WatchGuard Technologies' Unified Threat Management Solution Rated Highest Performance

SEATTLE, July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in manageable business security solutions, has been awarded a "Performance Verified Certification" by independent test lab, Miercom, for performing nearly 3.5 times faster than competing unified threat management (UTM) solutions with standard UTM features enabled.¹ The award gives both small and mid-sized enterprises assurance that WatchGuard UTM solutions can deliver the security and performance they need, while allowing them to benefit from the cost savings  of UTM compared to stand alone solutions. According to Gartner, "savings of half of the total cost for network security can be achieved for small or midsize businesses (SMBs) using UTM." ²

Miercom conducted throughput tests on WatchGuard's XTM 850 solution against similarly priced competing appliances from Fortinet, SonicWALL and Sophos. The test explored the impact on throughput speed with standard UTM features switched on, including not only basic firewall packet filtering, but also deep packet inspection and/or proxies, intrusion prevention and anti-virus, which is critical in catching modern malware's multi-vectored threats.

"Our hands-on testing proved the WatchGuard XTM 850 provides the best overall performance compared to competitive products when UTM features are applied," said Rob Smithers, CEO of Miercom. "Today's businesses need more than a firewall. They also need to employ anti-virus and intrusion prevention to have the best chance at catching today's advanced threats – and they need a way to do this without slowing network speeds, or increasing their budgets."

"These tests validate the reason why customers from both small and mid-sized enterprise customers around the world are choosing WatchGuard's UTM solution," said Roger Klorese, director of product management at WatchGuard. "UTM, once viewed to be a SMB solution, has moved from the trough of disillusionment in August 2011 to the slope of enlightenment in July 2012 within the Gartner Hype Cycle for Infrastructure Protection as mid-sized customers gain confidence that they can benefit from the security cost savings of UTM, and know that the performance they need is there to support their performance service level agreements."

"We're architected for speed," added Sin-Yaw Wang, WatchGuard vice president of engineering. "Our UTM solutions stand on the shoulders of the world's fastest processors from Intel and Freescale. Their modern, multi-core processors give our UTM solutions the power they need to run all of their engines in parallel without causing a bottleneck in performance. Plus, it gives us 'head room' to add future UTM engines as security trends demand."

The full report from Miercom can be found here: http://www.watchguard.com/tips-resources/techbrief/watchguard-technologies-unified-threat-management-solution.asp

To learn more about WatchGuard's XTM solutions, visit: http://www.watchguard.com/products/xtm-main.asp.

¹Independent Miercom testing included leading UTM solutions within the SMB and mid-size enterprise space. Click http://www.watchguard.com/tips-resources/techbrief/watchguard-technologies-unified-threat-management-solution.asp for the report.

²Gartner Total Cost of Ownership for Unified Threat Management, 2012, http://www.watchguard.com/tips-resources/whitepapers/total-cost-of-ownership-for-unified-threat-management.asp

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Miercom
Miercom has hundreds of product-comparison analyses published over the years in leading network trade periodicals including Network World, Business Communications Review, Tech Web, NoJitter, Communications News, xchange, Internet Telephony and other leading publications. Miercom's reputation as the leading, independent product test center is unquestioned.

Miercom's private test services include competitive product analyses, as well as individual product evaluations. Miercom features comprehensive certification and test programs including: Certified Interoperable, Certified Reliable, Certified Secure and Certified Green. Products may also be evaluated under the NetWORKS As Advertised program, the industry's most thorough and trusted assessment for product usability and performance. Additional information on Miercom can be found www.miercom.com.

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. is a global leader of business security solutions that intelligently combine industry standard hardware, Best-in-Class security features, and policy-based management tools. WatchGuard provides easy-to-use but enterprise-powerful protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of Smart Firewalls provides smart security through seamless integration of multiple security services; smart management by providing a single console for deploying and maintaining services; and smart unified threat management performance to ensure that customers of all sizes can securely operate at the pace of business. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Wash. with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit www.watchguard.com.

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

Contacts:
Kerry Desberg
WatchGuard Technologies
(206) 613-3760
[email protected]

Cynthia Hughes
Miercom
[email protected]

SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies