Press Releases

WatchGuard in the News

WatchGuard Awards

Case Studies

White Papers

Image Library

WatchGuard Beats Juniper, Fortinet and SonicWall for Blocking Threats

WatchGuard Firebox Peak UTM Appliance Lauded by Independent Lab Test for Having "Everything Needed for Comprehensive Network Security"

SEATTLE – February 23, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today announced the results of an in-depth, independent lab test of the WatchGuard Firebox X Peak 8500 UTM appliance, which was tested by Miercom and recently published as a cover story in Communications News. Testing focused on both effectiveness of the solution as well as performance in terms of throughput and blocking.

As stated in the Communications News feature, "Comprehensive security provision is asking a lot of one box, especially at enterprise level demand. Three of the four tested units failed to block many of the security threats delivered by the three security effectiveness test systems. The WatchGuard Firebox Peak X 8500e was the exception and performed well on all security effectiveness tests."

"It is time to set the record straight. Some vendors claim that superior throughput equals winning a competitive review, but that is very misleading. At the end of the day what counts is superior security. On the security battlefield, what is going to be more useful – a tank or a sports car?" asked Eric Aarrestad, Vice President of Marketing at WatchGuard Technologies. "There may be faster UTM products out there, but this test confirms that none are better at blocking threats than WatchGuard."

To validate this, WatchGuard refers to the data as published in the Communications News review:

• WatchGuard – blocked 99 percent of threats generated by BreakingPoint Systems' BPS-1K security appliance
• Juniper – blocked 48 percent of threats by BreakingPoint
• Fortinet – blocked 44 percent of threats by BreakingPoint
• SonicWall – blocked 50 percent of threats by BreakingPoint

The BreakingPoint system delivered a strike level 5 test that included exploits, network worms, denial-of-service attack, reconnaissance attacks, Trojan horse and backdoor intrusions.

The Communications News review further states, "The WatchGuard approach to security is different than the others in this review. Using proxy-based technology, all traffic is blocked except for that allowed by the network administrator. This system provides the most security since all traffic is treated suspect and not allowed to enter the LAN, preventing the propagation of threats."

"Miercom is proud to announce that the WatchGuard Firebox X Peak 8500e has earned the Performance Verified certification based on recent hands-on product testing. The WatchGuard appliance provides comprehensive network security that is capable of blocking threats, even on non-standard, non-assigned ports, and when compared to the competitive average, WatchGuard provides superior vulnerability effectiveness," said Robert Smithers, CEO Miercom. "Because of these factors, WatchGuard earns the right to be Miercom Performance Verified." The complete Miercom Lab Testing Summary Report of the WatchGuard appliance is available at: http://www.watchguard.com/miercom. The complete Communications News review is available at: http://tinyurl.com/cudjnb.

About Miercom
Miercom is a leading, independent product test center with hundreds of its product-comparison analyses published over the years in leading network trade periodicals. Our reports regularly appear in Business Communications Review – NoJitter, Communications News, Internet Telephony, Network World, xchange and other publications.

Miercom features comprehensive certification and test programs including Reliability Assured, Certified Secure™ and Certified Green™. Products may also be evaluated under the NetWORKS As Advertised™ program, in which networking-related products must pass a comprehensive, independent assessment of their usability and performance as compared to advertised specifications.

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of network security solutions, providing mission-critical security to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances and WatchGuard SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network security, unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit www.watchguard.com.

WatchGuard and LiveSecurity are registered trademarks of WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. All other marks are property of their respective owners.