Secure Computing Introduces Secure Hybrid Delivery Architecture(SM); Provides Flexible and Portable Services Across Hosted, On Premises and Virtualized Service Delivery Platforms

Secure Computing Corporation (NASDAQ: SCUR) today unveiled the industry's first Secure Hybrid Delivery Architecture (SM) for Web protection. Customers may now gain access to best-of-breed Web security through solutions that can combine -- in any configuration -- virtual appliance with hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) and integrated hardware/software appliances. The end result is security that (a) best fits into existing infrastructures while setting customers up for future evolution and growth, (b) consistently and over time enables the most favorable operational efficiencies, cost and resource optimization, and (c) provides sound deployment options for energy optimization and Green IT.

The Secure Hybrid Delivery Architecture will deliver the following:

--  On premises, virtualized and hosted service delivery platforms
--  Fully portable services across all delivery platforms
--  Hybrid service deployment; splitting services across delivery
    platforms
--  Unified service offerings and pricing
--  Common policy definition and administration
--  Unified reporting
    

"We've seen rapid change in the enterprise security market in the last 5 years. The pure security software market was eclipsed by appliances. Now, virtual environments and hosted solutions are showing strong growth as hybrid solutions that enhance existing security infrastructure," said Chris Christiansen, Program Vice President of Security Products and Services at IDC. "Secure was quick to move from software to appliances to become one of the market share leaders in security appliances. With this announcement, it continues to evolve by offering customers a flexible, hybrid delivery model that includes products, virtualized configurations, and managed services."

"Customers have told us they shouldn't be forced to choose between different delivery models for Web protection. Our Hybrid Delivery Architecture will deliver portable services across hosted, virtual and hardware based appliances, and provide customers the ability to mix and match based on their needs, with common policy and reporting," said Atri Chatterjee, SVP at Secure Computing. "Bottom line, we're prepared to offer customers solutions that best meet their current and future business needs, maximize their flexibility and help them optimize datacenter space and utilization."

More about Secure Computing's Hybrid Delivery Architecture deployment options:

Secure Appliances

The appliance model has been Secure Computing's long-term approach to security, and this approach continues to offer many advantages over traditional software. Multiple disparate software applications installed on and consuming the same hardware resources -- each with its own set of prerequisites -- has been known to create conflict and be more susceptible to vulnerabilities. Stand-alone appliances do not suffer from this problem.

Purpose built appliances from Secure Computing come pre-installed and pre-configured with a secure operating system and security applications that are optimized for a specific function. This results in high performance and stability while minimizing security vulnerabilities, superior security, less down time, less support calls, and an over all better user experience, increasing usability and productivity. Appliances remain both economical and highly functional, allowing disparate systems to interface and communicate.

Secure Virtual Appliances

Through a newly announced partnership, Secure Computing's gateway appliances will now leverage the power and flexibility of VMware's Virtualization Infrastructure (VI3) Foundation, which partitions a single physical machine into multiple self-contained virtual machines running Secure Computing virtualized appliances. Organizations will have the option of either deploying virtualized Secure Computing applications onto new or existing hardware, or deploying multiple Secure Computing applications onto a single virtual machine for a more comprehensive "defense-in-depth" approach against today's sophisticated security threats.

Organizations will also be able to increase security protection by adding virtualized appliances, which can all be managed from Secure Computing's central management system to minimize administrative and management overhead. With any of the scenarios, customers benefit from the ease of preconfigured security without the cost and space required to manage multiple appliances.

Secure Hosted Services

As an additional form of delivery, Secure Computing is making its solutions available as managed services. Today, the company announced the limited availability of its Secure Web Protection Service -- the industry's first SaaS Web security solution that provides reputation-based protection from malware and other Web-borne threats. The new hosted service offers customers Web security protection through a reliable SaaS deployment option. With no applications or hardware to install or deploy, the service provides organizations with immediate and reliable network protection. The new Secure Web Protection Service addresses all of the key business issues surrounding Internet use in the workplace: security, organizational compliance, and policy control.