SurfControl set to make waves in filtering market
Firm to launch appliances before end of 2004
SurfControl will launch into both the web-filtering appliance market and the managed services market within the next year.
The firm will bring out new appliance products before the end of this year, according to Martino Corbelli, sales and marketing director at the company.
SurfControl acquired Chinese firm MessageSoft earlier this year, which gave it access to MessageSoft's appliance technology.
"We could not have got into this market so quickly had we started from scratch," said Corbelli. "This buy not only gave us technology, but also wider market reach, as the appliance is already being sold in Asia."
The firm hopes to release an email-filtering appliance first, followed by a web-filtering appliance and then a combination of the two.
"This appliance will be our first ever channel-only product," said Corbelli. At present the firm goes directly to VARs, but Corbelli did not rule out a distribution strategy. "We have not ignored the distribution route; we just haven't had a need for it yet," he said.
The firm also hopes to get into the managed services arena, but has yet to confirm many details.
"We want to take the headaches away from the end-users. With so many products on the market they are a nightmare to administer, and our strategy through our software, appliance and managed services is to make things simple," Corbelli said.
Niall McGrain, divisional director of the security division at distributor Allasso, said: "The appliance market is massive, but there are a lot of players clamouring for a space in it now."