Recent Interesting News Articles
2008 Press Releases
Sunnyvale, CA – November 10, 2008 – Mi5 Networks, the web security gateway company, today announced that Georgian Bank, the second-largest bank headquartered in Atlanta, has selected its Mi5 Webgate appliance to provide gateway protection against web malware, control web usage, and prevent confidential files from leaking out of the network. The multiple web security services provided by the Webgate platform has enabled Georgian Bank to consolidate the number of appliances in its network, while reducing both management costs and capital expenditures. Technology Appliances, a leading reseller of security and systems management solutions, provided support services to Georgian Bank on the selection and deployment of Webgate.
Georgian Bank, chartered in 2001, is the second-largest Atlanta-based bank. It is on the Atlanta Business Chronicle's list of top 100 Atlanta-based private companies. The bank caters to successful entrepreneurs and businesses, providing them with a stable financial institution where they are assured of the safety and sound investment of their money. Although Georgian Bank was already using a URL Filtering point product, it wanted to upgrade to comprehensive web malware protection at its Internet gateway.
"Web malware, spyware, and viruses were a key concern for us given the nature of our business and the sensitive data our customers entrust to us,” said Marc McGrath, Chief Information Security Officer for Georgian Bank. 'We wanted a gateway solution so we wouldn't have to manage security on individual desktops. The Mi5 Webgate not only meets our demanding web security and URL Filtering requirements, but is also extremely easy to manage. The integration with Active Directory, dashboard view of web threats and activity, and unattended clean-up agent is as close as possible to 'set-and-forget' for a security product."
Unified Web Protection with Low Management Overhead
To prevent malware and spyware from infecting machines when employees browse the web, Georgian Bank wanted to augment its existing URL Filtering solution with a secure web gateway appliance. After a comprehensive evaluation, Georgian Bank selected the Mi5 Webgate for its depth of protection, full suite of security modules, and ease of management. The bank also decided to replace its URL Filtering product and consolidate this function on Webgate. Georgian Bank deployed Mi5 for the following reasons:
- Centralized Management: Webgate’s enterprise dashboard displays infections, severity, and blocked sites by category, frequency, user name, etc., showing as much or as little information as IT administrators need with an intuitive and simple to navigate interface.
- Comprehensive Reporting: Webgate reports simplify security and compliance management tasks.
- Unattended Remediation: Webgate’s SpyWash agent can automatically clean infected machines without IT intervention.
- File Leakage Protection: Webgate prevents selected file types from leaving the network to help prevent data loss or theft. This feature has proven to be an unexpected benefit for Georgian Bank.
- Microsoft Active Directory Integration: Webgate assigns the right security policies without IT involvement to new users added to the network.
About Mi5 Webgate appliances
Mi5 Webgate appliances control user access to web sites and applications, while it detects, intercepts, and blocks Web threats including malicious URLs, active content, spyware, botnets and viruses that users encounter while conducting business through the Internet. Webgate pinpoints and shuts down botnets if they are brought onto the network by mobile workers and can perform automated clean up of infected machines. The Webgate platform performs continuous bi-directional inspection of web traffic on all ports and protocols at Gigabit speeds without imposing user discernible slowdowns. Webgate also provides comprehensive reporting for security, policy enforcement, and audit compliance.
About Technology Appliances
Technology Appliances, Atlanta, GA, is a leading provider of systems management, systems deployment and security solutions to customers throughout the United States. The company focuses on appliance based solutions that are comprehensive in addressing a problem set, prove easy-to-use, require minimal implementation and training and are affordable to companies of all sizes. For more information, please visit www.technologyappliances.com or call 800-391-8007.
About Mi5 Networks
Mi5 Networks enables organizations to defend their web perimeter, and eliminate lost employee productivity, PC clean-up costs, and data theft associated with undetected malware. The company’s Webgate security appliances protect organizations against web-based threats, including malicious URLs, spyware, crimeware, botnets and viruses, while providing control over web use. Mi5 Networks was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway Magic Quadrant report for 2007 , and was named Innovator of the Year by SC Magazine. Mi5 Networks is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.
About Georgian Bank
Georgian Bank is the second-largest Atlanta-based bank with more than $2 billion in assets. It has been named repeatedly the fastest growing de novo bank chartered nationwide since 2001 and one of the top 10 fastest growing private companies in Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Recently, Georgian Bank leapt onto the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s list of top 100 private companies, coming in at 83. Georgian Bank serves local businesses, business owners, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals through its five banking offices conveniently located in Alpharetta, Buckhead, Cumberland, Gwinnett, and Powder Springs. For more information please visit http://www.georgianbank.com.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – October 27, 2008 – KACE, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced the latest version of its award-winning KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance. The new release, now shipping, enables enterprises of all sizes to smash cost and complexity barriers by providing centralized and automated provisioning of remote systems. The new appliance works in both physical and virtual settings and offers new virtual remote appliance features including integrated virtual infrastructure and bandwidth throttling for even easier deployment of systems at remote offices, as well as new packaged post deployment scripts that eliminate manual work.
