Briefs: December 12, 2005

SONICWALL HIRES DILULLO FROM CISCO

DiLullo previously served as vice president of worldwide distribution at Cisco. He is charged with growing the company's sales and bolstering SonicWall's channel efforts. "As it unfolded to me, it really was an irresistible opportunitythey have the best management team, a culture of innovation and a commitment to the channel," DiLullo said.

Matthew Medeiros, president and CEO of SonicWall, is looking for DiLullo to expand SonicWall's international presence. The security vendor garners 30 percent of its sales internationally, while competitors claim 45 percent to 50 percent, Medeiros said.

SonicWall is already growing via acquisitions and is moving in new product directions, having last month acquired data backup vendor Lasso Logic and the assets of enKoo, a remote-access technology vendor.

As for Cisco, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Channels Keith Goodwin will assume DiLullo's role until a replacement is hired.

RED HAT OFFERS CERTIFICATIONS, SUPPORT FOR LAMP
In the first quarter of 2006, Red Hat will begin offering certification and support services for leading open-source stacks such as LAMP.

Such service offerings were pioneered by startups such as SpikeSource and SourceLabs and are also offered through IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Red Hat plans to offer three services for subscription as part of its Red Hat Network services offerings. The Red Hat Web Application Stack is for basic Web sites and applications and includes support for the popular LAMP components, including the Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, PHP scripting language and PostgreSQL database, according to the company.

The second offering, the Java Web Application Stack, includes certification and production support for LAMP and PostgreSQL/MySQL, Apache Tomcat Servlet and JSP container and key Java libraries and tools such as Apache Struts, Apache Axis, Spring, Hibernate, Lucene, Ant, Junit, Jython, Log4J and key XML libraries.

The Enterprise Java Stack includes support for all of the above plus support for the Java application server based on ObjectWeb's J2EE-certified Jonas project, which is the core of the Red Hat Application Server and competes against JBoss.

D-LINK INTRODUCES APPLICATION SECURITY GATEWAY FOR SMB
D-Link has upgraded two of its high-end VPN/firewall products and introduced a new application security gateway to its NetDefend line of small business networking security products.

D-Link sees these products as part of its push to become a provider of end-to-end networking solutions that will be sold through channel partners, according to Rocky Rosas, technical marketing engineer at D-Link. Solution providers also will able to bundle these products with support services, he added.

The NetDefend Application Security Gateway DFL-M510 is a new offering that can be used in conjunction with a firewall to not only provide security, but also to help companies manage usage of corporate bandwidth, according to Rosas.

The DFL-M510 provides a way to block employee usage of non-business related applications such as P2P file sharing, streaming media and Web-based e-mail, according to Rosas.

"Companies that want better control over their bandwidth can use this product to enforce security policies, ensure business productivity and reduce liability from employee use of pirated software," he said.

The rack-mounted NetDefend DFL-1600 and desktop DFL-800 firewalls are aimed at companies with between 50 and 250 users, said Rosas. Both products provide integrated intrusion protection, content filtering, remote management and bandwidth management functionality.

The DFL-800 includes seven 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports and supports 300 dedicated VPN tunnels, while the DFL-1600 includes six gigabit Ethernet ports configurable for WAN or LAN connections and supports 1,200 VPN tunnels, Rosas said.

The DFL-800 firewall has a list price of $1,700, the DFL-1600 firewall is priced at $7,000 and the DFL application security gateway is priced at $2,800. All three are available now and include a one-year warranty with free security updates.

POINTSEC INTRODUCES STRONGER ENDPOINT SECURITY ENCRYPTION
Security vendor Pointsec, which makes software that encrypts data on notebook PCs and handhelds, has released version 6.0 of its Pointsec For PC product. The software encryption is designed to restrict access to data to authenticated users and doesn't affect system performance, said Bob Egner, vice president of marketing for Pointsec.

But encryption is just part of Pointsec's security strategy. The vendor also seeks to integrate multifactor authentication into its products, according to Egner. This method requires use of a smart card or token in addition to a password, which protects data in case a password is stolen or lost, he added. Pointsec also has released a software development kit that companies can use to integrate third-party smart cards and tokens into their enterprise security systems, Egner said. The software is available for $129 per end-user license.

SYNNEX TEAMS WITH VARSTREET FOR QUOTING, E-COMMERCE TOOL
Distributor Synnex plans to offer VARStreet's XPonential Commerce (XC) Standard and Enterprise solutions to solution providers.

The offerings help solution providers automate sales processes through sourcing, quoting and e-commerce tools, according to Rad Sundar, CEO and president of VARStreet.

VARStreet's XC solutions are now tied directly to Synnex's back-end systems through XML connections, according to the companies. The integration allows Synnex resellers to automatically receive pricing and product updates within their own systems and helps ensure their Web stores are accurate for placing orders and shipping.

Other features of the tool include the ability to set up multiple, customized stores for large end-users who can restrict specific personnel for purchases.

VARStreet's XC Standard and Enterprise products are available now for as low as $150, depending on requirements, Sundar said.

SYMANTEC DISABLES ANTIVIRUS TECHNICAL SUPPORT GROUP
A technical support discussion group for Symantec's AntiVirus Business Pack 10.0 has become inaccessible ahead of schedule.

The discussion group, which became inaccessible last Thursday, had been filling up with complaints that Business Pack 10.0 was not installing properly, said Jonathan Platt, president of solution provider Datasoft. Platt also has had trouble with Business Pack 10.0 and was a participant of the discussion group, he said.

Symantec has notes placed on most of its technical support discussion groups advising visitors that the groups will be shut down on Dec. 15. After that, "the Knowledge Base and other automated support options will still be available," each of the notes say.

Symantec representatives did not return calls.