
Thousands of security solution providers and professionals gathered in San Francisco for the annual RSA Conference, as seen from atop the ESET booth.

Palo Alto Networks caught a lot of people’s attention with its application-aware firewall. Attendees listen to how Palo Alto Networks’ applicance profile traffic to block malicious applications.

Yes, HP is better known for its servers, PCs and printers, but it’s also a security provider. At RSA, HP talked up its new Web application security tools and management systems.

AppRiver, a software-as-a-service security provider, unveiled its new unified security services platform, which includes Exchange email, antivirus and antispam.

Barracuda Networks was hard to miss at RSA with its flashy bus parked in the middle of the exhibit hall. Barracuda continues to make waves with its Web filtering appliances.

One of the more entertaining exhibits was Facetime, a provider of instant messaging and P2P security solutions. At RSA, Facetime unveiled its new Facetime Insight, a management console that helps IT managers see the impact of Web 2.0 applications on their networks. Facetime used a ‘hippie protest’ theme to demonstrate is products.

CA is one of a handful of companies linking identity management with data protection. At RSA, CA representatives talked extensively about the merits of tying identity and data loss prevention (DLP).

Check Point is known best for its firewall software, but it was talking up its portfolio of intrusion prevention and SSL traffic inspection apps that make up its software blades architecture.

Channel newcomer Google had a big presence at RSA, where representatives talked up its email security services delivered with the technology acquired through Postini.

Startup Purewire got a lot of attention with its innovative SAAS approach to Web filtering. The Georgia-based company is attracting a growing number of resellers and customers.

Netgear, better known for its SMB switches and routers, debuted its first unified threat management appliance at RSA. The ProSecure appliances uses a cobination of Netgear developed software and antivirus technology by Sophos.

McAfee dazzled RSA attendees with its futuristic, transparent monitors and giant touch screen displace that brought its risk and threat management applications to life.

Microsoft showed off its new Internet Explorer 8 browser and Windows 7 operating system, which both tout significant security improvements.

Webroot, a pioneer in anti-spyware technology, is pushing its technology into the cloud and offering its anti-spyware protection as a service.

Websense formally launched its first appliance at RSA. The Websense V10000 delivers granular Web filtering and DLP technology in an on-premises solution.

Splunk, an enterprise search engine vendor, demonstrated its software’s ability to comb through copious amounts of security data. Splunk is getting a lot of interest as an alterative to log management solutions.

Trend Micro used RSA to talk up its relationships with Big Fix and Third Brigade, which are helping Trend expand its security functions to the end point and provide deeper traffic inspection.

Third Brigade showcased its Deep Security Virtual Appliance, which is designed around VMware’s VMsafe API-based security software. The appliance is designed to provide security inspection and protection in the hypervisor.

Breach Security, a provider of Web application security products, talked up PCI compliance and the increasing threat level posed to business critical Web applications.

Of course, the RSA Conference is about RSA, the security division of EMC. RSA showcased its budding portfolio of data loss prevention technologies and solutions being built with partners, such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems and VMware.