Juniper Networks today announced two key appointments to its operations team. Bask Iyer has been appointed as senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO) and Martin J. Garvin has been appointed senior vice president of manufacturing operations. Iyer joins Juniper Networks from Honeywell, where he most recently served as company-wide CIO and a member of the leadership team driving its IT vision, strategy and operating plan. While, Garvin most recently served as senior vice president and chief procurement officer at Dell, where he was responsible for the strategic leadership and operation of Dell’s global supply chain. Read More…

Sophos announced that it has completed its acquisition of network security vendor Astaro. This acquisition will allow Sophos to deliver coordinated, best-in-class threat and data protection offerings from every endpoint to any network boundary. Organizations today face new challenges in protecting users and IT infrastructure from complex and targeted security threats; especially those that gain entry from across the Web or through new applications. As workforces become distributed across multiple offices, including the home, even basic security controls have become hard to update and enforce. Through this acquisition, Sophos will address the need for security solutions that provide threat and policy protection no matter where the user or company data resides.
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ComGuard, a leading value added distributor for IT security products and solutions signs up with GFI Software to distribute its wide portfolio of products and solutions across the Middle East region. ComGuard will distribute the GFI web monitoring, and a range of network solutions including a vulnerability scanner, software for patch and log management and various monitoring, web and e-mail security solutions such as virus and spam filters, and endpoint security products. And, it will work with its channel partners to identify sales opportunities for GFI products and solutions that would address the business challenges of end users.
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SonicWALL announced the availability of WAN Acceleration in SonicOS 5.8.1, further enhancing the capabilities of the current SonicWALL Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Series and introducing integrated support for the SonicWALL WAN Acceleration Appliance (WXA) Series. SonicWALL’s commitment to continued investment in its NGFW series and to providing its customers with a highly secure, accelerated and optimized network that drives business and employee efficiency. The delivery of SonicOS 5.8.1 bolsters SonicWALL’s consolidated security platform and tightly integrates features like application intelligence, control and visualization and deep packet inspection scanning with the WXA Series to provide WAN optimization and acceleration for the distributed enterprise. Read More…

Trend Micro, a global Internet security solutions vendor, has announced the public beta release of Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2012. Customers who download the 2012 beta version today will be eligible to receive an exclusive discount for the finished product via email when it’s launched later this summer. Users may access the beta www.trendmicro.com/titaniumbeta. The Titanium 2012 release continues the success Trend Micro established with the 2011 version–delivering a product with industry leading protection and solutions that alleviate consumer pain points. Research has consistently shown that consumers are frustrated by security products that slow their systems down, are intrusive, and are complex and difficult to understand. Read More…

AL Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Co., a provider of technology-based end-to-end solutions in the Middle East, says that the Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) solution bundled with the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system (OS) it distributes across the Middle East offers solid protection against the various threats faced by the region’s home and office computing environments. The Middle East’s internet usage has grown a phenomenal 1,987 per cent from 2000 to 2011 – the highest rate in the world. With almost 70 million internet users and growing, the region is also witnessing a surge in malicious software and web-based attacks.
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With the growth of applications for Mobile phones and adoption of business tools, social media on mobile phone and mobile computing like tablets, the security threat in mobile space is becoming real. Employees use these new technologies to engage with their colleagues, customers and business partners. Modern-day empowered employees use smart-phones and tablets to work from remote locations. We are a truly mobile workforce. Read More…

iViZ Security, a global provider of industry’s first cloud based, consultant grade penetration testing service for applications with an on-demand experience, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Emitac Enterprise Solutions to distribute its solutions in UAE, Qatar and Jordan. Under the terms of this agreement, Emitac will offer iViZ cloud based, consultant grade penetration testing service for applications under its own brand name to customers in the region.Read More…

McAfee recently announced the launch of the SMB Specialization within the McAfee SecurityAlliance program (MSA) to enable partners to improve profitability while addressing the unique needs of SMB customers. McAfee SMB specialization is a program that enables partners to sell targeted security solutions to customers with less than 250 employees. By enrolling in this, partners can offer their customers email, web, data and endpoint security solutions, with on-premise or SaaS delivery models. Also, program partners can take advantage of a monthly billing option, a full range of enablement tools, turnkey marketing programs, and dedicated resources. Read More…

The first week of Olympic ticket payments has seen the continuance of cyber attacks, according to the latest information from Norton. Cyber criminals have employed tried and tested methods to target ticket hopefuls, including poisoned Internet search results and fake e-mail confirmations. Over 1 500 malicious Web links were identified when searching for common Olympic related terms such as “London 2012 stadium diagram”, “London 2012 stadium seating chart”, “London 2012 stadium map” and “London 2012 logo ideas”. Read More…

ChannelTech Middle East and Africa (CTMEA) talks to Andy Zollo, vice president, SonicWALL EMEA on the vendor’s plans to pioneer new initiatives in the MEA region. A lot has been said about 2011, what is SonicWALL’s main focus for the MEA channel this year? SonicWALL views the Middle East and Africa region as the fastest growing geography that the company covers and that’s why we have put in and will continue to invest in the channel in this emerging market. The investments we have been making relate to technical resource and support, as well as marketing and brand awareness channel initiatives. For instance, we’re just starting a technical resource in Saudi which will be established soon and provide on the ground in-country support. We’re also looking for a direct touch because, as we expand into the enterprise market and we need more of that customer touch ourselves so that the channel should deliver on the opportunity. It’s all about providing comprehensive support to our channel ecosystem and getting the balance. Overall, the partner landscape needs to be balanced with distributors to improve our market reach and base. They’re two types of distributors we engage with and these are typically those who adopt the SMB range of products and enterprise focused partners that engage with top tier system integrators, VARs, and solution providers. We have a clear global two tier channel policy and everything goes through the channel. Even as we deploy direct touch, the channel can be reassured that everything goes through distribution and all those direct touch initiations are passed on to channel partners to fulfill the deals.Read More…

help AG, leading information security consultants awarded as the region’s first Support Service Partner for Palo Alto Networks, the network security company. help AG which has been working with Palo Alto Networks since January 2010, currently has the highest number of Palo Alto Networks certified engineers in the entire Middle East region. This partnership with Palo Alto Networks defines help AG as a single point of contact for enterprise customers. help AG’s Palo Alto Networks-certified and hands-on experienced, technical consultants will be providing 24-hour, 7 days a week, local advanced support services under the service level agreement (SLA) through phone, email and onsite support services.
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