allowing the cybersecurity team to respond based on full-picture context. “Our ICS team has the same visibility to the information that I have. I can sleep a lot better at night knowing they have my back,” says Lai.  Instant insight into millions of threats: What once required hours of manual compilation now appears in real time, with more than 2 million threats blocked each month. “Our ICS team has reduced time to evaluate and neutralize threats to one-third (down 66%) of what was required before implementing the Cato SASE Platform,” says Daniels. Consistent enforcement everywhere: Identity-based ZTNA ensures every user, in the office, on the road, or on the plant floor, receives the same security controls. Operational efficiency at global scale Faster troubleshooting through unified telemetry: Unified telemetry in the CMA speeds root-cause analysis and eliminates finger-pointing. Priority-one incidents now require only two to three responders, down from 10–12 (up to 83% reduction), and are resolved in a third of the time. Additional IT teams—like Service Desk and Workplace—now have access and can troubleshoot directly. Global changes with a single update: Policies and configurations apply instantly across all 260+ sites, no more juggling vendors or reconciling conflicting rule sets. Rapid integration of new sites: “If we had a new location signed today, we could probably have it up and running by the end of the week,” Lai says. Significant cost savings Leaner operations: Darling reduced the number of FTEs in the network team by 23.5% and eliminated two to three contractor positions. $750,000+ saved annually: Achieved by consolidating vendors, simplifying operations, and reducing contractor and licensing costs. IT as an Integral Business Driver  With a platform they could trust in place, Darling Ingredients’ IT leaders shifted from firefighting to forward-thinking. “As opposed to answering questions about downtime, we’re having higher-level conversations with leadership,” says Daniels. Freed from the drag of daily complexity, the team is now focused on enterprise infrastructure transformation, AI initiatives, and using analytics to drive business efficiency—positioning IT as a proactive force in Darling Ingredients’ continued growth. “IT has become a true partner to the business,” Lai says. IT is supporting growth, enabling agility, and helping sustain the circular mission at the heart of Darling Ingredients’ work.

Diamond Braces Uses Cato to Boost WAN Security, Performance, and Reliability Summary: As Darling Ingredients expanded, so did the opportunity to modernize how its global operations are connected and secured. With the Cato SASE Platform, the Darling Ingredients’ IT team replaced complexity with consistency, reduced costs, and gained the agility to support smarter growth, elevating IT as a strategic partner to the business. Key Results: $750k+ saved annually 23.5% reduction in the number of FTEs in the network team 66% faster threat evaluation and neutralization 2 million+ threats blocked per month Up to 83% fewer resources required for priority-one incidents A Mission-Driven Global Company Stretched by Complexity For more than 140 years, Darling Ingredients has powered critical supply chains by repurposing materials that would otherwise go to waste into high-value products. Rooted in sustainability and scaled across continents, it’s now the largest publicly traded company of its kind. As Director of Enterprise Technology, David Daniels helps ensure the infrastructure behind those operations stays just as resourceful and resilient. When Daniels joined seven years ago, Darling Ingredients was in the middle of a growth surge, at one point growing by 50% in just 18 months. And with every new site came added complexity. The underlying network couldn’t keep pace with the speed of business. To support a mission built on sustainability and agility, Darling Ingredients needed an IT foundation that could scale just as efficiently. Too Many Vendors, Too Many Solutions Darling Ingredient’s global footprint relied on a patchwork of solutions built over time. To connect and secure across its more than 260 global facilities, approximately 16,000 employees, 14 data centers, and four private points-of-presence (PoPs), the company used a vendor for each need: SD-WAN, physical and virtual firewalls, URL filtering, and VPN for remote access. Every layer worked differently, logged differently, and had to be managed differently, creating fragmentation at global scale. Daniels and Global Network Manager Alex Lai found themselves operating an ecosystem of disjointed parts. “It was too many tools, too many vocabularies, too many uncorrelated data sets,” Daniels says. Troubleshooting became a major challenge. “When incidents happened, it became an exercise in finger-pointing. It could take days to identify where the issue was,” says Lai. The complexity extended to security, where the team relied on collecting disparate logs and sometimes struggled to correlate events in a meaningful way, wasting hours. This fragmented approach was no longer sustainable, especially for Darling Ingredients’ projected growth. “For M&A, we’re accountable on day one,” Lai explains. “Without a standard we could deploy instantly, that