Increasingly, security vendors are looking to the lucrative, yet demanding, Asian telecom market as a launchpad for success in the U.S. Today, for example, Radware Ltd. (Nasdaq: RDWR) announced deals with South Korea's KT Corp. and Taiwans Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. (see Radware Secures Deals in Asia).
Telecom firms in Asian countries, particularly those in broadband-happy Korea, have a serious need for network security, according to Peter Firstbrook, program director at analyst firm Meta Group Inc. More homes in Asia are hooked up to broadband than anywhere else in the world, and, additionally, a lot of the [computer] viruses come from there, he says.
Cracking a market as tough as this provides great entrée into the U.S., he adds. Telecom firms are really risk averse, and [security] vendors really need to prove that their products are scaleable and robust -- once they do that, it gives them a great inroad into the U.S. market."
Radwares big break at KT came in response to the SQL Slammer worm back in January 2002, when the carrier deployed the vendors Application Switch III. With this latest deal, KT has rolled out Radware's DefensePro intrusion-and-prevention product on top of the switches.
Although the value of the KT and Chunghwa Telecom deals has not been revealed, a spokesman for Radware asserts that more than 100 of the vendors devices have now been deployed in each company.
