Ericka Chickowski

SonicWALL this week released to the channel the latest edition of its IT management system, SonicWALL Global Management System (GMS) 6.0, which it hopes will appeal to managed service providers (MSP) with a spate of new features that include better reporting on application firewalls, improved data protection policy enforcement and a new API to sync […]

EMC channel partners will gain a new portfolio of IT governance, risk and compliance products to sell by the end of the first quarter after the company makes good on plans to acquire the GRC firm Archer Technologies. EMC’s RSA Security Division announced yesterday its plans to acquire Archer in order to bolster its ability […]

Texas-based Genband hopes to change the complexion of the VoIP market for partners and buyers with the recent announcement that it plans to snap up several VoIP divisions from the once formidable, but now floundering Nortel Networks. Just before Christmas, Genband and Nortel announced that they’d entered into an asset sale agreement that will have […]

Top 20 Security Acquisitions of 2009 Riverbed Buys MazuPurchase Price: $25 millionWhen: JanuaryDetails: Riverbed expanded its footprint from application control into application optimization by picking up Mazu’s application mapping and analysis capabilities. No Title Riverbed Buys MazuAnalyst Comment: (A)s Mazu is a genuine innovator in application dependency mapping and application analysis, the acquisition instantly fortifies […]

Top 20 Security Acquisitions of 200912 Riverbed Buys MazuPurchase Price: $25 millionWhen: JanuaryDetails: Riverbed expanded its footprint from application control into application optimization by picking up Mazu’s application mapping and analysis capabilities.

This week the web security firm SmoothWall announced a new web filtering appliance that it hopes channel partners selling within the education sector can leverage to add greater value to protection initiatives. The Secure Web Gateway-1200  is set for release to the North American channel in January at the annual FETC education technology conference. SmoothWall […]

As VARs and solution providers start the year off with new balance sheets and improved game plans, many are looking for that extra edge needed to carry them through a breakaway year. After what shaped up to be one of the most difficult economic years in many moons, the expected 2010 recovery could provide just […]

Channel partners selling the meat-and-potato solutions necessary to keep IT operations  up and running will find that they have a little more budget wiggle room in 2010, according to new findings released by Computer Economics last week. The analyst firm questioned 139 North American IT organizations about their spending outlooks and attitudes for the coming […]

McAfee Reinvigorates the Rivalry with Symantec This year Symantec and McAfee reignited their old rivalry to levels not seen since pre-Veritas days. One only need look at Symantec’s sneaky tactic in Vegas during McAfee’s annual Focus Security Conference to see where this was going.  Symantec painted the town yellow in anticipation of wooing away McAfee’s […]

In a move that could help IBM partners more successfully sell comprehensive identity and access management solutions, IBM and Fujitsu Frontech North America announced a deal this week to integrate Fujitsu’s palm vein biometric technology into IBM’s enterprise single-sign-on solution. Far more accurate and less prone to false negatives and false positives than fingerprint biometrics, […]

The Vertical Practice of the Year award goes to the solution provider, value-added reseller, integrator or service provider that best exhibits deep domain expertise in one or more vertical markets resulting in differentiation that has driven revenue increases and profitability. Awards are given for the following: CHALLENGER recognizes a vendor or individual that isn’t in […]

SecureWorks continued its managed security services empire building this week with its second major acquisition in six months by picking up UK-based dns Limited for an undisclosed sum. The purchase of this 10-year-old managed security services and consulting firm follows hot on the heels of SecureWork’s July acquisition of VeriSign’s Managed Security Services division for […]