Remote provisioning of laptops, desktops, and servers can be a costly and complex task for IT organizations. KACE makes remote provisioning easy by automating the entire deployment process, eliminating time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks. The new KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance deploys software at a fraction of the price and complexity of software-only solutions from vendors such as Altiris, LANDesk, and also Microsoft.
“Unlike the competition, KACE listens to our customers’ needs, resulting in innovative and effective solutions tailored to the mid-market,” said Marty Kacin, CTO and co-founder of KACE. “Today’s release not only positions us another step in front of the competition, it gives customers the ability to eliminate manual work, saving them loads of time and money.”
KACE continues to separate itself from costly software-only solutions by offering the only all-in-one, complete management solution. Software-only solutions require separate servers for all major functions, such as reporting, database, and deployment. The KBOX Systems Deployment solution performs all of these critical functions from the ease of a single appliance. In addition, KBOX has the ability to manage multiple remote offices without the need for dedicated hardware at those locations through the KBOX Virtual Remote Appliance. These capabilities dramatically reduce the resources necessary to manage PCs at a multi-site organization, thus eliminating the need for additional hardware and software, and also dedicated staff. Disparate systems can be managed remotely from a single appliance helping customers cut down on cost and complexity - a key differentiator software-only solutions cannot touch.
Tennessee-based Battle Ground Academy is one such KBOX Systems Deployment Appliances customer who finds great value in remote systems management.
“We save a tremendous amount of time provisioning remote systems with the automated capabilities of our KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance,” said Andrew Peercy, administrator of IT Operations for Battle Ground Academy, one of the oldest kindergarten through 12th grade independent institutions in the nation. “I no longer need to spend precious time and money transporting systems to and from our remote sites just to image them. We are now able to leverage the power of our KBOX at our remote sites with the same ease of our primary site.”
A summary of new features and updates for the latest KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance release includes:
- Enhanced Virtual Remote Appliance capabilities make deploying operating systems at remote offices easier with a new integrated virtual infrastructure. The KBOX Virtual Remote Appliance can now simply be installed on almost any Windows server.
- Bandwidth Throttling makes it easy for administrators to minimize network impact when staging images to remote sites with slow links. KPE USB makes it easy to provision any remote machine from a centralized KBOX. KPE USB allows remote machines to boot into the KBOX Pre-boot Environment (KPE) on a USB drive and then deploy images or network OS installations from the centralized KBOX.
- Packaged Post Deployment tasks eliminate time-consuming, manual work required for post deployment activities, including system naming, Windows domain joining, and also Sysprep automation.
- The latest KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance also includes new platform support for Windows 2008.
About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day and enjoy the lowest total cost compared to software alternatives.
Atlanta, GA – September 16, 2008 – Technology Appliances today announced its relationship with Mi5 Networks of Sunnyvale, California. Technology Appliances will resell the Mi5 Webgate platform to assist its clients in defending their networks, preventing access to unauthorized websites and securing the enterprise against all forms of malware.
"The Mi5 Solution does the job of a multitude of security products from an affordable network-based appliance. Our clients constantly deal with new and more devious internet-based security threats. We are thrilled to work with the Mi5 solution as it addresses such a wide range of threats. Our clients must get control of key logger and botnet type malware and Mi5 is the ideal solution to address these evolving threats." said Paul Noone president of Technology Appliances.
"Technology Appliances is one of the leading providers of security solutions in the Southeastern US, and a trusted advisor to organizations across a wide range of industries," said Tom Orella, vice president of sales and business development for Mi5 Networks. "The company possesses the high level of technical expertise and commitment to customer satisfaction that we look for in solution providers. We are pleased to welcome Technology Appliances to our channel partner program."
About Technology Appliances
Technology Appliances, Atlanta, GA, is a leading provider of systems management, systems deployment and security solutions to customers throughout the United States. The company focuses on appliance based solutions that are comprehensive in addressing a problem set, prove easy-to-use, require minimal implementation and training and are affordable to companies of all sizes. For more information, please visit www.technologyappliances.com or call 800-391-8007.
About Mi5
Mi5 Networks enables organizations to defend their web perimeter, and eliminate lost employee productivity, PC clean-up costs, and data theft associated with undetected malware. The company’s Webgate security appliances protect organizations against web-based threats, including malicious URLs, spyware, crimeware, botnets and viruses, while providing control over web use. Mi5 Networks was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway Magic Quadrant report for 2007 , and was named Innovator of the Year by SC Magazine. Mi5 Networks is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.
