BANGALORE, INDIA: Enterprises are faced with security threats from outside as well as inside factors. The outside threats like virus, spam, phishing and intrusion attacks are becoming sophisticated and growing in number. Zero-day attacks can even devastate a network.

Threats of illegal reproduction and distribution of company's confidential data by the employees has become quite a real one. Employees visiting social networking sites, IMs, gaming sites etc. result in loss of productivity which is hard for any organization to afford in today's competitive environment.

In an interview with CIOL, Sunil Sapra, Country Manager - India & SAARC, WatchGuard Technologies Inc, a leading vendor of UTM appliance, spoke on the current trends, challenges and development of tailor-made 
solutions for small and medium sized enterprises to protect against network threats.

Excerpts:

CIOL: What is driving the adoption of Unified Threat Management solutions?

Sunil Sapra: Since the very beginning, UTM solutions have met with very good response from customers and why not? A solution that can help IT managers sleep easy at night and yet provide unmatched TCO is 
bound to be accepted well.

The phenomenal adoption of UTM solutions is due to the significant value that they add to a customer's network security objectives. Before the advent of UTM, organizations had no choice but to have 
point solutions for the above mentioned threats. While point solutions do help in mitigating these threats, they bring complexity to the network. Manageability becomes difficult and the cost of procurement 
and training is quite high. UTM handles all these challenges single handedly and also provides the ease of management and the most optimum TCO.

CIOL: How is the UTM market in India? Among which verticals are you seeing higher adoptions? 

SS: Renowned research firms have come up with very encouraging trends and market size prediction for UTM solutions in India. UTM is currently in a very high double digit growth market and is driving the 
network security adoption in India.

Network security is equally important irrespective of the verticals but some of them are known to be early adopters of technology and UTM is no different. Banking and financial, telecom, IT/ITES verticals deployed
UTMs quite early. WatchGuard India's major business comes from IT/ITES, manufacturing, education and financial verticals. We have also started witnessing quite a good demand from the government sector of late.

CIOL: How serious is the internal threat to a network compared to outside threats ?

SS: UTM protects organizations from internal and external network threats. Ideally, organizations install UTM devices to protect their web server, mail server, application and database servers etc. from threats. These applications are connected to the outside network through DSL modem or Internet router which would give Internet connectivity to the network . In addition to these, there could be mobile users who would like to access these servers remotely in secure manner through VPN.

CIOL: What edge does your products offer to the customers?

SS: Any vendor's approach to the market says a lot about the philosophy behind it. Since the very beginning, WatchGuard has been focused to provide enterprise class, easy to install and manage security
solutions at very competitive prices.

There are three key areas like Scalability, Enhanced Security and Reporting that truly set WatchGuard apart and that are easy to see. There are many smaller more detailed differences based on application 
where we completely dominate.

CIOL: WatchGuard has partnered with Dell in India to provide complete security solutions to SMB segment. How robust is the SMB market in India?

SS: One of our focus areas is to grow the market organically. Network security is an important investment for organizations and we know that in India SMB is well spread beyond the metros. To reach these organizations and propagate network security, it is important to align with the right partner.

DELL has been a very strong contributor in adoption of IT in India. Thousands of organizations in India owe their IT enablement to DELL. We work with DELL in US and it was natural that we developed the relationship in India too. We are very closely engaged with DELL India to ensure that the large population of SMB spread across India can buy their complete end to end IT and network security solutions from the single and trusted source- DELL. The tie-up provides unparalleled value and peace of mind to the customers in India.

CIOL: What about your tie up with Jetking Infotrain Limited ?

SS: We believe that as a pioneer and leader in the UTM space, it is WatchGuard's responsibility to spread awareness about UTM solutions' benefits and the significant value that a UTM adds to a customer's IT 
objectives.

For decades now, Jetking has been doing a fantastic service by providing practical IT management courses to young minds. Again, it was natural that two pioneers come together to spread awareness about 
this all important subject of network security.

As part of the tie up, we are providing customized content, train the trainer programs and support to Jetking. Jetking will offer WatchGuard  basics and installation as part of its "JCHNP" program. We are expecting more than 45,000 students every year to benefit from this program and enter the real time corporate IT environment armed with a practical knowledge of networking and security.

This agreement has facilitated businesses across India would be able to employ students who already have hands-on training on the best of the breed UTM appliances.