Axent packages its firewalls with Compaq servers for cheap turnkey network security
Axent Technologies Inc. of Rockville, Md., is throwing a fire sale on firewalls. Its Raptor 5.0 package for Microsoft Windows NT now comes bundled with Compaq Computer Corp. servers at a deep discount. The Axent Secure Packs, which provide turnkey network security for large or small enterprises, arrive preconfigured and ready to plug into a network.
Axent Technologies Inc. of Rockville, Md., is throwing a fire sale on firewalls. Its
Raptor 5.0 package for Microsoft Windows NT now comes bundled with Compaq Computer Corp.
servers at a deep discount.
The Axent Secure Packs, which provide turnkey network security for large or small
enterprises, arrive preconfigured and ready to plug into a network.
The Raptor firewall and Compaqs ProSignia and ProLiant servers already are
discounted on General Services Administration schedule contracts. Axent marketing director
Tom Mulvehill said he expects the Secure Packs also to appear on schedule contracts.
Many agencies adoption of Windows NT for networking has created a significant
market for Raptor and other NT firewalls, Mulvehill said.
"I think the price alone will get their attention," he said.
The $6,000 Business Secure Pack includes a 100-user Raptor license and a ProSignia 200
Pentium II server with NT 4.0. Mulvehill said the 100-user license alone would sell for
$6,500, and the Compaq server would retail for about $1,500.
A $14,000 Enterprise Secure Pack includes an unlimited Raptor license, a ProLiant 1600
server and NT 4.0. An unlimited firewall license alone sells for $15,000, Mulvehill said,
and the ProLiant server is about $3,800.
The price cuts could give Axent and Compaq, which has about a 4 percent equity stake in
Axent, a bigger share of the NT market, Mulvehill said.
"All sides agreed were going to take a little hit on our margins to do
this," he said. "They want to move their boxes, we want to move firewalls, and
this is the logical way to do it. There is still plenty of money on the table for
everybody."
The commercial integration of firewall software with server hardware could benefit
users in ways other than price. Many network security surveys have found that sites often
configure their firewalls improperly at installation.
Factory preconfiguration could eliminate that vulnerability, Mulvehill said.
Distributors and resellers for Axent and Compaq will all sell Secure Packs under a
single part number, Mulvehill said. Axents 600 value-added resellers now account for
the bulk of its firewall sales, he said.
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