SonicWALL is in transformation mode as it integrates its operations with Dell Corp after it was acquired by the latter in May 2012. Rechristened Dell SonicWALL, the 20 year old SMB specialist is now making inroads into the large enterprise segment with a little help from Dell’s sales force. Richard Ting, VP – Asia Sales & GM, Dell SonicWALL in conversation with Durba Ghosh
How will being part of Dell benefit SonicWALL’s operations?
We were acquired by Dell in May and are in the process of integrating our operations with those of our new parent company. Dell has chalked out a plan for SonicWALL; there is going to be expansion and integration of our services into Dell’s operations. In India, we are in the process of hiring a Country Manager. We are well known in the SMB space but, in the large enterprise, we are still fairly unknown. Dell will provide us with the leverage to reach these enterprises. We come under Dell’s software division. It is a new vertical within Dell, and our security services will be incorporated into Dell products.
We had a national presence before the acquisition. Today, Dell is making investments to increase SonicWALL’s headcount. There will be investments in adding sales resources too to the tune of 60%. We are also leveraging Dell sales force within India; it has about 485 salespeople here.
Tell us about the focus on enterprises.
Eight years back, we had decided to focus on the SMB space. We have helped them secure data communications and protect online transactions by offering solutions at affordable costs. We offer layered network security, secure remote access, remote support and remote PC access, Web and email security plus CDP. Our presence in the SMB segment is quite strong. We have now started to develop solutions targeting the enterprise. Our association with Dell will enable us to increase our presence in this segment. We will leverage existing SMB clients too by aiding them in their expansion to boost our presence in the enterprise segment.
What kind of opportunity do you see in the Cloud computing space?
Every enterprise that has deployed Cloud infrastructure or uses a hosted Cloud network, needs efficient security modules. Traditional firewalls will be incapable of securing data in the Cloud. Our next generation of firewalls comes with these capabilities built in. Future firewalls will also evolve with Cloud functionality baked in. Dell will also integrate our security product in its enterprise product line as it is looking to grow its Cloud offerings.
What’s next for the data security industry?
The next big thing is mobility. With concepts like Bring Your Own Device, social networking and use of third party Web applications, security solutions also have to evolve. There is a huge data explosion—internal as well as external. Firewalls of the future will have to be capable of handling such data traffic. Every future firewall update will evolve keeping in mind the fast mobilization of organizations. Managed services are another area where security services like ours can be deployed. There are different ways in which security technology can be consumed and the upcoming security solutions will address that. Hosted services are also an area where security is crucial. Almost all businesses have a firewall installed in their infrastructure but it is important to scale it up rapidly with virtualization and Cloud computing coming into the picture.
