Kerio introduces software and virtual editions of its firewall appliance 9 November, 2009 By Mark Cox

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In another first, both versions employ a hardened Linux OS that requires no configuration or maintenance; the software appliance is available as an ISO image for easy installation on dedicated hardware, and the virtual appliance is available as an industry-standard OVF package designed for VMware deployment, but also easily installable on other virtualization platforms.

"This is a major change for the direction of the product, a product that Kerio was built on," said Dusan Vitek, VP of worldwide marketing for Kerio Technologies. "The Windows-only era for Kerio ends." Kerio will, however continue to offer a Windows version, which is functionally the same.

Vitek said the change is all about customer choice.

"In the firewall market, we found a lot of customers and VARs who use traditional firewall appliance, are forced into a delivery mechanism that isn't flexible enough for them," he said. We believe firewall security is all about the software. A majority of the products today ship on a physical piece of hardware, and run close to their capacity, which is seen as necessary by many firewall vendors to keep the cost down."

The new approach also allows Kerio to plug its' firewall offering into the virtual market, where its messaging solutions (Kerio's other line) have had considerable success.

"When we first debated our Linux approach with our messaging line, we did not know at that time if virtualization would be popular in our SMB base or if it would be mainly enterprise," Vitek said. "And it was only six months after we launched a virtual version of that product we saw a huge uptake, that we didn't really expect."

At this point, Vitek said there is strong interest in both the software and virtual offerings.

"We've seen tremendous interest in our beta stage in both. It's really early for us to say how the distribution between Windows and these two versions will look like, although we will have a clear indication in six months where the market is headed."

"For VARs, the option of building a low cost virtual system is endless," Vitek said. "Today we are at a point where the $500 Dell you buy gives you enough power to run 4 virtual appliances. This is a big deal for VARs and customers."

"Smaller customers look for price, and what I can do there with this product is compete better, but larger customers see a more efficient firewall that they can deploy quickly, with better reliability," said Steve Wildow, CEO of Tipp Technical Solutions, LLC, a Kerio Preferred Partner based in Dayton, Ohio. "There is a tremendous amount of time saving. Deployment is so much quicker. The customer can see that and see the cost savings."

The new software and virtual appliances of Kerio WinRoute Firewall are available immediately. Kerio WinRoute Firewall Software Appliance starts at $USD 329 for ten users, or $USD 395 with integrated McAfee Anti-Virus.