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An introduction to SonicWALL

The public company, SonicWALL, is a professionally set up firm that deals in Internet security solutions and related appliances. Its products include devices that provide Their product lines within include devices that provide UTM (Unified Threat Management), firewalls, VPN (Virtual Private Network), value-added subscription services, anti-spam, content filtering and e-mail, back-up and recovery and software. Its deep inspection engine that is free of reassembly has the potential to scan any number of file sizes and downloads happening simultaneously on any TCP port, thereby providing superlative performance and scalability for growing networks.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, USA, SonicWALL also has a sales center in Tempe, Arizona, US and engineering centers in Seattle, Washington, USA, Shanghai, China and Bangalore, India. The company has a worldwide workforce of 700 people across its five international offices. Its offices in Bangalore, Sunnyvale and Tempe also double up as its support centers.

Founded in 1991 by two brothers Sreekanth and Sudhakar Ravi in Sunnyvale, California, the company was called Sonic Systems. It worked on making networking components for Apple’s product, Macintosh. In 1997, they came out with a security product called SonicWALL, which combined a firewall and VPN and a completely dedicated hardware appliance meant for small businesses. Two years later, the company renamed itself to SonicWALL Inc., and in November 1999, for the first time, they went public.

Since then, they went through several developments and acquisitions, and added several core technologies to their security appliances that included anti-virus, intrusion detection and prevention, continuous data protection backup and content filtering.

Some of its prominent acquisitions to this day remain the one with Phobos Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah in November 2000 for $268 million. The company makes SSL security products. It also acquired the Internet security consulting services company, Ignyte Technology, Inc. in March 2001for $8.6 million. In the same year, it acquired SecureCom Networks, San Jose, California, and RedCreek Communications Inc., in Fremont, California, a company into VPN networking gear.

In 2005, it acquired Lasso Logic, a San Francisco, California, company that makes continuous data backup and recovery solutions based on appliances. It also acquired enKoo, a remote access technology developer in San Jose, California. The following year, it acquired MailFrontier, a company in Palo Alto, California, that develops e-mail security solutions, outbound content control and compliance and spam protection for a record $31 million. In 2007, a provider of enterprise SSL VPN remote access solutions, Aventail Corporation, was acquired for $25 million.

The benefits of using SonicWALL are many. For instance, it is easy to deploy and use in terms of configuration and policy creation, which make it ideal for small and medium-sized companies. It also has very easy to use configuration guides to help users maneuver and navigate through the network environment.

SonicWALL has a very powerful operating platform called SonicOS, which simplifies the most difficult task. This is due to its robust suite of features that enable network administrators to quickly and easily add wireless guest services and object-based management features. This wonderful product has many more features and benefits that make it a sought-after product.

An introduction to SonicWALL

The public company, SonicWALL, is a professionally set up firm that deals in Internet security solutions and related appliances. Its products include devices that provide Their product lines within include devices that provide UTM (Unified Threat Management), firewalls, VPN (Virtual Private Network), value-added subscription services, anti-spam, content filtering and e-mail, back-up and recovery and software. Its deep inspection engine that is free of reassembly has the potential to scan any number of file sizes and downloads happening simultaneously on any TCP port, thereby providing superlative performance and scalability for growing networks.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, USA, SonicWALL also has a sales center in Tempe, Arizona, US and engineering centers in Seattle, Washington, USA, Shanghai, China and Bangalore, India. The company has a worldwide workforce of 700 people across its five international offices. Its offices in Bangalore, Sunnyvale and Tempe also double up as its support centers.

Founded in 1991 by two brothers Sreekanth and Sudhakar Ravi in Sunnyvale, California, the company was called Sonic Systems. It worked on making networking components for Apple’s product, Macintosh. In 1997, they came out with a security product called SonicWALL, which combined a firewall and VPN and a completely dedicated hardware appliance meant for small businesses. Two years later, the company renamed itself to SonicWALL Inc., and in November 1999, for the first time, they went public.

Since then, they went through several developments and acquisitions, and added several core technologies to their security appliances that included anti-virus, intrusion detection and prevention, continuous data protection backup and content filtering.

Some of its prominent acquisitions to this day remain the one with Phobos Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah in November 2000 for $268 million. The company makes SSL security products. It also acquired the Internet security consulting services company, Ignyte Technology, Inc. in March 2001for $8.6 million. In the same year, it acquired SecureCom Networks, San Jose, California, and RedCreek Communications Inc., in Fremont, California, a company into VPN networking gear.

In 2005, it acquired Lasso Logic, a San Francisco, California, company that makes continuous data backup and recovery solutions based on appliances. It also acquired enKoo, a remote access technology developer in San Jose, California. The following year, it acquired MailFrontier, a company in Palo Alto, California, that develops e-mail security solutions, outbound content control and compliance and spam protection for a record $31 million. In 2007, a provider of enterprise SSL VPN remote access solutions, Aventail Corporation, was acquired for $25 million.

The benefits of using SonicWALL are many. For instance, it is easy to deploy and use in terms of configuration and policy creation, which make it ideal for small and medium-sized companies. It also has very easy to use configuration guides to help users maneuver and navigate through the network environment.

SonicWALL has a very powerful operating platform called SonicOS, which simplifies the most difficult task. This is due to its robust suite of features that enable network administrators to quickly and easily add wireless guest services and object-based management features. This wonderful product has many more features and benefits that make it a sought-after product.

Should You be Using a VPN?

You may already know what a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is but are you using one? If you’re not using one, there’s a high likelihood that you really should be using a VPN. When it comes to the reasons why there are a number of them. But before we get into those it would probably be beneficial to review exactly what a VPN is for those of you out there that don’t know.

A VPN, according to Wikipedia, is “a technology for using the Internet or another intermediate network to connect computers to isolated remote computer networks that would otherwise be inaccessible.” Utilizing a VPN will give a user varying levels of security so that the traffic sent through the connection stays isolated from other computers on the immediate network. They can be used to connect individual users to a remote network or even to connect multiple networks together, depending upon the needs of the user. In doing so it gives users the ability to access resources on remote networks, such as databases, files, or printers. Also, due to the way VPN’s function it gives users the impression that they are directly connected to the central network.

One of the most significant things to know about a VPN though is that it secures your computer’s Internet connection to guarantee that all of the data you’re sending and receiving is encrypted and secured from prying eyes. This very reason is why VPN’s should probably be utilized more often by businesses and their employees. Also, a VPN alone is just a way to reinforce your security and access resources on a network you’re not physically connected to.

So why does all this matter? It matters because there is a growing trend within today’s workforce for employees to work remotely or while on the road. As a result, there are many times when that employee is using a public wifi connection to perform their work which can pose a major security risk depending upon the data being transferred. This security risk occurs because many people don’t realize that it isn’t too terribly difficult for snoopers to capture that data. So whether it’s what you’re writing in your email messages, posting to your Facebook page, or even buying on-line they are able to capture that with any of the readily accessible and easy-to-use programs that are out there.

Meaning that if the employee is sending sensitive and confidential emails at a local cafe shop those emails have a possibility of being intercepted and the sensitive information contained within them being exposed. Thereby potentially putting your business at risk. Which is definitely not a good thing.

Although there are many more good examples for why you should be using a VPN, for the sake of brevity, we won’t get into them. The main purpose or intent, if you will, in discussing the issue of VPN’s is to inform you as an employee or you as a business owner of the potential security risks that could already be occurring within your business on a day-to-day level and to make sure that you are fully aware of those risks so that you can take the necessary actions to ensure your business isn’t unnecessarily vulnerable.