was impossible.” “For M&A, we’re accountable on day one. Without a standard we could deploy instantly, that was impossible.” Alex Lai, Global Network Manager, Darling Ingredients  The Right Time to Migrate to SASE When contracts for several legacy systems came up for renewal, Darling Ingredients’ IT leaders saw a chance to rethink the entire architecture. They launched a broad RFP process, exploring traditional networking models alongside the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) category. Their requirements were clear: Global reach, including enterprise-grade service in China Mature security across in-scope technologies Rapid deployment (critical for M&A) A single rule set applied consistently everywhere One console unifying visibility for networking and cybersecurity A true partner, not just a vendor “We wanted a single vendor that could do it all—not three, not two. Just one. And honestly, we weren’t sure that was even possible,” says Lai. “We wanted a single vendor that could do it all—not three, not two. Just one. And honestly, we weren’t sure that was even possible.” Alex Lai, Global Network Manager, Darling Ingredients  Turns out, it was possible. A converged, cloud-native SASE platform was the only way to deliver the speed, simplicity, and consistency Darling Ingredients needed—standardizing globally, securing new acquisitions instantly, and unifying four separate management consoles. Among the options, the Cato SASE Platform stood out for hitting every mark. But for Daniels, one signal mattered most: “Cato stood out as a competitive solution. Critically, it was also a solution that our Information & Cybersecurity (ICS) team was excited about.” “Cato stood out as a competitive solution. Critically, it was also a solution that our Information & Cybersecurity (ICS) team was excited about.” David Daniels, Director of Global Infrastructure, Darling Ingredients That confidence carried into deployment. Thanks to the platform’s cloud-native design, Darling Ingredients completed its rollout to 260+ facilities ahead of schedule. What used to involve staging, shipping, and on-site setup became a centrally managed rollout, with Cato Sockets drop-shipped and online in minutes. Consistency as a Catalyst for Stronger Security and Simplicity As the rollout progressed, the impact of operating from one rule set, one policy engine, and one console became unmistakable. Consistency replaced fragmentation and the environment became faster, clearer, and easier to run. “Simplicity comes through consistency. Instead of four tools and four vocabularies, we have one,” says Daniels. The results speak for themselves: Stronger security posture, deeper visibility A true 360-degree view: A single management console, the Cato Management Application (CMA), surfaces correlated events instantly, allowing the cybersecurity team to respond based on full-picture context. “Our ICS team has the same visibility to the information that I have. I can sleep a lot better at night knowing they have my back,” says Lai.  Instant insight into millions of threats: What once required hours of manual compilation now appears in real time, with more than 2 million threats blocked each month. “Our ICS team has reduced time to evaluate and neutralize threats to one-third (down 66%) of what was required before implementing the Cato SASE Platform,” says Daniels. Consistent enforcement everywhere: Identity-based ZTNA ensures every user, in the office, on the road, or on the plant floor, receives the same security controls. Operational efficiency at global scale Faster troubleshooting through unified telemetry: Unified telemetry in the CMA speeds root-cause analysis and eliminates finger-pointing. Priority-one incidents now require only two to three responders, down from 10–12 (up to 83% reduction), and are resolved in a third of the time. Additional IT teams—like Service Desk and Workplace—now have access and can troubleshoot directly. Global changes with a single update: Policies and configurations apply instantly across all 260+ sites, no more juggling vendors or reconciling conflicting rule sets. Rapid integration of new sites: “If we had a new location signed today, we could probably have it up and running by the end of the week,” Lai says. Significant cost savings Leaner operations: Darling reduced the number of FTEs in the network team by 23.5% and eliminated two to three contractor positions. $750,000+ saved annually: Achieved by consolidating vendors, simplifying operations, and reducing contractor and licensing costs. IT as an Integral Business Driver  With a platform they could trust in place, Darling Ingredients’ IT leaders shifted from firefighting to forward-thinking. “As opposed to answering questions about downtime, we’re having higher-level conversations with leadership,” says Daniels. Freed from the drag of daily complexity, the team is now focused on enterprise infrastructure transformation, AI initiatives, and using analytics to drive business efficiency—positioning IT as a proactive force in Darling Ingredients’ continued growth. “IT has become a true partner to the business,” Lai says. IT is supporting growth, enabling agility, and helping sustain the circular mission at the heart of Darling Ingredients’ work.