Cisco's Presence Heats Up Already Hot Firewall Market
By Charlotte Dunlap & Ken Presti
San Jose, Calif. -- Hot on the heels of Cisco Systems Inc.'s foray into the
firewall market with an NT-based software product, other firewall vendors
are readying their own new releases.
Earlier this month, Raptor Systems Inc. announced Beyond Firewalls, a
program that includes technology that enhances encryption for its mobile
products. In addition, Raptor unveiled a product that brings Web-based
technology into the corporate intranet through access-control capabilities.
Raptor also plans to reveal reseller relationships whereby resellers will
integrate Raptor's flagship product, Eagle Firewall, into their systems.
Also this month, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. expects to unveil a
software feature that lets resellers and corporate IT staffs better manage the
bandwidth within a network. The product will dynamically change based on
the number of people needing bandwidth. The goal is for companies not to be
forced to buy extra hardware and telephone lines in order to increase
bandwidth, Check Point said.
The software will work with non-Check Point firewall products, the vendor
said.
Cisco is taking its first steps in this portion of the firewall market with Centri,
which should become available this month, starting at $3,495.
Designed with GUI-based administration, Centri allows integrators or
network managers to apply security policies to domains, users, groups,
machines or groups of PCs on a defined network. It also comes with
preconfigured support for many popular applications and services. The
product is complementary to the PIX firewall, Cisco's current offering in the
security arena, which is targeted at enterprise networks.
Centri is the result of Cisco's acquisition of Global Internet Software Group,
Palo Alto, Calif., two months ago.
Since that purchase, Cisco has been aiming to go head-to-head with
companies such as Check Point, Secure Computing Corp. and Raptor in
order to grab a bite of the potentially lucrative and quickly expanding firewall
market.
"They're definitely entering the firewall market now, which in my opinion
justifies the market even more," said Brett Nelson, product marketing
manager for Secure Computing.
As further market verification, computer vendors such as IBM Corp., Digital
Equipment Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., have included firewall products
in their internetworking portfolios. But Cisco could pose a danger to firewall
leaders that focus on NT-based products. "Cisco's advantage is that if you
buy a router from them, now you have to think about security . . . ," Nelson
said.
Secure Computing just added an NT version of its firewall to its lineup, which
also includes two Unix firewall products. In fact, all major firewall vendors
have recently begun offering NT-based products.
This is due to Microsoft Corp.'s inclusion of firewall technology in its proxy
server, said Al McGuire, marketing vice president at Raptor. "I think the issue
with Cisco is a Microsoft issue, where Cisco is looking to [provide] the entry
point to the network [through its NT firewall],'' he said.
Having established a reputation in the enterprise, Cisco now plans to
strengthen its hand in the rapidly-growing market for small networks, said
Howard Charney, senior vice president of Cisco's small/medium business
unit. |
