Barracuda Expands Virtual Product Line with VPN, Security Offerings

Content security, data protection and application delivery solutions specialist Barracuda Networks announced plans to broaden its virtual product portfolio to include its full line of solutions, beginning with the rollout of the Spam & Virus Firewall Vx and SSL VPN Vx. The announcement expands the company's product portfolio across a variety of delivery models, including appliance, virtual, SAAS and hybrid.

Both the Spam & Virus Firewall Vx and SSL VPN Vx can be downloaded as part of a free 30-day evaluation period via the company’s Website, while pricing for the Spam & Virus Firewall Vx includes a one-time base license fee and an annual subscription of $180 per 100 users per year. Pricing for the SSL VPN Vx includes a one-time base license fee and an annual subscription ranging from $120 per year for 10 users to $3,000 per year for 250 users. The company noted other solutions will be made available as virtual appliances in the coming months.

The spam and firewall solution features outbound filtering techniques, including attachment scanning, virus filtering, rate controls and encryption, and handles up to 100,000 active e-mail users. The SSL VPN includes the Barracuda Network Connector, an installable VPN client for TCP or UDP connectivity. With the network connector, users can gain SSL access to legacy client/server applications during a VPN session. For added granularity, administrators have the option of setting policy to set and limit network resources by AD or LDAP rights. Once access is granted, the administrator monitors resource access from VPN clients by the use of the auditing feature.

A recent survey by IT research firm IDC found more than 70 percent of respondents—comprised of organizations of all sizes and across all industries—are including virtual appliance deployment into general IT budgets or within existing security appliance budgets. The survey also indicated a nearly 60-40 split between SMBs and enterprises that have already deployed virtual appliances for security applications.

"We typically tend to see the SMB market move toward new technology adoption more quickly than the enterprise space, in large part because they are able to make swift decisions and can be very nimble when it comes to shifting technology," said Chris Christiansen, program vice president of security products and services for IDC. "In this sense, Barracuda Networks can capture the initiative in supplying virtual appliances due to their exceptional success in the SMB space with their appliance offerings.”

Christiansen said virtual appliance adoption across a range of enterprises is strong and IDC expects continued adoption of this approach will continue into the foreseeable future. "This gives Barracuda Networks a unique opportunity to service the enterprise market as it makes the shift toward virtualization as well,” he said. “Overall, this is a very solid, strategic move for them."