A maker of Web, data and e-mail security appliances has overhauled and integrated its solutions into one package which it says will help organizations confront blended online attacks.
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Websense Inc. has dubbed the combined solution Triton, and will sell it three ways: As hardware-based appliance, a software-only solution or a company-hosted software service.
In addition, organizations can mix the on-premise or hosted versions to meet their needs. For example the on-premise versions can be used at head office, while the hosted version can be used at branch offices.
Management of both is done from a single dashboard, which an industry analyst says is arguably the biggest advantage of the integration.
Michael Osterman of Osterman Research Inc. said the approach means there’s only one place where a network or security manager needs to go to set policies for content, regardless of which version of Triton the organization uses over any number of locations.
“From an IT perspective this makes life much easier,” said the Black Diamond, Wash.,-based analyst.
Websense, based in San Diego, still sells its Web Security Gateway, Data Security Suite and E-mail Security solutions separately. Buyers of one can add the others to get the full Triton solution by downloading modules, giving what the company says is investment protection.
Unifying security applications isn’t new. In fact Osterman says competitors are working to do the same. In surveys done by his company, 70 per cent of respondents say they want integrated rather than point solutions.
Dave Meizlik, Websense’s director of product marketing, said his company has done it better.
“A lot of vendors out there sell parts of a total solution, but not the whole thing,” he said Tuesday. “So [users] have to deploy multiple pieces of hardware in multiple locations across their enterprise, each delivering multiple security services which require multiple policies and multiple reports to manage.”
Triton avoids this by integrating its applications. Managers access each via a tabbed Web interface.
The Web Security Gateway by itself comes either as a software-only solution or a V-series appliance with dual quad-core processors. Either way, the software component includes an engine that performs dynamic and scripted Web malware protection. The latest version of the gateway also includes an optional data loss prevention and compliance component, which includes content analytics, deep content control and reporting.
The Data Security Suite monitors where data is going and coming from, identifies confidential data and lets managers control the ability to store, cut and paste and screen capture functions. E-Mail Security stops spam and blended threats.
Pricing is the same as before, based on the number of users. For example, the Gateway costs US$40-$50 a person for up to 1,000 employees, the price varying by the length of the contract. The TrueContent data loss prevention component on the Gateway adds roughly 25 per cent to the price.
At the moment, Triton is only available to qualified organizations as part of an early adopter program. General availability is slated for April.
