Network Security Products: Cisco

Few would dispute Cisco Systems is a force to be reckoned with in networking, but that reputation is increasingly extending to security.

While rival Symantec prevailed in channel criteria, Cisco’s lead on the technical side put it over the top. In particular, to say Cisco dominated its competitors in product reliability would be an understatement: On this criterion, Cisco gained a 7.7-point hedge against its closest rival in the survey, Symantec, and a 6.1-point lead over WatchGuard Technologies, the runner-up in product reliability.

Solution providers hailed two of Cisco’s network infrastructure security products in particular as top-notch: Cisco Protego, a drop-in security information management appliance, and Cisco Security Agent, which helps end points comply with pre-established security policies.

“For a company with tons of products, they seem to do everything really well,” said John Vedrody, executive vice president for network security at MCPc, a security solution provider in Cleveland.

But product reliability wasn’t Cisco’s only strong suit. Among technical criteria, Cisco bested the competition in five out of seven areas, including management features, security alerts and scalability. In channel-program satisfaction areas, the vendor notched a solid 4.1-point victory over Symantec in vendor support.

Still, Cisco’s channel numbers weren’t all good. Cisco faltered in the areas of sales margins and channel conflict, losing out big-time to Symantec, WatchGuard and Check Point. And Symantec pushed Cisco into second place in overall channel-program satisfaction, besting Cisco by three-tenths of a point.

Alex Thurber, director of security and wireless for worldwide channels at Cisco, said he was surprised by the results because Cisco prides itself on partner profitability. He pointed to the company’s Value Incentive Program, which offers rebates to partners that invest in specializations, and to the Opportunity Incentive Program, which provides deal registration for solution providers in the SMB market. “We work hard to support channel partners,” he said.

“Cisco has followed through with the commitments they made to the channel,” agreed Jay Kirby, vice president of sales at Troubadour, a Cisco partner in Houston. “They have created profit ... and given us the ability to focus on our core value proposition.”