Varonis, Northern Virginia Colocation, and Security Platforms: What to Check Before Renewal
Vendor Updates in This Issue: Varonis · CyrusOne · Zscaler · Netskope · Palo Alto Networks · Microsoft
Vendor updates in this issue: Varonis · CyrusOne and other Northern Virginia providers · Zscaler, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft. Three vendor developments and renewal decisions worth checking this period. Find the vendors you use, then send your team the question that applies.
Recent Developments
Varonis: Confirm What Your SaaS Conversion Includes
Varonis: Confirm What Your SaaS Conversion Includes
Who this affects. Firms running the legacy self-hosted Varonis Data Security Platform.
Varonis announced in November 2025 that its legacy self-hosted Data Security Platform reaches end of life on December 31, 2026. Firms running it will either convert to the Varonis SaaS platform or move to another product. Either way the commercial terms are set in the next few months, which makes this a purchasing decision rather than a scheduling exercise.
Two points are worth settling early. Varonis states that its SaaS platform protects on-premises data as well as cloud data, so a requirement that client data stay local does not by itself require a locally hosted platform. And if your firm already holds Microsoft Purview entitlements, or is planning an E5 move, some of this coverage may already be licensed. Microsoft documents discovery, classification, and DLP capabilities reaching on-premises file repositories, so the question is which specific controls and repositories your licences and configuration actually cover.
What to Know
Your support position and the conversion documents. Confirm your own support arrangements, then read the conversion paperwork against the existing agreement. Establish which capabilities remain included and which become separately priced modules.
Total cost and renewal protection. Current spend, proposed spend, migration cost, and optional modules side by side, with pricing protection established for the initial term and for subsequent renewals.
Where content, metadata, and logs are processed and stored. Then confirm those arrangements satisfy your client commitments and outside counsel guidelines.
Our Take
Treat the conversion as a purchasing decision. Establish scope, total cost, renewal protection, and data-handling terms before the migration timetable narrows your alternatives.
Recent Developments
CyrusOne and Other Northern Virginia Providers: Check the Full Cost of Your Next Renewal
CyrusOne and Other Northern Virginia Providers: Check the Full Cost of Your Next Renewal
Who this affects. Firms using CyrusOne or another provider for Northern Virginia colocation, with a renewal or expansion ahead.
If your firm has colocation in Northern Virginia, check the complete renewal cost, your power commitments, and expansion availability before the contractual notice deadline rather than after it. In a market with very little spare capacity, the notice date is the point at which your options narrow, and it usually arrives earlier than the renewal date suggests.
For context, CBRE reported Northern Virginia colocation vacancy at 0.2% in the first half of 2026, down from 0.5% in the second half of 2025, with preleasing extending into 2027. That is market-level data. What it means for your firm depends on your facility, your footprint, and the terms already in your contract, and none of it indicates what any particular provider will propose at your renewal.
What to Know
The notice deadline. Confirm the date and whether any auto-renewal provision has already started running.
Total cost, not the headline rate. Power charges, minimum commitments, additional charges, and annual increases, priced together.
Expansion availability and pricing. Confirm what additional capacity exists at your facility and what it would cost.
Our Take
The notice deadline is the real decision point. Confirm it first, then assess total cost and expansion capacity while alternatives are still available.
Recent Developments
Zscaler, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft: Check Coverage Before Your Next Renewal
Zscaler, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft: Check Coverage Before Your Next Renewal
Who this affects. Firms running one or more of these security platforms alongside Microsoft 365.
This is a review we recommend rather than a response to any vendor announcement. Before renewing, adding modules, or extending a term, establish which paid capabilities your firm has actually deployed and which it relies on. Security stacks tend to be assembled over several years by different people, and renewal is usually the first moment anyone looks at the whole picture.
Two cautions are worth holding. Similar feature descriptions across vendors do not prove the products are interchangeable, and the differences usually surface during implementation rather than during evaluation. Equally, running more than one vendor is not by itself duplicate spending. Some overlap is deliberate, and some is the cost of coverage your firm genuinely needs. The question is whether anyone has confirmed which is which.
Where a standalone tool overlaps with Microsoft, the answer turns on your licensing tier rather than on the feature list. File-level encryption and controlled external sharing, for example, sit close to Purview sensitivity labels and encrypted sharing in the higher Microsoft 365 tiers. On E3 the overlap is usually minimal. On E5 it can be direct duplication. Confirm the tier your firm actually holds before concluding anything is redundant.
What to Know
Which paid capabilities are deployed and required. Licensed, deployed, and relied upon are three different lists. Get them written down before the renewal conversation.
Entitlement caps against actual consumption. Where a contract sets user or data-volume ceilings, pull current usage against them. Caps negotiated at the start of a term are often well above what the firm consumes, and both are pricing drivers.
Potential overlap, validated with IT. Include the effort and operational impact of consolidating, not only the licence saving. A consolidation that disrupts a working control is not a saving.
How quantities and pricing can change. Confirm what happens as headcount and requirements move in either direction, in writing, before the term is extended.
That you are renewing against executed paperwork. Some security engagements run for years off an original proposal with no signed order form and no fee schedule behind the figure in the budget. Ask for the executed document and the current invoice, and confirm whether the recorded amount is annual or a multi-year total. An unexecuted proposal carries no price protection into a new term.
Our Take
Map the whole security stack before negotiating any single renewal. Similar feature descriptions are not proof of duplication, and any consolidation case must include implementation effort and operational impact.
Sources
Varonis, “Why We're Going All In on SaaS” (November 2025) · Microsoft Purview on-premises scanner documentation · CBRE North America Data Center Trends H1 2026, Northern Virginia market profile · CCM market assessment
Where CCM Fits
If any of these are on your renewal calendar, CCM can help your team work through the checks. CCM Synq connects your contract data, renewal calendar, and vendor market intelligence into a single workspace, so you act before your vendor does.
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About This Brief
CCM Vendor Intelligence is a bi-weekly market intelligence brief published by Chase Cost Management (CCM), an independent procurement and vendor governance advisor founded in 1998. CCM serves law firms, healthcare organizations, and enterprises evaluating legal tech and infrastructure renewals, and has documented over $3B in client savings. These briefs are written for buyers — general counsel, COOs, CIOs, procurement leaders, and CFOs — who need vendor-specific intelligence ahead of renewal and purchase decisions.