SEATTLE, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Privately-held WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today announced that it attained a record-breaking 2011 first quarter for revenue.  This quarter follows a record Q4, 2010, and stands out as the top grossing first quarter ever earned in the company's history.  Additionally, the company notes double-digit year over year growth from Q1 2010.

"Because cyber-threats are becoming more sophisticated and stealthy, businesses are turning to WatchGuard as their trusted source to protect their networks, applications and data," said Joe Wang, CEO, WatchGuard Technologies.  "In particular, we see tremendous demand for WatchGuard's Application Control technology, which gives businesses the ability to manage thousands of web applications without compromising security or employee productivity."  

Record-breaking WatchGuard Revenue Growth Seen Worldwide

For Q1 2011, WatchGuard broke all historic first quarter revenue records due to numerous countries around the world achieving significant, top-line revenue growth.  Growth for WatchGuard security solutions was broad-based across all regions due to increased business demand.  The following markets achieved notable Q1 year-over-year growth:

• China – 83 percent
• Benelux – 42 percent
• France – 40 percent
• India – 28 percent
• Korea – 27 percent
• Switzerland – 25 percent
• Italy – 22 percent

Several factors contributed to WatchGuard's back-to-back record growth.  WatchGuard notes an increase among SMB purchases, as well as substantially improved demand from mid-market and enterprise organizations.  This indicates broader industry adoption in favor of multifunction security appliances as businesses replace legacy firewalls with more capable, feature-rich UTM appliances.  

Second, WatchGuard notes tremendous demand for its latest security service – Application Control.  With WatchGuard Application Control, businesses now gain in-depth, granular control over Web 2.0 applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and hundreds more.  Not only does WatchGuard Application Control protect against the next generation of threats that leverage these popular applications, now businesses can rein in how individual employees use such applications, directly from the corporate firewall.

By leveraging more than 2,500 unique application signatures, WatchGuard Application Control enables the firewall to identify and control more than 1,800 applications.  This level of control gives businesses new found freedom to align business needs with IT and security policies.  By doing so, businesses gain greater efficiencies and improved productivity, and administrators gain unprecedented visibility and control over applications traversing their networks.  

Third, WatchGuard sees continued demand for its cloud-based security service, Reputation Enabled Defense, which gives businesses and their employees superior protection against viruses, malware, spyware, keyloggers, botnets and other web-based threats, in addition to faster, more productive web surfing experiences.

WatchGuard currently offers seven add on security services for its "all-in-one" 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.

Wang concludes, "By offering a wide variety of security services that complement WatchGuard firewalls, businesses can customize and optimize security to meet their specific needs.  This in turn gives WatchGuard customers the optimal solutions to stop the latest threats while empowering employees to be safe and productive."

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.

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SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.