Both new product announcements (IPSx and 8000 Series appliances) are significant because they essentially target opposite ends of the market, says IDC's John Grady, senior research analyst, security products and services. "IPSx is a smart move by Sourcefire to expand into the SMB/SME space. Often in these environments, there aren't dedicated security analysts, but rather network generalists who don't have the time or expertise to deal with enterprise level IPS systems. UTM is often a good option for these organizations, but that's often placed at the perimeter, and dedicated IPS is still a good idea within the network for maximum protection."
Sourcefire has historically lacked a good offering for the mid-market because running open-source SNORT is not a realistic option for IT generalists, he says. "IPSx closes that hole in the portfolio, and opens the opportunity to broaden channel relationships and push into new geographic markets. Additionally, getting into the SMB/SME space puts Sourcefire in a better position to be a part of the discussion as the incumbent when these organizations grow and begin to require more robust solutions."
The announcement of the new 8000 Series FirePOWER appliances is significant in its own right, says Grady. As more and more traffic flows over the network, customers are demanding increased performance from their security products in terms of throughput and scalability. At the same time, they're not willing to sacrifice security or cost-efficiency to meet these requirements.
"Sourcefire's new 8000 Series rates highly across all these metrics--throughput, cost-efficiency and threat detection. We're beginning to see vendors focus more on these issues and would expect to hear an increasing number of new product announcements addressing these customer demands. But at the moment in the IPS space, Sourcefire is ahead of the curve."
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