A 'Cymphony' of Security and Network Bandwidth Control
The market is flooded with security appliances, yet Network Composer NC1500 from Cymphonix manages to stand out by offering detailed bandwidth management via traffic-shaping controls. The product includes antivirus, antispyware and content-filtering capabilities, allowing solution providers to use a single product for the brunt of network protection. Smaller networks can install the Network Composer appliance at the edge of the network instead of a firewall, while larger sites may want to place the unit directly downstream from the corporate firewall. All of Cymphonix's appliances offer "fail open" capabilities, which means if the unit ceases to function, traffic will still pass through it. That single point of control helps to greatly simplify overall management of the network; administrators need only learn a single management interface that controls all of the integrated services. Cymphonix further eases the equation with a comprehensive monitoring dashboard that displays all traffic activity in realtime using easy-to-comprehend graphical charts. The management interface also supports full drill-down capabilities, allowing administrators to quickly identify traffic flow at the IP address level.
The most amazing aspect of the product is how the management console intuitively presents detailed network-traffic information. Any administrator can quickly glance at the realtime console to ascertain what application and/or what user is generating network traffic. That ability, when combined with deep packet inspection, allows administrators to identify peer-to peer-traffic and other Layer 7 applications that are normally hidden from detailed view. Solution providers should note that all of this capability comes with little overhead, and all packet scanning is done in a single pass, which reduces latency.
Those having to answer to corporate bean-counters will be pleased with the detailed ROI-reporting capabilities, which identify and show not only what problems have been prevented (viruses, spyware, etc.), but also the efficiency of Internet connections. Those ROI reports can be used to put usage policies in place, justify bandwidth upgrades and help to develop a better understanding of network usage.
Solution providers will find the pairing of security with performance reporting a valuable asset when it comes to selling a managed-service product such as this. Solution providers can pursue the managed-service model in three distinct ways. The first way would be to "lease" the Cymphonix equipment and related services to a customer, for a flat, periodic fee. The second option: Solution providers could choose to bundle a Cymphonix product to their customers with management services as either part of the sale price or billed separately. Larger solution providers that provide ISP services could install the Cymphonix unit at their sites and route all of a customer's traffic through their ISP infrastructure and charge a connection/services-only fee. Regardless of the MSP model put in place, solution providers should be able to quickly generate a great deal of opportunity with Network Composer. At first glance, Cymphonix's products may seem like the answer to all of solution providers' firewall and security needs, but the product line does not provide critical network technologies such as failover, clustering or load-balancing. Solution providers will need to put other products in place to handle those needs.
Cymphonix's channel support is a fairly comprehensive two-tier partner program. Authorized partner, the entry-level tier, requires technical and sales training (conducted annually at no charge to partners). Authorized Partners can expect initial margins of 20 percent on the product line, with additional revenue from contract renewals and services.
The higher-tier partner program, dubbed Gold Partner, requires a solution provider to commit to $20,000 in quarterly sales, but by meeting that goal, margins are increased to 25 percent. Free tech support is available for partners.
