Security appliance vendor SonicWall is wading into cloud computing
with a new hybrid service that provides remotely delivered anti-spam
and malicious content protection that’s integrated with its Generation
5 firewalls and unified threat management (UTM) devices.
The SonicWALL Comprehensive Anti-Spam Service will be sold as an annual
subscription-based service through authorized solution providers.
Inspection of traffic for spam, phishing attacks, viruses and malicious
Websites is done by the on-premise appliance that interacts in real
time with the cloud-based service for correlation and updates.
The anti-spam service, which includes SonicWall’s anti-virus software
and services, is designed to work with all existing Generation 5
firewalls, as well as new TZ100 and TZ200 UTM devices. SonicWall says
the compatibility with equipment already in use will make for easier
adoption and faster ROI for customers.
“The customer doesn’t need an extra appliance. It’s really quite easy
to configure and use,” says Ted Hulsy, senior manager of channel
marketing at SonicWall.
SonicWall
will sell the service through its distribution partners. Solution
providers will be able to buy one-, two- and three-year subscriptions
for resale. Official pricing is unavailable, but the early estimate is
basic subscriptions will start at $2 to $3 per seat per month. Hulsy
says margin structure to resellers will mirror that of existing
SonicWall hardware.
The anti-spam service will compete with offerings by Symantec
(Brightmail and MessageLabs), Google (Postini), McAfee, Trend Micro,
AppRiver and Panda Security. Most existing e-mail security and
anti-spam services are delivered entirely as a cloud-based service in
which traffic is diverted to the service provider’s data center for
inspection before being passed to the end domain.
Partner program information and materials about the SonicWall hybrid
cloud-based service are being released to partners this week. The
service will become generally available July 13.
The launch of the new anti-spam service coincides with the release
of the new TZ100 and TZ200 series UTM appliances. The new UTMs are
designed for SOHOs, SMB and branch office environments. They feature
faster traffic throughput, lower operating costs and new 3G analog
failover for remote management and recovery.