WatchGuard Breaks Quarterly Billings, Profit and Units Shipped Records

SEATTLE, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Privately held WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today announced that it achieved a record-breaking 2011 fourth quarter for billings, profit and units shipped.  In doing so, this quarter stands out as the top-grossing quarter ever earned in the company's history.  Additionally, the company notes double-digit sequential billings growth in Q4 over Q3, double-digit year-over-year growth from Q4 2010, and double-digit billings growth for the full year of 2011 compared to 2010.

"The demand for multifunction, easy to use and affordable network security is at an all time high," said Joe Wang, CEO, WatchGuard Technologies.  "Although security breach headlines drive awareness, it is the demand for next-generation UTM features, such as WatchGuard's Application Control, that really cause businesses to switch from their old networking firewalls to state of the art, WatchGuard solutions." 

Record-breaking WatchGuard Growth Seen Worldwide
For the quarter ending December 31, 2011, WatchGuard broke all historic quarterly billings records due to numerous countries around the world achieving significant top-line growth, which was broad-based across all regions.  The following markets achieved notable Q4 year-over-year performance:

• United Kingdom – 78 percent
• Switzerland – 60 percent
• Singapore – 47 percent
• Spain – 46 percent
• Finland – 39 percent
• United Arab Emirates – 35 percent
• India – 34 percent
• Germany – 34 percent
• Australia – 30 percent
• Taiwan – 29 percent
• Japan – 26 percent
• Russian Federation – 21 percent
• Chile – 19 percent
• Italy – 19 percent
• China – 14 percent

Several factors contributed to WatchGuard's record growth.  First, WatchGuard notes solid performance from their core SMB market, as well as highly accelerated demand among mid-market and enterprise organizations.  This trend continues to support the view that organizations are continually shifting to next-generation UTMs and less likely to deploy single purpose security appliances. 

Second, WatchGuard notes a substantial increase of add-on services purchased along with WatchGuard XTM appliances.  Since 2006, the attach rate of adding multiple security services on individual WatchGuard appliances continues to increase.  This trend further supports the view that more businesses are consolidating security functions into one, easy-to-manage and lower total cost of ownership security appliance from WatchGuard. 

Currently, WatchGuard offers seven add on security services for XTM appliances, including: Application Control, WebBlocker, Gateway Antivirus, Reputation Enabled Defense, spamBlocker, Intrusion Prevention and LiveSecurity.  These services can be purchased as a bundle or individually to best meet customer needs.

Lastly, emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East showed strong demand for WatchGuard's next-generation security solutions.  This corresponds with recent market growth trends that show businesses seek maximum value, performance and efficacy for their network security needs.

Wang concludes, "Hallmarks of WatchGuard are product quality, security innovation and an unyielding commitment to our customers.  As evidence of our strong execution and unwavering vision, 2011 rewrote the record books for WatchGuard, our channel partners and our customers worldwide, and we look forward to seeing this trend continue into 2012."

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide.  The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control.  WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program.  WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit http://www.watchguard.com/.

WatchGuard is a registered trademark of WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.  All other marks are property of their respective owners.

SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.