CyberGuard Set to Wash the Web

Security specialist CyberGuard Corp. (Nasdaq: CGFW) has launched a new content management product built using core technology from WebWasher, which it acquired for a cool $50 million earlier this year (see CyberGuard Acquires Webwasher and CyberGuard Intros Webwasher).

The new 1000 appliance uses WebWashers content security management (CSM) software to filter URLs, viruses, and spam, as well as optional SSL scanning. The 1-rack-unit box can handle up to 2,000 concurrent users, say CyberGuard execs, although this figure is yet to be independently tested.

Security vendors are locked in an arms race at the moment, with firms like CyberGuard bolstering their product lines with new features. But things do not always run according to plan. During the summer, CyberGuard’s $300 million bid for Secure Computing Corp. (Nasdaq: SCUR) was turned down after the San Jose, Calif.-based company’s board deemed the offer unacceptable (see CyberGuard Locks Onto SCUR and SCUR Spurns CyberGuard Suitor).

Undeterred, CyberGuard is looking to tap into the growing market for integrated security products, and has been working to bring its product lines together over the last few months. A WebWasher-pioneered technology called Internet Content Adaptaton Protocol (ICAP), which features on the new 1000 device, has been at the heart of this effort.

ICAP is a standard that enables WebWasher content management products to filter and secure the network traffic that is visible to firewall/VPN devices. The protocol will ship on CyberGuard’s new TSP family of security appliances next month and has already been added to Classic range of firewall/VPNs (see CyberGuard Unveils Security Appliances and CyberGuard Launches Security Products).There is already plenty of competition in this part of the market. The 1000 finds itself up against the Proxy range of appliances from Blue Coat Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), as well as products from Trend Micro. Rubbing salt into the wounds, perhaps, Bluecoat recently hopped into bed with Secure Computing, the one-time object of CyberGuard’s desires (see Blue Coat, Secure Computing Partner).

However, Bryan Bain, CyberGuard’s vice president of sales and marketing told NDCF that the company is also planning to launch a new, integrated security appliance. This will tap into the burgeoning market for what are known as unified threat management (UTM) devices, he says.

Bain says CyberGuard will be driving much of the functionality currently available with its existing products onto a single UTM box, which will be available in March or April 2005.

UTM devices incorporate firewall, intrusion detection, and prevention, and gateway anti-virus features are poised to be the next big thing in security, according to analyst firm IDC (see IDC: UTM Captures 12% of Market). A number of security vendors have already dipped their toes into this market, including Fortinet Inc. and ServGate Technologies Inc. (see Fortinet Leads New Security Category and ServGate Strikes Dell Deal).

Next in the pipeline for CyberGuard is an acquisition, now that the firm has gotten over its Secure Computing heartache. “We have got a full-time, fully-staffed M&A team that is constantly analyzing young companies,” says Bain.Although he refuses to spill the beans on which firms CyberGuard fancies, Bain says identity management technologies look pretty appealing at the moment. “If you look at where the Fortune 1000 companies are, they are looking for good control of their role-based policy architecture.”

CyberGuard is not the first company to sniff around the identity management market. Last week Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) (NYSE: CA) acquired identity management specialist Netegrity (see CA Nets Netegrity for $430M).

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum