Resellers to capitalise on firewall growth

Value-added resellers (Vars) will benefit greatly as smaller companies become more aware of internet security and adopt firewall technologies, according to analyst group Frost & Sullivan.

Firewall software and appliances jointly racked up sales worth $409m (£284m) in 2000, according to the analyst, and will grow to $1.25bn (£869m) by 2005, with appliances increasingly generating more revenues than software firewalls for the first time.

"Vars and internet service providers can expect to become primary distribution channels as interest in the firewall market expands," said José López of Frost & Sullivan. "Interoperability, ease-of-use and implementation into other interfaces are issues that vendors will improve on."

Formerly a technology used solely to control, authenticate, log, and segment local area networks to a multitude of services, firewalls are deployed to protect trusted computer networks from insecure networks, such as the internet.

Richard Saunders, a spokesman for firewall specialist Symantec, which sells 100 per cent through the channel, said that Vars had recognised the potential of the small to medium sized enterprise (SME) market for firewalls.

"It's clear that SMEs in particular have realised that firewalls are just as important as antivirus in the modern business environment," he explained. "I don't think that Vars have missed the boat; I think they've seen the potential."

López said that the solutions that were offered with virtual private network capabilities would be particularly successful.

"Integrated software firewalls are becoming more important for remote offices to reduce cost and risk as remote offices are usually the weak link. In addition, integration reduces cost and complexity for the service providers and system integrators in the channel," he said.