Deskope: A Faster Path Off Netskope

Cloudflare has announced early access to the Deskope Program, a new migration toolkit designed to help existing Netskope customers move to Cloudflare One. The program is structured as a direct counterpart to the existing Descaler Program, which has already facilitated quick migrations for Zscaler customers. Alongside Deskope, Cloudflare is expanding the Descaler initiative by granting Authorized Service Delivery Partners access to the Descaler toolkit, aiming to scale migration support through its partner network.

From Extract to Load

The Deskope process mirrors the methodology used in Descaler, emphasizing reduced manual effort to lower the risk of errors during migration. The toolkit operates on a standard extract, transform, and load (ETL) sequence, leveraging API calls against your current Netskope account. It exports your existing Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway (SWG) configuration, transforms the policies and settings into a Cloudflare One-compatible format, and then imports them into either a new or existing Cloudflare One tenant.

This program aims to replicate the success of Descaler, which has seen customers complete full migrations in just a few hours. The full engagement includes architecture workshops, access to the technical migration tooling, and optional trusted partner support for hands-on assistance.

Why Make the Switch

Cloudflare’s rationale for the program centers on two core advantages: network speed and administrative simplicity.

In its own benchmarking, Cloudflare cites its Gateway and WARP client as outperforming competitors—including Zscaler, Netskope, and Palo Alto—in a majority of tested scenarios. The quoted data points to Cloudflare's network architecture, which is integrated deep into last-mile networks and peered with over 12,000 networks globally.

“In one exercise we pitted the Cloudflare Gateway and WARP client against Zscaler, Netskope, and Palo Alto which all have products that perform the same functions. Cloudflare users benefit from Gateway and Cloudflare’s network being embedded deep into last mile networks close to users, being peered with over 12,000 networks. That heightened connectivity shows because Cloudflare Gateway is the fastest network in 42% of tested scenarios:”

On the management side, Cloudflare contrasts its policy builder with Netskope's. In Cloudflare Gateway, administrators can define policy scope by setting conditions—on traffic, identity, or device posture—and joining them with logical AND/OR operators. Netskope, by contrast, requires building reusable objects from the ground up before even a basic SWG policy can be created, which can slow down initial deployment. Cloudflare also highlights its unified onboarding wizard, which handles both policy setup and single-agent endpoint deployment in one flow.

Descaler Opens Up to Partners

The expansion of the Descaler Program follows Cloudflare’s global services partner strategy announced in mid-2023. Authorized Service Delivery Partners will now be able to access the intricate Descaler toolkit, along with training materials developed from previous enterprise migration projects. The goal is to supplement the existing capabilities of these partners as they handle customer migrations to Cloudflare One.

Dedicated Descaler training for partners is scheduled to launch in March 2024. Access to this training, as well as to the Descaler toolkit itself, will be invite-only, restricted to Cloudflare’s authorized partners.

Getting Started

For customers and prospects: Enrollment for the Descaler and Deskope early access programs starts with a sign-up form. After submitting your details, the Cloudflare team will contact you for further enrollment. Providing information about your current SSE deployment, specific challenges, and target Zero Trust or SASE goals can help expedite the process. To get started, sign up here.

For partners: Existing partners should contact their assigned Channel Account Manager or Partner Service Delivery Manager to express interest and obtain detailed program information. For service providers not yet in the program, a checklist is available to guide the application process for becoming an Authorized Service Delivery Partner.