Untangle says it is taking on SonicWall, WatchGuard and other SMB-focused security vendors.Open-source security vendor Untangle has cut an OEM deal with Kaspersky Lab
in a bid to wrap up the security market for small and midsize businesses.
Untangle announced the agreement April 29. The deal means Untangle's premium
customers can protect their network endpoints with an add-on called Virus
Blocker, powered by Kaspersky, at a starting price of $10 per month for up to 10
computers on the network. For a company founded on the premise of providing
open-source security, the partnership represents a strategic play with a
proprietary vendor—one company officials hope will allow them to compete with the
likes of SonicWall and WatchGuard Technologies in the SMB space.
"In the past we've always added open-source projects to this platform
for blocking spam, intrusion prevention or what have you," said Raul
Mujica, vice president of product management and marketing at Untangle.
"[But] being able to offer choice I think is really important in a highly
fractured market such as the SMB market."
Untangle, which open-sourced 95 percent of its code in June 2007, makes its
money through charging for support services and premium add-ons to its product.
The Untangle Gateway Platform is built around more than 30 open-source
projects, including SpamAssassin, ClamAntiVirus and Snort, and is intended for
use in blocking spam, viruses, adware and unauthorized network content.
According to the company, it reached and passed 100,000 users in December 2007.
Untangle targets the low end of the SMB market, and while company officials
like to compare it to larger competitors such as SonicWall and WatchGuard, both
those vendors are trying to move their technology upstream, noted Gartner
analyst Adam Hils. But that movement into the enterprise segment by SonicWall
and WatchGuard may provide an opportunity for Untangle, he added.
"You're more likely to think of an Untangle if you're eSoft or some of
those kinds of guys who are smaller, software-based UTMs," Hils said.
"SonicWall, WatchGuard and the like are going upstream, in a way leaving
the very smallest customers to companies like, say, [Cisco's] Linksys or eSoft
or Untangle."
Still, the company faces competition from a number of
vendors targeting SMBs, including companies like Barracuda Networks and
Fortinet.
