“Virtual appliances are sparking interest for many of our customers that are extending the ‘green IT’ and management benefits of their server virtualisation initiatives,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks. “Barracuda Virtual Appliances will integrate seamlessly into the virtualisation framework while combining the same powerful technology, ease of use and value found in the full range of Barracuda Networks hardware appliances.”
A number of drivers are contributing to the move toward virtual appliance deployment by Barracuda Networks customers:
Easy to use and deploy. Virtual appliances can be deployed for high availability and can easily scale as capacity requirements grow without changing hardware or software. Virtual appliances are also easier to move, back up and restore.
Green tech initiatives. By consolidating servers and the network infrastructure into fewer physical servers, organisations can save physical space in their data centres and server rooms as well as reduce the amount of energy required for heating and cooling physical infrastructures.
Reduced TCO. Virtualisation can reduce the data centre costs associated with implementing and maintaining additional infrastructure hardware.
A recent survey by IDC (December 2009, IDC #220767, Virtual Security Appliance Survey: What’s Really Going On?) found that more than 70 percent of respondents – comprised of organisations of all sizes and across all industries – are including virtual appliance deployment into general IT budgets or within existing security appliance budgets. The survey also indicated a nearly 60/40 split between SMBs and enterprises that have already deployed virtual appliances for security applications.
“We typically tend to see the SMB market move toward new technology adoption more quickly than the enterprise space, in large part because they are able to make swift decisions and can be very nimble when it comes to shifting technology,” said Chris Christiansen, program vice president of Security Products and Services for IDC. “In this sense, Barracuda Networks can capture the initiative in supplying virtual appliances due to their exceptional success in the SMB space with their appliance offerings.
“On the other hand we are also finding that virtual appliance adoption across a range of enterprises is strong and we expect continued adoption of this approach will continue into the foreseeable future,” added Christiansen. “This gives Barracuda Networks a unique opportunity to service the enterprise market as it makes the shift toward virtualisation as well. Overall, this is a very solid, strategic move for them.”
Today’s announcement creates new sales opportunities for Barracuda Networks’ channel partners who can now offer a range of solutions in form factors that best suit the customer’s network needs. Barracuda Networks has enhanced its partner program to better accommodate the customer buying process for virtual appliances.
“We remain dedicated to the success of our channel partners and will commit additional resources to ensure that they are equipped to sell our complete product portfolio, including our new virtual offerings,” said Pao. Barracuda Networks expansive channel includes more than 5,000 active partners worldwide.