Barracuda Targets Enterprises With Firewall, VPN Rollouts
Barracuda's executives said that its new Web Application Firewall 860 and 960, released Tuesday, are geared toward higher-end markets that demand accelerated and sophisticated functionality but at a lower cost.
Stephen Pao, Barracuda vice president of product management, said that ease of use and the affordable price of the two offerings were increasingly attractive to high-end companies looking to meet security demands while cutting costs. Specifically, Pao said that he saw more companies looking to cut costs by bringing previously outsourced functions, like firewall management, in-house. They're also looking to save money by cutting a small amount of money from every budget category, he said.
"We see a ton of traction from reseller partners whose customers are talking about the recession," Pao said. "Last year, we saw a slowing down, but right now what we're seeing is a reduction, a bona-fide reduction. Projects are being put on hold. Projects are being replaced with lower-cost projects."
Geared toward large enterprises, the Application Firewall 860 can service up to 150 back-end servers and up to 600 Mbps of inbound Web traffic, while the 960 can handle up to 300 back-end servers and up to 900 Mbps of inbound Web traffic.
Meanwhile, the application firewall's increased functionality helps address companies' most severe Web threats, such as SQL injections, OS command injections and cross-site scripting attacks, among others. The new firewall line also includes antivirus protection for file uploads, rate controls and a fully integrated XML firewall for comprehensive site-to-site protection at no additional charge.
The enhanced functionality allows Barracuda resellers to get in the door of high-enterprise companies, Pao said, while the reduced cost will get the attention of C-level executives.
"Those bigger deals can compete with the Junipers and Ciscos of the world," Pao said.
On the heels of its Application Firewall release, Barracuda is also adding the new SSL VPN 680 to the line, released Wednesday, which is designed to accommodate large enterprise organizations, effectively supporting up to 500 concurrent users while also touting affordable pricing.
The VPN, which is priced at a flat $8,999 with no user fees, uses existing capabilities built into every modern Web browser, which makes access as simple as browsing the Internet, Pao said. On the management side, it features an intuitive Web user interface and provides greater control over individual resources. It also features a straightforward user portal, allowing users to view what Internet resources are available.
Pao said that the VPN's increased usability benefits have reduced help-desk calls and support issues -- a feature that ensures productivity for remote and traveling workers. Pao said he saw a spike in demand for affordable VPNs from enterprise and midmarket customers, in part due to the East Coast snowstorms that kept many workers grounded.
The VPN price he said, is "about a third to a fourth of competitive solutions out there," Pao said. "Already we've seen a tremendous amount of success."