SonicWALL to hold first regional partner conference during GITEX Dubai 2005

The company will also hold its first partner conference in parallel to GITEX on Tuesday September 27th 2005 at Wafi center. Entitled 'Peak Performance', the event will bring together partners from all across the region to learn about new SonicWALL technologies, services, channel programs, and strategic initiatives.

As the international leader in the Unified Threat Management (UTM) security appliances for both unit shipments and factory revenue (according to results recently released by IDC in its Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker), SonicWALL develops enterprise-class Internet security solutions for businesses ranging from small and medium organizations to large distributed networks - amassing a worldwide installed base of over 680,000 units protecting millions of computer users.

"GITEX 2005 is by far the most important technology showcase in the Middle East, and its tremendous success last year is a sure indicator that this year will see more business and innovation coming into the market," said Antony Chapman, senior director, APAC/MEA at SonicWALL. "We continue to refine our channel programs and practices, and the best way to accelerate our progress is by face-to-face communication. Our goal for Peak Performance is to share ideas, forge deeper relationships with our partners, and stimulate new ways of creating opportunity."

At GITEX, SonicWALL will showcase both appliance-based products as well as value-added security services aimed at completely protecting businesses from a wide range of network security threats to a broad range of markets, including SMB, enterprise, education, healthcare, government, and retail/hospitality.

"In a buoyant global market that showed UTM security appliance revenue growth of over 123% and unit shipment growth of almost 190% compared to the first quarter of 2004, SonicWALL is positioning itself to better serve the international marketplace, especially in rapidly expanding regions such as the Middle East," continued Chapman.

"In 2004, SonicWALL Middle East hosted the RISK seminar which was an educational and technical show aimed at end-customers. This year we have decided to concentrate on developing our partners and channel resellers in an effort to bolster our ability to better support our customers," said Shahnawaz Shah, SonicWALL's regional manager for the Middle East. "We are expecting over a 100 partners to attend this year's Peak Performance seminar which illustrates the excitement generated by our solutions to market, channel, and end-user needs."

SonicWALL's family of Internet security appliances provide the first line of defense against Internet security threats. They include an ICSA-certified packet inspection firewall, IPSec VPN for remote access, IP address management features and support for SonicWALL value-added security services.

Designed to increase security by reducing complexity, SonicWALL Internet security appliances eliminate the cost and complexity of installing and managing separate devices and software packages for comprehensive security. SonicWALL's award-winning Global Management System (GMS) software enhances ease of management by allowing IT administrators to manage the security policies for unlimited numbers of SonicWALL devices from a single location. Currently, over 50,000 SonicWALL firewalls are managed by GMS, with the largest single-organization deployment numbering over 3,000.

SonicWALL's Asia West representation in the UAE increases the company's presence in Asia Pacific to 8 offices: Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, China, India, Pakistan and the UAE.