SonicWall builds secure model

Internet security specialist SonicWall, which has just completed the acquisition of server appliance builder Phobos, has restructured its product suite around a distributed security model.

Internet security specialist SonicWall, which has just completed the acquisition of server appliance builder Phobos, has restructured its product suite around a distributed security model.

According to Raj Dhingra, chief operating officer at SonicWall, the distributed model is at odds with current security assumptions.

"Security is not just a central office issue. If Microsoft had a solution like this, it could have thwarted its attacker. Sensitive information is distributed around a company. People can attack any piece of it," he said.

SonicWall offers internet security appliances that include firewalls, virtual private networks, public key infrastructures, content filtering and global monitoring systems on one device - whether on a PCI card, appliance, or enterprise rack-mounted box - for easy plug-in use.

It also includes a subscription service for end users to automatically get virus updates downloaded onto the appliance, and from there, onto servers and PCs.

"Security is a fragmented industry. Resellers have to make products from different companies work together," said Dhingra. "With our products, a channel partner can manage 'Mr Small Business's' security system and constantly monitor it. We are focusing on access security, security services and transaction security. No other company does all three."

Dhingra claimed that although SonicWall was number one in the web security market for small to medium sized enterprises, he could see a significant opportunity in large businesses. "We can provide a complete solution. Checkpoint can't," he said.

David Pascoe, a head of marketing at SonicWall, said different form factors, or packaging, allowed resellers to present similar technology at different prices to help customers scale their security.

Michael Gill, head of sales at Sussex-based reseller Networks Unlimited, believed the addition of Phobos' SSL and load-balancing technology to SonicWall's portfolio was the right step.

"This is a very important product to us. Every time they add a feature it gets customers for us. We've come across the distributed security model before from other vendors, and we're glad it now fits in with our favourite partner," he said.

SonicWall's current distributors are Allasso and TechDirect, and it already has 7000 resellers signed up to sell the model worldwide.