SonicWALL

Infobox Company | company_name = SonicWALL | company_| company_type = Public (NASDAQ [http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=SNWL&selected=SNWL SNWL] )
foundation = 1991
location = Sunnyvale, California
key_people = CEO: Matthew T. (Matt) Medeiros
CFO: Robert D. Selvi
Founders: Sreekanth Ravi, Sudhakar Ravi
num_employees = 700 (Jan. 2008)
slogan = Protection at the Speed of Business.
industry = Security software, Backup and Recovery, Security appliances, Internet security | products = Security Appliance filtering Spam, Backup and Recovery, Spyware, Viruses and other Malware
revenue = USD 199 million (2007)
homepage = [http://www.sonicwall.com www.sonicwall.com]

SonicWALL is a public company that provides Internet security solutions and appliances. SonicWALL has three business units: Network Security, Content Security, and Business Continuity. Their product lines within these business units include devices that provide a firewall, UTM (Universal Threat Management), VPN (Virtual Private Network), backup and recovery, and anti-spam / email and content filtering, as well as software and value-added subscription services.

SonicWALL’s reassembly-free deep packet inspection engine can scan unlimited file sizes and virtually hundreds of thousands of concurrent downloads running on any TCP port, providing scalability and performance for growing networks. SonicWALL has five patents pending for their unified threat management (UTM) stream-based scanning methodology.

SonicWALL’s main headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, CA. In addition, they have a sales center in Tempe, AZ (US) and engineering centers in Bangalore (India), Shanghai (China), and Seattle, WA (US). As of January 2008, SonicWALL employs 700 people in five offices around the world.SonicWALL runs its own support centers from its offices at Bangalore (India), Tempe and Sunnywale (Both US).

Pro forma net earnings for fiscal year 2006 were approximately $14.5M USD, or $.21 per fully diluted share, while revenue for the same year topped out at $175,000,000 USD. Pro forma net earnings exclude amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges, in-process research and development, and share-based compensation expense.

For fiscal year 2007 SonicWALL reported revenue of $199.2M USD, representing revenue growth of 13.5% over fiscal year 2006. GAAP net earnings for(>*<) fiscal year 2007 were $28.6M USD, or $0.43 per diluted share, compared to a GAAP net loss of $10.8M USD, or $0.17 per diluted share, in fiscal year 2006.

History

SonicWALL was founded in 1991 by brothers Sreekanth and Sudhakar Ravi in Sunnyvale, California as Sonic Systems, developing networking components for Apple's Macintosh product line. In October, 1997 they released a security product that they later called SonicWALL, which was a combination of software (a firewall and VPN) and a dedicated hardware appliance intended for the small-business market. In August 1999, the company changed its name to SonicWALL, Inc., and in November 1999 they went public (SNWL). Matthew T. (Matt) Medeiros (formerly of [http://www.usa.philips.com/index.page Philips Components] ) became CEO in March 2003. Through development and acquisitions, additional core technologies were added to the SonicWALL security appliances: intrusion detection and prevention, anti-virus, content filtering and continuous data protection backup.

Acquisitions

SonicWALL broadened its security-related product line with a series of acquisitions:
* November 2000 - Phobos Corporation (Salt Lake City, Utah), a privately-held maker of SSL security products, for $268 million
* March 2001 - Ignyte Technology, Inc. (Santa Clara, California), a privately-held Internet security consulting services company, for $8.6 million
* May 2001 - SecureCom Networks (San Jose, California), developers of infrastructure solutions that secure business-to-business communication over the Internet, for an undisclosed amount
* October 2001 - RedCreek Communications Inc. (Fremont, California), a privately-held maker of VPN networking gear, for $12.5 million
* November 2005 - Lasso Logic (San Francisco, California), producers of appliance-based continuous data backup and recovery solutions, and the assets of enKoo (San Jose, California), a developer of remote access technology, for a total of $20 million
* February 2006 - MailFrontier (Palo Alto, California) - developers of outbound content control, e-mail security, compliance and spam protection, for $31 million
* July 2007 - Aventail Corporation (Seattle, Washington), a privately-held provider of enterprise SSL VPN remote access solutions, for $25 million

Product Lines

SonicWALL’s product lines consist of both hardware and software, all aimed at providing comprehensive Internet security.

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/7523.html E-Class Solutions] " - A product line for enterprise and datacenter deployments that require dedicated uptime, high capacity, and multi-gigabit throughput.

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/UTM_Firewall_VPN.html UTM/Firewall/VPN] " - Devices designed to provide [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/2270.html Unified Threat Management] ( [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/2270.html UTM] ), [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/2269.html firewall protection] , and [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/2268.html secure VPN access] . The three appliance series are grouped by customer type:

**" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/TZ_Series.html TZ Series] " - For home/branch offices
**" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/PRO_Series.html PRO Series] " - For mid-to-large offices; includes VPN access for remote employees
**" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/E-Class_NSA_Series.html E-Class NSA Series] " - Deep packet inspection for enterprise customers, datacenters, and ISPs

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/Endpoint_Security.html Endpoint Security] " - Software programs designed to provide [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/772.html#client-avas anti-virus] / [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/772.html#client-avas anti-spyware] and [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/anti-spam-desktop.html anti-spam] protection.

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/Secure_Remote_Access.html SSL VPN Secure Remote Access] " - Remote access for computers that are not under IT control.

*" [http://sonicwall.com/us/products/Email_Security_Anti-Spam_67.html Anti-Spam / Email Security] " – [http://sonicwall.com/us/products/email_anti-spam_protection_797.html Anti-spam] , [http://sonicwall.com/us/products/email_anti-virus_protection_795.html anti-virus] , and [http://sonicwall.com/us/products/email_anti-phishing_protection_796.html anti-phishing] policies for email clients (for example, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird). Available as an appliance (hardware) or a Windows-based software client.

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/Content_Security_Management.html Content Security Management] " - Designed to provide real-time gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware and other threat prevention. They can also be configured to limit or restrict specific Internet activity, such as online gaming. Site ratings can be checked at [http://cfssupport.sonicwall.com/Support/web/eng/newui/viewRating.jsp this link] . This site can also be used to request a review and reclassification for sites that may be incorrectly rated.

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/backup_and_recovery.html Backup and Recovery] " - Designed to provide automatic, real-time data backup for personal computers and servers.

*" [http://www.sonicwall.com/us/products/Centralized_Management_and_Reporting.html Centralized Management and Reporting] " - Designed to provide centralized management security policies, real-time threat monitoring, and usage and compliance reports.

Certifications

Current certifications

* FIPS-140-2 certified: PRO 3060/4060 and TZ 170
* ICSA Firewall 4.1 certified: PRO 1260/2040/3060/4060/4100 and TZ 170
* ICSA IPSec VPN 2.1 Basic: PRO 2040
* VPNC: All PRO and TZ products running SonicOS Enhanced 3.0 and newer
* EAL 4+: Sonicwall NSA E7500, E6500, E5500, 5000, 4500 and 3500.

Pending certifications for the E7500, E6500 and E5500

* ICSA IPSec VPN 1.0d
* ICSA Firewall 4.1
* FIPS 140-2

Pending certifications for the TZ 180/180W/190/190W

* FIPS 140-2
* EAL 4+

Partnerships

SonicWALL is a member of the [http://www.procurve.com/alliance/ HP ProCurve Solutions Alliance] .

ee also

* Content-control software

External links

* [http://www.sonicwall.com Official company website (SonicWALL.com)]
* [http://livedemo.sonicwall.com Product Demos]
* [http://www.mysonicwall.com My SonicWALL website]