Sunnyvale, CA – September 16, 2008 – Mi5 Networks today announced that it was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway (SWG) Magic Quadrant report for 2008. Mi5 Webgate appliances combine URL Filtering, Web Anti-Malware (spyware, virus and botnet protection), and Application Control, on a highly scalable multi-protocol platform.
Gartner estimates “the total [SWG] composite market exceeded $1 billion in 2007 and was growing at a rate of 44% year over year. Dedicated SWG vendors are the fastest-growing submarket, averaging 140% year-over-year growth. We expect average market growth rates to be in the 25% to 35% range for the next two years. This growth will be fueled by increased penetration of dedicated SWG devices, incremental feature revenue and the impact of appliance-based products replacing software.”[1]
“Being positioned again in the visionaries quadrant by Gartner demonstrates that Mi5 continues to innovate and execute at a very high level against much larger competitors,” said Doug Camplejohn, founder and CEO of Mi5 Networks. “With one of the best management interfaces in the market, Webgate is setting the standard for preventing Web malware infections and automating remediation of infected machines.”
According to the report, “Almost all organizations that implemented a bidirectional malware filtering SWG found numerous adware, spyware and other malicious content on their networks. Surprisingly, numerous products we reviewed failed to identify infected end nodes on the management dashboard, instead burying this critical information in reports. We gave extra credit to products that offered proactive as well as signature-based detection techniques, and those that had bidirectional Layer 4 through Layer 7 network traffic inspection across all ports and protocols rather than being blind to all but proxied protocols.”[2]
About Mi5
Mi5 Networks enables organizations to defend their web perimeter, and eliminate lost employee productivity, PC clean-up costs, and data theft associated with undetected malware. The company’s Webgate security appliances protect organizations against web-based threats, including malicious URLs, spyware, crimeware, botnets and viruses, while providing control over web use. Mi5 Networks was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway Magic Quadrant report for 2007 , and was named Innovator of the Year by SC Magazine. Mi5 Networks is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.
[1] Gartner, Inc. "Introducing the Secure Web Gateway" by Peter Firstbrook, Arabella Hallawell, Lawrence Orans, March 20, 2007.
[2] Gartner, Inc. "Magic Quadrant for Secure Web Gateway, 2007" by Peter Firstbrook., Lawrence Orans, and Arrabella Hallawell, June 4, 2007.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – August 25, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced the industry’s first appliance-based systems management solution for Apple’s iPhone. The new technology allows IT administrators and business users alike to provision, configure, and control policies for the iPhone as they would with any other managed device. This news comes on the heels of Gartner’s recent acknowledgement that the iPhone 3G is ready to serve business customers as an alternative to mobile devices, such as Blackberry. The iPhone technology complements KACE’s already comprehensive support for Mac systems.
“Apple is quickly carving out its place in the enterprise. The business world is recognizing the benefits of Mac OS X, and now the powerful iPhone technology,” said Marty Kacin, CTO and co-founder of KACE. “IT administrators need to adapt to this new ‘multiple OS world’ and be ready to manage heterogeneous environments on a dime. KACE systems management appliances give administrators the tools they need to seamlessly and easily manage a range of enterprise platforms.”
The award-winning KBOX family of appliances offers seamless systems management support across Mac, Linux, and Windows operating systems. This is especially important as a large number of IT departments now host heterogeneous environments and many are choosing Mac as an alternative to Windows Vista, as highlighted in a recent King Research survey. The survey showed 42 percent of the respondents said they would consider deployment of alternative operating systems, such as Mac and Linux, in order to avoid a migration to Vista. Read the full report, titled “Windows Vista Adoption Trends: A Survey of Technology Professionals.”
Understanding the need to manage complexity within heterogeneous IT environments, KACE offers an appliance-based approach that allows IT administrators to cost-effectively manage multiple operating systems with the ease provided from a single interface. KACE’s new iPhone support complements Apple’s iPhone Configuration Utility, providing centralized and easy management of multiple configuration profiles and tools to apply them based on policies across the enterprise.
New KBOX Systems Management appliances capabilities include:
- Assigning iPhone profiles across user groups to meet different access needs, for example, by function or geography;
- Distribution of profiles by e-mail;
- Self service profile downloads available from the KBOX user portal.
“Today’s dynamic workforces are increasingly becoming reliant on mobile devices, like Apple’s iPhone, to more effectively achieve organizational goals. Clearly KACE understands the importance of simplifying and standardizing IT management of mobile devices, and has taken a bold leap in extending its KBOX appliance solutions to address the growing popularity of the iPhone,” said Steve Brasen, analyst for Enterprise Management Associates. “With this announcement, KACE reaffirms its commitment to provide broad heterogeneous support while not compromising on depth of functionality or cost effectiveness.”
