Crossbeam, Check Point, Firewall team on UTM

Crossbeam Systems, Check Point and distributor Firewall Systems have partnered to deliver a unified threat management (UTM) service via resellers to the mid-market.

Under the agreement, Firewall would market a combined firewall, IPSec, SSL VPN, intrusion prevention and anti-virus package using Check Point’s Express CI software running on Crossbeam’s C2 and C6 security services switches, to the reseller channel.

Peter Owen, Australian country manager at Crossbeam, said UTM was an area where Check Point had suffered some losses to the competition in the past in the mid- to low-end market.

Check Point now had a UTM offering to take to market with Crossbeam, he said. “We’re using it as an opportunity to [build the] brand and get people aware of our offering.

The C2 and C6 offerings from a price/performance perspective were cheaper than similar offerings from the likes of Nokia, he claimed.

“There’s good margin [for resellers] but it’s also priced at a point which is conducive to their end users that are upgrading. It’s a great offering for them,” he said.

At the low-end, Crossbeam C2 with a Check Point 50 user licence costs $12,831 (ex.GST) right up to $37,625 for Crossbeam C6 with a Check Point 500 user licence.

The service includes a full-year’s support and security advisory services from Check Point and additional services from Firewall Systems.

“This is the first time the Check Point Express CI has been made available as an appliance-based UTM solution,” said Scott McKinnel, country manager, Australia and New Zealand for Check Point.

“Express CI has been available as software for generic services, but never before on purpose-built hardware that has passed interoperability testing,” he said.

The Crossbeam platform is the only one tested to run Express CI.

Check Point partners which previously had to consider alternative technology at the mid-to low-end could now use Check Point expertise and apply it across their entire customer base, said Nick Verykios, marketing director at Firewall Systems.