Equiinet takes aim at the education market

SME security appliance vendor Equiinet has launched an all-in-one unified threat

SME security appliance vendor Equiinet has launched an all-in-one unified threat management appliance aimed at the UK education market, which it hopes will help it recruit 10 education VARs by year end.

SecurePilot integrates an array of threat management features, including firewall and intrusion detection and prevention capabilities, into one appliance, Equiinet claimed it can work as a stand-alone security defence or in conjunction with its content and caching server, CachePilot.

Bob Jones, managing director of Equiinet, told CRN: “While we are strong in education, we have tended to do business through bandwidth firms, not resellers. We would ideally like 10 education resellers on board by year end – perhaps those selling interactive whiteboards or PCs into education at the moment.

“SecurePilot allows resellers to boost margins by offering their education customers a new product, as well as additional support services such as security audits, monitoring and reporting, and structured ways of dealing with specific threats.”

Elaine Axby, principal analyst at Quocirca, said: “Equiinet is very strong in the schools sector with its caching product, and it also does security appliances for smaller businesses, so this new product is using its existing strengths.

“Security is a key issue for schools, particularly with the increasing emphasis on flexible ways of accessing school networks. Schools often don’t have the capability of managing threats themselves.”

“The traditional approach of Local Education Authority centralised protection really doesn’t tackle today’s threats,” said Jones.

“Education resellers tend to sell into government too, so we’d also encourage these new resellers to take on our other products to sell into the public sector.”