For the first time *(Please see clarification below), networking major Cisco is planning to roll out security products and solutions in India.
The company will bring its firewall and other kinds of security (hardware and software) solutions to Indian businesses. It will bring its ASA series of security products that combine firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, remote access and other features.
This, according to company officials, will be integrated in its networking switches and routers. The company is trying to get a stronger foothold in the security segment in India, which is fast growing.
The security software market in India was pegged at $209 million in 2011 and is set to grow to $320 million by 2014, a 50 per cent growth as per Gartner estimates. Companies in Asia-Pacific are expected to spend $4.7 billion on security, according to Gartner.
This push from Cisco, into the security segment is a part of the vision outlined by CEO, Mr John Chambers.
“India is seeing a big data centre build-out. Coupled with a young workforce that is bringing its own devices into the workforce, which in turn puts stress on security, we see sizeable opportunity in securing networks,” Mr Christopher Young, Senior Vice-President, Security and Government Group, Cisco Systems, told Business Line.
Newer security ways
This requires newer security ways of managing security that include identity management across different devices and locations. Companies, which already have different security hardware installed, need not rip their existing ones.
Cisco, with its ASA Series of security products, will be targeting banks, financial services, telecom, government and retail sectors.
According to company officials, one million security appliances were deployed till date in other geographies.
Cisco, in its second quarter of FY12 fiscal, has clocked $334 million in revenues from security products. It competes with HP, Huawei and Juniper in the Indian market.
Cisco plans to roll out security products, solutions' published online on April 10 had erroneously stated that Cisco is introducing security products to India for the first time. Cisco has clarified that it already offers enterprise security solutions and is now bringing to India its recently announced solutions developed to address the newer security challenges faced by enterprises, which include solutions optimized for virtual and cloud environments. The error is regretted.