For more information join KACE for a one hour webinar titled, Best Practices for Managing iPhone and Macs in the Enterprise taking place Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 11 am Pacific Time. Sign up here:
https://kace.webex.com/kace/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=825057866
About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day and enjoy the lowest total cost compared to software alternatives.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Feb 19, 2008 – Mi5 Networks, the web security gateway company, today announced that it has been named a Top 10 Technology Startup by InformationWeek magazine. The company was selected by InformationWeek readers, with more than 1,000 votes cast. Mi5 will present to a panel of CIO judges at the InformationWeek 500 Conference on September 16 in Monarch Beach, California.
"Being selected to present to the CIO audience at the InformationWeek 500 Conference is both a privilege and powerful validation that Mi5 is addressing a significant pain point for enterprises," said Doug Camplejohn, founder and CEO of Mi5 Networks. "Based on the response we received from InformationWeek’s readers, it’s clear that blocking Web threats and controlling Internet usage has moved from a nice-to-have to a must-have technology for enterprises."
The Webgate appliance from Mi5 Networks allows enterprises to control web usage and neutralize malware with one high speed device that does not slow down web page response times. Its ability to detect machines that are already infected with spyware or controlled by a botnet gives IT departments the added confidence of knowing that even if malware sneaks onto the network, they can identify it, block outgoing traffic, and fix the machine before the problem can spread.
InformationWeek recently invited its readers to vote for their favorite technology startups. The top six vote getters have been invited to participate in Startup City Live, where they will give their business pitches to a live audience at the InformationWeek 500 conference, which runs Sept. 14 – 16 in Monarch Beach, Calif. A panel of CIO judges will grade the startups on their business models, products, and feasibility.
About Mi5 Webgate appliances
Mi5 Webgate appliances control user access to web sites and applications, while it detects, intercepts, and blocks malicious URLs, active content, spyware, botnets and viruses that users encounter while conducting business through the Web. Webgate pinpoints and shuts down botnets if they are brought onto the network by mobile workers and can perform automated clean up of infected machines. The Webgate platform performs continuous bi-directional inspection of web traffic on all ports and protocols at Gigabit speeds without imposing user discernible slowdowns. Webgate also provides comprehensive reporting for security, policy enforcement, and audit compliance.
About Mi5 Networks
Mi5 Networks enables organizations to defend their web perimeter, and eliminate lost employee productivity, PC clean-up costs, and data theft associated with undetected malware. The company's Webgate security appliances protect organizations against web-based threats, including malicious URLs, spyware, crimeware, botnets and viruses, while providing control over web use. Mi5 Networks was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway Magic Quadrant report for 2007, and named an "Innovator of the Year" by SC Magazine. Mi5 Networks is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – July 29, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced the industry’s first virtual remote appliance to deliver remote operating system (OS) provisioning. As part of its award-winning KBOX family of appliances, the new KBOX Virtual Remote Appliance allows a central KBOX to extend full systems provisioning to remote offices, helping organizations to eliminate the cost and time associated with manual imaging approaches.
Consisting of an easy-to-deploy virtual appliance that resides in an organization’s remote offices, Virtual Remote Appliances work in conjunction with a central KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance to push out entire OS deployments to offices outside of a corporate network, oftentimes hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away. With this new technology, KACE brings automated, centralized controls that are cost-effective and efficient, allowing organizations to accomplish more while eliminating travel costs and without having to add staff or hardware at remote locations.
“Technology plays an important role in helping IT organizations make it through today’s challenging economic times,” said Marty Kacin, chief technology officer and co-founder of KACE. “Remote OS deployment has traditionally been among the most costly and difficult management tasks. With our new Virtual Remote Appliance, the KBOX eliminates an array of manual and error prone provisioning activities by providing a single, comprehensive point of control. This appliance-based approach optimizes how IT administrators provision systems at remote offices without necessitating additional hardware or personnel at those locations.”
By automating machine provisioning at remote offices, KACE gives IT administrators a centralized way to execute deployment tasks, such as hardware independent network OS installation, disk imaging, software distribution, configuration management, and recovery at any location. Virtual Remote Appliances allow the KBOX to provision systems in any remote office, including the ability to:
- Provision from a centralized deployment library of operating systems, disk images, drivers, and applications;
- Perform hardware independent network OS installation (scripted installation);
- Deploy disk images;
- Utilize a GUI-based pre-installation environment for the recovery of corrupted systems;
- Deliver full reporting capabilities for system history, installation, and images.
KACE helps customers save time and money. Systems managers are often forced to wear many hats throughout the day to work on a myriad of IT functions. KACE helps consolidate these functions by providing a single appliance for all projects, while delivering easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management that is affordable. The KBOX family of appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise, from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement.
Virtual Remote Appliances are available now and included at no additional cost with the purchase of a KBOX Systems Deployment Appliance. To learn more about remote OS and software deployments, join KACE for a Web event entitled “Streamlining IT Deployment in an Ailing Economy,” at 10:00 a.m. PDT on August 7, 2008.
Register at: http://www.kace.com/webinar/remotedeployment.
About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day and enjoy the lowest total cost compared to software alternatives.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 27, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, announced that the KBOX™ family of systems management and deployment appliances are saving its customers time and money through the rapid adoption of its automated, enterprise-class patch management capabilities of KACE technology. Embedded directly into KBOX, Lumension Security’s PatchLink® Update assessment and remediation technology delivers instant access to the industry’s leading patch management engine, and the world’s largest vulnerability metadata database—all through an intuitive, Web-based user interface, thus allowing for improved security.
One such customer example is Kraft Construction. The company experiences first-hand how the automated patching capability of KBOX greatly improves the service of its small, three-person IT department provides end-users. Though staffed thinly, Kraft Construction has a complex IT environment consisting of 27 remote sites. The IT team is charged with managing 360 workstations and servers across the network.
“Prior to KACE, we manually deployed patches which took way too much of our time and resources,” said Dennis Shelton, Network Manager at Kraft Construction. “In addition to automating our patching deployments – which is an incredible time-saver – KBOX allows us to specially tailor our patches to certain groups using unique labels. With KBOX, I can approve a patch, and assign and deploy it to any group I want in a snap. Because so many of our employees work remotely, this capability also adds to the bottom line. On top of this, I can be confident our systems are protected by the latest security patches available.”
In today’s complex IT environments, automated patch management is an essential task, but for many organizations, one that causes a great deal of pain because of the large number of patches released each month and a lack of tools, resources, and processes to deal effectively with them. KACE and Lumension Securities joined forces in October 2007 announcing a partnership where PatchLink Update became seamlessly embedded into KBOX appliances and UI to address this IT challenge for customers. The combination of PatchLink’s security prowess coupled with KACE’s award-winning appliance-based approach to systems management and deployment has created a powerhouse-patching solution for midmarket and enterprise organizations alike—and customers are benefiting.
Security vulnerability detection and remediation are vital to protecting valuable resources and closing dangerous security holes that can put data and entire networks at risk. KBOX patch management features top-of-the line functionality, such as Lumension’s patented Fingerprinting Technology, that ensures the highest level of accuracy in detecting security vulnerabilities. Customers value the easy-to-use interface that efficiently schedules, manages, and reports on the detection of vulnerabilities and deployment of patches.
Other KACE customers taking advantage of the patch management capabilities of KBOX include: World Book, Bare Escentuals, Denny’s, Northwestern University, Columbia University, and Smith & Wesson, to name a few.
“In a recent survey performed by EMA on the value of automation disciplines, 84 percent of respondents listed Patch Management as having above average importance in their environments, ranking it second, to only Backup & Recovery, as the most critical automation need,” said Enterprise Management Associates analyst Steve Brasen. “KACE is well addressing this market need by integrating Lumension's PatchLink functionality directly into the KBOX so that KACE customers utilize a single, common agent which can be accessed through a single, common Web-based user interface, significantly enhancing both security and ease-of-use.”
KACE helps customers save time and money. Systems managers are often forced to wear many hats throughout the day to work on a myriad of IT functions. KACE helps consolidate these functions by providing a single appliance for all projects, while delivering easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management that is affordable. The KBOX family of appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise, from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement.
About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day at one third the cost of software alternatives.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 22, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced that its KBOX Systems Management Appliance has been named the winner for “Best Systems Management Solution” by Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) for its 23rd Annual CODiE Awards. Winners were announced on May 20 at the SIIA Net Gain Conference in San Francisco.
The CODiE Awards celebrate outstanding achievement and vision in the software, digital content, and education technology industries. Through a unique combination of journalist and peer review, the CODiE Awards recognize outstanding products and services, as well as corporate excellence and philanthropy. More than 250 judges from the trade press, consulting, educators, IT specialists, and other knowledgeable, but neutral, experts have reviewed all products entered. Winners were chosen from more than 1,000 nominations submitted by more than 600 companies.
“It is a great honor to have our KBOX systems management appliance named an SIIA CODiE award winner,” stated Rob Meinhardt, CEO and co-founder of KACE. “To be held in such high esteem by our industry is a real privilege -- the recognition validates the value and quality of our technology, which goes well beyond traditional systems management solutions to bring unprecedented ease of use and affordability to organizations of all sizes.”
KACE helps customers save time and money. Systems managers are often forced to wear many hats throughout the day to work on a myriad of IT functions. KACE consolidates these functions by providing a single appliance for all projects, while delivering easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management that is affordable. The KBOX family of appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement.
About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day at one third the cost of software alternatives.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 14, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced several performance breakthroughs to the latest versions of its award-winning KBOX™ family of systems management and deployment appliances. The new appliances release brings doubling of performance, giving IT organizations unprecedented control over their networked systems. As part of today’s announcement, a new client-server communications protocol, called KBOX Agent Messaging Protocol, as well as extended KBOX Remote Replication support offering enhanced support for remote office management, were unveiled. These new capabilities dramatically improve performance to provide real-time visibility and control to address compliance, management, and security issues and drive greater simplicity and cost-effectiveness in managing remote sites. The new versions of the KBOX family of appliances are available now.
New capabilities of the latest KBOX releases enable users to now handle up to 20,000 end nodes on a single appliance, twice that from previous versions. In addition, the new technology allows for management of multiple remote offices, also from a single appliance and console, without requiring dedicated hardware at the remote site. The KBOX is able to perform the same systems management tasks on one appliance that take software-only solutions five to 10 servers to handle. These, along with several other new capabilities, allow KBOX customers to reap the benefits of enterprise-class capabilities at a mid-market cost, with the ease-of-use and simplicity KACE customers expect.
“The new capabilities of our latest KBOX appliances release will revolutionize how IT organizations think about systems management, and allow organizations to address critical systems management issues in real-time, without the costs and complexities of traditional solutions,” said Marty Kacin, KACE co-founder and CTO. “With a proliferation of ever increasing security threats, and organizational demands to immediately respond to changing business and regulatory requirements, IT needs tools to address systems management issues quickly, across a growing number of local and remote systems. We continue to deliver innovative features for medium enterprises, while retaining the original benefits that have made KBOX successful - ease-of-use, extremely fast deployment times, and low costs.”
KACE continues to separate itself from costly software-only solutions such as Altiris, LANDesk, and Microsoft SMS by offering the only all-in-one, complete management solution. Software-only solutions require separate servers for all major functions, such as reporting, database, and deployment. KBOX performs all of these critical functions from the ease of a single appliance. In addition, KBOX has the ability to manage multiple remote offices without the need for dedicated hardware at those locations through KBOX Remote Replication. These new capabilities dramatically reduce the resources necessary to manage a multi-site organization, eliminating the need for additional hardware and software and dedicated staff. Disparate systems can be managed remotely from one appliance helping customers cut down on cost and complexity - a key differentiator software-only solutions cannot touch.
Agriculture product distributer Wilbur Ellis is one such KACE customer that finds great value in remote systems management.
“We distribute agricultural products to all ends of the world. In order to allow us to get product to our customers as soon as possible, we’ve set up remote product warehouse sites located in strategic shipping lanes across the globe,” said Rick Cahoon, enterprise support manager for Wilbur Ellis. “We use KBOX from KACE to remotely manage our many product warehouses from our central IT division in Seattle. The KBOX provides us real-time, centralized control from the ease of a single box. Our team would truly be lost without KBOX.”
A summary of new features and updates for the new KBOX Systems Management and KBOX Systems Deployment Appliances releases include:
- The introduction of the KBOX Agent Messaging Protocol, enabling real-time systems and security management across an entire organization. including remote sites;
- Expanded remote replication for support of remote systems via KBOX Remote Replication;
- Scalable, real-time support for up to 20,000 local and remote systems through a single appliance;
- Integrated, Web-based user interface allows for a single sign-on and fast switching between the KBOX Management and Deployment Consoles;
- Real-time reporting engine which includes new wizards for report creation, charting, graphing, and email report distribution to offer better visibility into the compliance and security posture of systems network-wide and insight into key management metrics;
- Extended KBOX Configuration and policy enforcement capabilities beyond Windows to include, Apple Macintosh, Red Hat, and Solaris;
- New platform support – Windows 64 Bit and Mac 10.5 support.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 14, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced that it has been named a “cool vendor” in Gartner Inc.’s “Cool Vendors in IT Support, 2008” report, published April 1, 2008, and authored by Terrence Cosgrove and David M. Coyle.
“The Gartner report is great recognition of KACE and validation of our appliance-based approach to systems management,” said Rob Meinhardt, co-founder and CEO for KACE. “Industry analysts have long stated that management is the most important factor in lowering total cost of ownership. Our robust management appliances were designed from the start with a focus on ease-of-use, speed of deployment, and affordability to maximize our customers’ ability to save time and money.”
Mid-sized organizations have struggled to successfully implement traditional software-only systems management tools that have tended to be overly complex and difficult to deploy. According to the report, “[KACE] automates many areas of PC life cycle configuration management (including the core functions of inventory, software distribution, patch management, and operating system deployment), but are founded on the principles of usability and rapid deployment to appeal to midsize enterprises.”
KACE helps customers save time and money. Systems managers are often forced to wear many hats throughout the day to work on a myriad of IT functions. KACE consolidates these functions by providing a single appliance for all projects, while delivering easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management that is affordable. The KBOX family of appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement.
About Gartner’s Cool Vendors Selection Process
Gartner’s listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.
Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enables users to do things they couldn't do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner’s interest or curiosity in approximately the past six months.
About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day at one third the cost of software alternatives.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Feb 19, 2008 – Mi5 Networks, the web security gateway company, today announced a major software enhancement to its award-winning Webgate line of high-speed appliances which provide filtering of malicious URLs, spyware, viruses, and inbound/outbound botnet communications. Version 4.0 adds control for more than one hundred applications and protocols, including leading Instant Messaging (IM), Peer-to-Peer (P2P), Voice over IP (VoIP), streaming media, and other enterprise applications. In addition, 4.0 can trace the geographic location of Botnet traffic entering and leaving the network; provides centralized management, policy enforcement, and reporting across multiple devices; and enables new flexible deployment options through ICAP and UFP protocol support.
According to Gartner, Inc., "A Secure Web gateway (SWG) is a solution that filters unwanted software/malware from user-initiated Web/Internet traffic and enforces corporate and regulatory policy compliance. To achieve this goal, SWGs must, at a minimum, include URL filtering, malicious-code detection and filtering, and application controls for popular Web-based applications, such as instant messaging (IM)."
"The Web now represents the most targeted and exploitable attack surface in an organization’s network," said Doug Camplejohn, founder and CEO of Mi5 Networks. "From day one, our goal with Webgate was to build a modular, very high performance platform that could protect all Web avenues into an organization without impacting the browsing experience. With Version 4.0, we have taken the visibility, protection and enterprise integration capabilities of Webgate to a whole new level."
Application Control Across Any Port or Protocol
To control web use and provide 100 percent coverage against web threats, Webgate now monitors, controls, and blocks over hundred web applications and protocols including all leading IM, P2P, VoIP, remote access, streaming media, database, gaming, e-mail/groupware, and file transfer products and tools. Webgate provides granular access and usage management capabilities including the ability to:
- Control activity by specific application and application category
- Monitor, allow, and block applications and downloads using application fingerprints
- Scan IM file downloads for malware or block all IM downloads
- Set and enforce identity-based policies organization-wide, at the departmental level, or by user, IP address, and Subnet Geolocation of Attacks and Botnet Communications
Centralized Intelligence and Management
For automated configuration, policy management, monitoring, and reporting across multiple Webgate appliances, Mi5 Networks is introducing two dedicated Central Intelligence (CI) units: the CI-10 and CI-100. From the CI user interface, administrators can centrally manage all the Webgate appliances in their organization with the click of a mouse. Users can create, change, and apply security policies; monitor global network activity and drill down into regions, locations, departments, users, etc.; and access the rich reporting database. CI-10 models can manage up to 10 devices in a 1U form factor. CI-100 units can manage up to 100 Webgate devices in a 2U form factor, and are equipped with redundant power supplies and disks.
ICAP and UFP Support
To easily adapt to existing network topologies and provide organizations with an even more flexible set of deployment options, Webgate now supports ICAP and UFP protocols, which are used by over 75 vendors. For example, this capability enables customers to backhaul traffic from Juniper, Check Point and other firewalls at remote sites such as retail stores, branch offices, etc., to Webgate appliances at corporate or regional headquarters. In addition, ICAP support provides seamless integration and a gradual migration path from existing proxy devices. Mi5 is a member of the ICAP organization and a member of the OPSEC Alliance.
Pricing and Availability
Version 4.0 and Central Intelligence appliances will be generally available in Q2 2008. Five different Webgate models are available to meet the needs of any size network starting at $3,495. Pricing for Central Intelligence units starts at $19,995. Pricing for the Application Control module starts at $995 for 100 users.
About Mi5 Networks
Mi5 Networks enables organizations to defend their web perimeter, and eliminate lost employee productivity, PC clean-up costs, and data theft associated with undetected malware. The company's Webgate security appliances protect organizations against web-based threats, including malicious URLs, spyware, crimeware, botnets and viruses, while providing control over web use. Mi5 Networks was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway Magic Quadrant report for 2007, and named an "Innovator of the Year" by SC Magazine. Mi5 Networks is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – March 24, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced its award-winning KBOX™ family of systems management and deployment appliances has gained valuable market share from rival Altiris over the past year. In fact, it’s not even a contest when it comes to head-to-head sales comparisons versus Altiris, with KACE realizing a dominating 83 percent win rate. KACE’s appliance-based solution is shaking up the traditional desktop management and software deployment market that has long been dominated by complex, software-only solutions such as those from Altiris, LANDesk, and Microsoft SMS. KACE is rapidly building a reputation for capabilities the competition can’t match: ease-of-use, quick deployment, and affordability.
“KACE’s momentum and win rate against key competitors took off in 2007 and is absolutely exploding into 2008,” said Rob Meinhardt, CEO and co-founder of KACE. “Customer feedback and industry recognition proves it, KACE’s out-of-the box solution that deploys in hours and saves organizations tremendous time and money is becoming the solution of choice over costly and complex software-only systems management and deployment solutions.”
KACE, the only systems management vendor catering to the large and often under-served mid-market, has designed its KBOX systems management and deployment appliances with the unique needs of the medium enterprise in mind. A recent customer survey highlights the benefits KACE customers receive, with 90 percent rating their satisfaction of the KBOX extremely high and another 87 percent reporting the appliance paid for itself in less than one year.
Topa Insurance Group, a property and casualty specialty insurer based in Los Angeles, selected the KBOX over Altiris. “We spent a lot of money trying to get Altiris up and then keeping it running – from initial deployment costs to ongoing maintenance,” said Robert Livingston, CIO for Topa Insurance Group. “The complexity of the solution made it unusable to us. The KBOX took a fraction of the time versus that of Altiris to get to the same level of effectiveness. Additionally, the cost of the KBOX was just a fraction compared to what we spent on Altiris.”
KACE helps customers save time and money. Systems managers are often forced to wear many hats throughout the day to work on a myriad of IT functions. KACE consolidates these functions by providing a single appliance for all projects, while delivering easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management that is affordable. The KBOX family of appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Feb 19, 2008 – Mi5 Networks, the web security gateway company, today announced that its ?Webgate line of high-speed appliances has been enhanced with new reporting capabilities that enable organizations to assess Web usage and remediate Web threats with unprecedented ease and speed. Webgate's graphical and drill down reports provide enterprise, departmental, user, and machine views of all web activity and infections.
Webgate reports ?track websites visited and time spent, ?files uploaded and downloaded to and from the browser, top sources of web infections, top infections across the enterprise ranked by risk, ?botnet activity, attack attempts, as well as department and user specific activity. Mi5's comprehensive, built-in reporting capabilities negate the need for separate database servers or reporting packages, but preserve the ability to export information to external Security Event Management (SEM), Help Desk and reporting systems.
"The amount of data generated by inbound and outbound web activity in a typical organization is mind numbing," said ?Doug Camplejohn, CEO of Mi5 Networks. "Our new reporting capabilities help IT departments make sense of the wealth of information captured by Webgate so they can focus on solving problems instead of trying to find a needle in a haystack of data."
Integrated View of Web Usage and Security
Mi5's easy-to-use web interface allows IT departments to start with a high-level view of their organizationís web usage and security posture, and drill-down quickly to zero in on the information they need to remediate problems and close security gaps.
Webgate's new reporting functionality includes:
- Search: New search capabilities can pinpoint and assess the status of individual users, machines or departments quickly.
- Top Web Destinations: Top 10 reports provide view of department and user activity by web category or site.
- Browse Time: Track average and total browse time, and identify the most active users and departments.
- Top Abusers: Identify the top downloaders of malware, and the most infected users and departments.
- File Uploads and Downloads: Single out users who are consuming inordinate amounts of network bandwidth with file downloads and uploads, or inappropriate file leakage.
Pricing and Availability
The new Webgate capabilities are available immediately free of charge for existing customers through an automatic software update. New customers will receive the latest version out of the box. Five different ?Webgate models are available to meet the needs of any size network. Webgate pricing starts at $3,495 in the U.S.
About Mi5 Networks
Mi5 Networks enables organizations to defend their web perimeter, and eliminate lost employee productivity, PC clean-up costs, and data theft associated with undetected malware. The company's Webgate security appliances protect organizations against web-based threats, including malicious URLs, spyware, crimeware, botnets and viruses, while providing control over web use. Mi5 Networks was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the visionaries quadrant of the Secure Web Gateway Magic Quadrant report for 2007, and named an "Innovator of the Year" by SC Magazine. Mi5 Networks is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.
Atlanta, GA - January 15, 2008 Technology Appliances, Inc, a leading provider of IT management solutions, today announced the company's growth for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007.
Technology Appliances experienced growth in 2007 in new customers, total customers, and total revenues. 2007 revenues increased 334% over 2006. The company's customer base increased fivefold in the year at 540%.
The company attributes the growth to the success of its partners, KACE Networks and Data Domain, in their respective marketplaces and it's disciplined approach to caring for customers. The company plans to drive further growth in 2008 through an extensive marketing program designed around demand generation and increasing awareness of the company's capabilities.
© 2008 Technology Appliances
