Messaging News - February 2009 - (Page 12)

Virtualized Environments around. You can put a test system into production, back up a live production, etc. All these types of things become possible with virtualization that are really a lot harder to do with physical appliances.” At Spam Titan, Kavanagh finds that initially it is cost driven, which, he describes as “hooking into the whole server consolidation math equation.” He also adds, “But what we have found over time, is that people are becoming more aware of the instant scalability, or instant redundancy that can be built in, or the backup that can be built in. People are figuring out quickly that the advantages environment,” says Kavanagh. “For example, for the VMware environment, the use of VMware ESX and ESXi product suites. These are the ones that let you build back up and redundancy solutions and put them in place. We see an increase in customers that are using those, rather than the stand-alone server versions. What we gleam from that is that customers are really benefiting from the advantages of virtualization.” Kavanagh also notes an interesting shift in the attitude of customers from those who use physical appliances and those who use virtual. “The customer has greater ownerhave considered the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway appliance to be the flagship previously. So definitely the increase in SaaS has been huge.” In fact, Proofpoint is seeing a variety of combinations of its offerings being used by a single organization. “I believe the hybrid will be more popular and is the wave of the future,” predicts Crosley. “You are going to see more trending toward things that are deployed as hardware, as virtual, and as SaaS in a mixed environment, depending on how it makes sense for the customer. For a while, hybrid meant mixing virtual and hardware appliances, but now hybrid also includes mixing “The customer has greater ownership and control over the hardware solution themselves. If they have issues with the virtual environment, it is easier for the customers to take control and solve the problem themselves. We find that customers prefer this and it suits them.”—Ronan Kavanagh Spam Titan over stand-alone physical appliances are tremendous. For example, if a physical appliance breaks, it requires a physical interaction. With a virtual one, if it breaks, another appliance is immediately deployed in its place with the exact same configuration, at no extra cost and no inconvenience.” Adopters of virtualization have also found what Proofpoint found, while using the product for its own QA. “In the same way that it makes the product easy for us to QA internally, it is a great way for potential customers to get the experience of the product without having to commit to a hardware appliance evaluation agreement,” says Crosley. “It makes a great evaluation environment. It turns an enterprise software product into a shareware model, where you can download a product, get a key for it, and have access to the whole product. We do not have to ship it, nor do they have to install anything into their racks.” In fact, early adopters are now expanding virtualization uses. “We are seeing a dramatic increase towards a more sophisticated virtual ship and control over the hardware solution themselves. If they have issues with the virtual environment, it is easier for the customers to take control and solve the problem themselves. We find that customers prefer this and it suits them. No matter how good the customer support is, if the customer can solve the problem themselves, they are happy to take greater control of the solution.” SaaS, Virtualization and the Hybrid Solution As mentioned in Pinching Pennies with SaaS (December 2008), hosted offerings are the other technology on a fast-growth track. As Proofpoint started with software, and moved to physical appliances and now has both SaaS and virtual products, one wonders if the company has experienced a customer shift towards its latest offerings. “The business is definitely shifting in those two directions,” confirms Crosley. “The SaaS offerings—Proofpoint on Demand both enterprise and standard edition—are our fastest growing deployment model. I expect Proofpoint on Demand to become the flagship product, where as people would SaaS and on-premise, and virtual is part of the on-premise world. So now if someone wants a hybrid deployment, you really have to ask more questions.” SJ/TMP FOR YOUR REFERENCE Osterman Research, Inc. www.ostermanresearch.com Proofpoint, Inc. www.proofpoint.com Spam Titan www.spamtitan.com Unison Technologies, Inc. www.unison.com VMware, Inc. www.vmware.com 12 MESSAGING NEWS FEBRUARY 2009 http://www.ostermanresearch.com http://www.proofpoint.com http://www.spamtitan.com http://www.unison.com http://www.vmware.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Messaging News - February 2009

Messaging News - February 2009 Contents Editor’s Note Short Takes Options Grow for Virtualized Environments Messaging Predictions for 2009 Moving Into the Cloud IBM Comes Out Swinging Next in Messaging News Learning to Do More with Less: An RSA Conference 2009 Preview “On Message” with Ben Gross The Web Has Shifted. Is Your Network Ready? Making the Case Learn More

Messaging News - February 2009

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