Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Byres Security With Customer Value Enhancement Award

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the industrial network security solutions market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Byres Security Inc. with the 2010 World Customer Value Enhancement Award in Industrial Network Security Solutions.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO)

The industrial network security market has been growing significantly to combat rising malware attacks and industrial network intrusions in the industrial environment. End users are well aware that such security accidents can shut down the plant operations in a few seconds, create environmental and safety risks and significantly damage the company's reputation, which induces them to protect their network infrastructure. The need for adopting such security solutions is also driven by stringent government regulations and industry standards being imposed upon the diverse end-user verticals to mitigate the risks associated with security incidents, as well as improve overall system reliability and prevention of network-related accidents.

Traditional IT network security infrastructures comprised of firewall appliances, virtual private networks (VPN) and other demilitarized zone (DMZ) approaches have been designed to tackle this problem. However, with the increased integration between the plant floor and enterprise systems, control systems and other related equipment are now exposed to such intrusion threats. Industrial network security system vendors are often faced with varying plant network policy requirements, and the key challenge for them is to develop and deploy a robust, flexible security solution that keeps the network simple, threat-proof, highly scalable and easily managed.

Frost and Sullivan's detailed investigation indicated that Byres Security's flagship product, the Tofino™ Industrial Security Solution, addresses these industry challenges. The company's ability to offer a complete industrial network security solution that can be customized not only for various plant network infrastructures but also across diverse end-user vertical requirements has ensured it consistent market growth. Leading control system vendors such as Honeywell, Hirschmann, Invensys and MTL Instruments continue to partner with Byres Security to develop customized industrial network security solutions.

Byres Security's solutions help end users meet changing government security regulations and industry standards. Working in tandem with the leading control system vendors to develop customized robust security solutions illustrates the company's commitment to innovate and develop advanced security products and services on an ongoing basis. For instance, Honeywell has introduced the Modbus TCP Firewall product based on the Tofino security technology and Invensys has introduced the Triconex Tofino Firewall to secure OPC Classic communications.

The integration of industrial safety and security policies across different critical end-user verticals has attracted many leading companies such as Exxon-Mobil, Shell and Boeing to implement the Tofino™ Industrial Security Solution, and a similar trend is anticipated among the other end-user verticals as well.

"The industrial network security market is becoming increasingly fragmented, with several players introducing products that give customers visibility into the plant assets interconnectivity, control of the flow of information within the plant enterprise, and the ability to halt inadvertent information leaks to outside of the enterprise," explains Jebin Thomas Varghese, Senior Research Analyst for Frost & Sullivan.  "The challenge for industrial control systems security vendors is to offer a robust and reliable security solution that offers these features while still addressing diverse network infrastructure security requirements."

The Tofino™ Industrial Security Solution products are rugged, effective security solutions that have been well-received in the security market. These high mean time between failure (MTBF) solutions, specifically designed for industrial control system environments that operate seven days a week with no down time, have gained wide acceptance in the manufacturing space. The fact that the Tofino solutions protect the industrial environment from outside threats as well as accidental internal threats has been proven in the market, as leading control system vendors have been incorporating these solutions in their systems.

"The persistent focus of the organization to make network security simple and to offer a complete security system package has and will continue to aid Byres Security to grow in this market," adds Varghese.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. This award recognizes the company's inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer base expansion.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Byres Security

Byres Security Inc. is the world leader in providing practical and effective industrial network security and SCADA security products that are simple to implement without requiring plant shutdowns. Their flagship product, the Tofino™ Industrial Security Solution, is a unique hardware and software security system that facilitates the implementation of zones of security for equipment with common safety requirements (Zone Level Security™). Tofino is used by process control companies in the oil and gas, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, by utilities and power organizations, and by manufacturers.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.awards.frost.com.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan