WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in manageable business security solutions, announced it is expanding its network security offerings for customers using Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized environments. Virtualization offers flexibility and cost savings for businesses of all sizes, yet security concerns continue to prevent many IT professionals from making the switch. WatchGuard, which recently became an official member of the Microsoft Partner Network, has added Hyper-V support to its powerful XTMv unified threat management (UTM) platform, and is planning to add support to its XCSv content security solution in the third quarter of 2013, to help customers feel confident and secure in their choice to use a virtualized computing environment.
Ideal for public clouds through managed security services providers (MSSPs), as well as private clouds managed by IT departments, WatchGuard's XTMv and XCSv appliances offer the tools and visibility of on premise network security solutions to any type of virtualized environment. Hyper-V customers will have access to comprehensive and multi-layered defense offered by WatchGuard, including network, email, web and content security.
"A growing percentage of our customers are using Hyper-V environments, and with the volume of threats in the world today, security is always a concern," said Carl Mazzanti, vice president of network strategies at eMazzanti Technologies. "With Hyper-V support, WatchGuard is providing important management, visibility and analytics tools for these customers who want the highest level of security for their virtualized networks."
WatchGuard also provides the flexibility for customers to deploy on premise hardware in combination with virtual appliances, while maintaining a single, centralized management console.
According to a 2012 IDC study on virtualization market share, Hyper-V accounts for approximately 26 percent of virtualized environments, and is gaining momentum. As more customers look to Microsoft for virtualization solutions, WatchGuard wants to ensure these customers have access to powerful, manageable security tools that can grow along with the company.
"WatchGuard's XTMv and XCSv products offer the same best-in-class security our customers have come to know and expect of our physical appliance solutions and extend their visibility protection into the virtualized environment," said Roger Klorese, director of product management at WatchGuard. "We are proud to be a part of the Microsoft Partner Network so we can support Hyper-V customers with WatchGuard's powerful, scalable and manageable security solutions."
