IronPort appoints new web security appliance value-added resellers in key UAE, KSA markets

Worldwide network security revenues rose 20 per cent to $10.4bn in 2007, a majority of which was generated by web appliance sales.

Email security and secure web gateway markets were found to be the main influences for the impressive growth, along with email security boundary appliances at 45.4% and security information and event management at 32.1%.

The Middle Eastern appliance market posted a strong 35% growth, reflecting the rapid evolution of the regional internet corridor.

"The Middle East region boasts one of the highest internet usage rates globally; unfortunately, it is also becoming a challenging target for web profiteers and hackers. As a leading provider of internet threat solutions in the world, IronPort brings to the region superior technologies that effectively prevent data loss and system downtime while requiring the lowest system resources in the industry,"

said Ray Kafity, Regional Sales Manager - Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, IronPort Systems.

Emircom, considered one of the 20 most influential IT companies in the Middle East, will market IronPort products to the UAE and KSA as part of its bid to become one of the top 10 systems integrators in the region by 2009 and one of the top 100 globally by 2010. Growing Saudi Arabian Technology Services Provider Al Jol Information Technology, on the other hand, will distribute IronPort appliances solely to the KSA. The new partnerships further expand IronPort's global coverage and enhance its portfolio of elite business collaborations.

The Middle East posted a phenomenal 920.2% growth in internet use between 2000 and 2007; parallel to this has been the emergence of various web-based threats such as botnets, which are responsible for more than 80% of global spam and cause internet fraud exceeding Dhs3.67bn annually. These threats have grown by over 600%regionally since 2006; on a global scale, between 2% to 10% of websites are currently estimated to be malicious in nature.

"More than 10 billion active webpages are currently in existence, each potential carriers of malware and spyware. The Middle East's internet users, especially those in the corporate setting, must thus adopt an attitude of prevention and acquire reliable security solutions such as IronPort's appliances to avoid potentially damaging systems intrusions,"

added DG Roy, COO, Emircom.

"IronPort's reputation as a premier web security appliance developer will enable us to solidify our strategic position in the Middle Eastern market, particularly in the KSA. IronPort's proven technologies in network security will enable us to offer systems capable of handling both known and unknown internet threats in Web 2.0 environments,"

concluded Bashir Dada, Business Development Manager, Al Jol Information Technology.