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Financial research concept

Cybersecurity Platform RPO Growth

measures growth in cybersecurity contract value allocated to unsatisfied or partially unsatisfied performance obligations.

By Lee BaileyPublished Oct 1, 2026
Research context

See what supports this page, how current it is, and where comparable or historical context is available.

Research date
Oct 1, 2026Use the dated article and cited sources for the definition, examples, and stated limitations.
Operating-model context
10 connected conceptsPart of the reviewed Cybersecurity Platform Economics; issuer definitions remain distinct where disclosed.
Company examples
1 reviewed companyRelationships reflect supported examples, not a normalized cross-company KPI ranking.
  1. RPO is contracted revenue, not current-period revenue
  2. RPO and NGS ARR should not be substituted
  3. Part of the Cybersecurity Platform Economics
  4. See It in Company Research
  5. Continue Research

Cybersecurity platform RPO growth measures year-over-year growth in remaining performance obligations for the cybersecurity platform.

Palo Alto Networks reported 34% RPO growth at the end of fiscal Q4 2026, to $21.2B.

RPO is contracted revenue, not current-period revenue

RPO represents transaction price allocated to obligations that remain unsatisfied or partially unsatisfied.

The timing of future recognition depends on contract terms and service delivery.

RPO and NGS ARR should not be substituted

RPO is rooted in the accounting contract balance, while NGS ARR is an issuer-defined annualized operating metric with a different product perimeter.

Read it with NGS ARR growth and subscription and support revenue mix.

Primary source: Palo Alto Networks fiscal Q4 2026 earnings release.

Part of the Cybersecurity Platform Economics

Connects next-generation recurring contract scale, contracted backlog, product and recurring revenue mix, gross-margin conversion, and adjusted cash generation across a cybersecurity platform.

Browse the full operating model in Company Analysis →
Where this concept fits
  • Recurring contract scale and backlogCurrent relationship
    NGS ARR and its growth rate capture the issuer-defined recurring run rate, while RPO growth captures contracted revenue obligations under a different accounting perimeter.
    NGS ARRNGS ARR GrowthRPO GrowthCurrent concept
  • Product and recurring revenue mix
    Product, subscription, and support growth show how recognized revenue is distributed across hardware/software licenses and recurring service streams, while subscription and support revenue mix shows the weight of recurring revenue in the platform model.
    Product Revenue GrowthSubscription Revenue GrowthSubscription & Support MixSupport Revenue Growth
  • Gross profit and cash conversion
    Product and subscription/support gross margins show cost conversion across different delivery models, while adjusted free cash flow margin measures issuer-defined cash generation after specified adjustments.
    Adjusted FCF MarginProduct Gross MarginSubscription & Support Gross Margin

See It in Company Research

These companies are examples of how the concept is reported or discussed in public filings. Definitions can differ by issuer; these links open company research rather than a normalized metric comparison.

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Compare cybersecurity platform economics

Compare contracted revenue growth separately from ARR and current-period recognized revenue.

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