Insight

One box, multiple solutions

As security threats grow more sophisticated and complex, appliance-based security solutions present an integrated shield against network security threats, says Abhinav Singh

R Karthikeyan, senior manager IT at United Interactive Centre is a satisfied user of appliance-based security solutions and swears by their reliability and stability. “Appliance-based security solutions are more stable in terms of speed, in achieving higher throughputs and act as integrated single point solutions against all security threats,” remarks Karthikeyan. Ever since a security appliance from Fortinet has been installed at the company’s Bangalore premises, there have been no breaches of network security. By getting all the functionality of an integrated VPN, firewall and IDS in a single box, the company has saved on the money it would have otherwise spent on multiple products. The market for integrated security appliances is picking up for many reasons.

Multi-faceted

An integrated security appliance typically has two to three capabilities integrated into it such as integrated VPN, firewall, anti-virus or IDS. According to research firm Frost and Sullivan, sales of hardware-based integrated security appliance boxes (this includes VPN, firewall, anti-virus or IDS that does not need a server to run unlike software-based security solutions) in India have grown from $11.8 million in 2002 to $21.7* million in 2003. (*The figure for 2003 was revised from $18.2 million to $21.7 million recently.) The software-based security solutions market grew from $3.1 million in 2002 to $3.5 million in 2003.

The definition for hardware-based integrated security appliances has changed from 2003 to 2004 because vendors such as Fortinet, IFS and Symantec have launched security appliances that integrate four distinct functions (firewall, VPN, IDS and anti-virus). This is a step up from earlier integrated appliances that integrated any three of these four functions. To differentiate these new products they have been dubbed all integrated security appliances. Frost and Sullivan expect that $0.4 million revenues came from all integrated security appliances during the first half of 2004.

The emerging integrated security appliance market is transforming the single function appliance into one that offers multiple security features on a single platform. These appliances will be popular because they offer substantial performance advantages, convenience, and choice to customers, resellers, and product vendors.

Shantanu Dasgupta, senior research analyst-Technology Practice, Frost and Sullivan, says, “Appliances provide a more sophisticated security technology which is the need of the hour. As networks are getting more and more complex and complicated and threats getting more sophisticated, appliances come handy in dealing with them.” According to Dasgupta appliances are popular across verticals in India, with organisations that have more than 500 users driving this market.

Content-based threats

Appliance-based boxes can be used effectively in small, remote locations where there are fewer technical people to manage the IT infrastructure Ambarish Deshpande HEAD OF CHANNEL AND CONSUMER SALES, SYMANTEC INDIA

There has been a steady rise in threats such as spam, worms, Trojans and viruses at the content level. Vishak Raman, country manager-India, Fortinet Inc explains, “With an increase in broadband penetration, there is an increase in the number of blended threats at the content level. Appliances can effectively do deep pocket inspection (look inside e-mail attachments, downloads and the like), thereby shielding content level threats and ensuring secure content level management.” Security experts predict that spam will climb up next year as a percentage of total e-mail from its current average rate of 50 percent to as high as 75 percent.

Addressing manageability

Many organisations in India are going in for appliance-based security solutions because they have been able to implement their security policies better as well as centrally configure and manage appliances. For instance, a bank with a head office in Mumbai can pre-configure appliances to its requirements and send them to its branches. Ambarish Deshpande, head, channel and consumer sales Symantec India says, “Appliance-based boxes can be used effectively in small, remote locations where there are fewer technical people to manage the IT infrastructure. Appliance-based security boxes are easy to configure, their deployment is smooth and they can be monitored from a central location.” Due to ease of manageability, security appliances have helped organisations pare their IT staff costs. Many organisations have also saved on licensing fees, which they had to incur on software-based security solutions.

Rakesh Singh-general manager, Asia Operations, NetScaler says, “In case an organisation uses multiple products for security they will have to deal with different user interfaces such as graphical user interface (GUI) or the command line interface. Through an integrated solution (box) it is possible to perform functions such as encryption and compression on the same box, this becomes complicated when you are dealing with multiple devices.”

Unlike multiple devices, an integrated solution (box) makes functions such as encryption and compression less complicated Rakesh Singh GENERAL MANAGER, ASIA OPERATIONS NETSCALER

Is scalability a concern?

Some industry veterans say that appliance-based security solutions may have scalability issues. Deshpande explains, “Appliances have limitations, as it becomes difficult to scale a pre-configured appliance to the growing requirements of an organisation. Moreover if an appliance fails, replacement can take time, especially in an organisation which is geographically spread across locations.” Appliances are primarily being deployed at the gateway level.

Appliances have started gaining popularity in India only in the recent past and there have been attempts by some vendors to address scalability issues related to appliances. Ajit Pillai, country manager, India WatchGuard Technologies Inc says, “We have been providing boxes which can be scaled up by upgrading software keys. For instance our X-500 box can be upgraded to an X-700 for Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000.”

Accountability issues

Before the security appliance started becoming popular, organisations often faced accountability issues. Different vendors supplied varied components of a company’s security infrastructure. Whenever a security breach occurred it became difficult for the user to approach a particular vendor and no one was prepared to take responsibility. With security appliances, users are in a position to approach a single vendor for a solution. Singh of NetScaler, says, “In case of different devices, a user will have to maintain relationships with multiple vendors, but with an integrated solution, accountability rests with a single player.”

Widespread deployments

Integrated security appliances are likely to play an integral role in business and communications. With organisations in virtually every sector trying to maximise their capital expenditure, demands on IT infrastructure are immense. It is being utilised to perform a multitude of functions including transactions, communication, online commerce, collaborative design, outsourcing business processes and travel. The market is beginning to understand the value of integrated, multifunctional application delivery systems. The strong growth in India signals that there is potential, especially in the small and medium business (SMB) market, which has traditionally under-invested in security and is now embracing security appliances as a simpler way to fulfil security requirements without adding administrative overheads and complexity to their networks. Security continues to be a key issue for most organisations across verticals and software solutions are giving way to appliances.

abhinav@expresscomputeronline.com