SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SonicWALL, Inc. today announced that it has acquired email security company MailFrontier, Inc. for a consideration of approximately $31 million in an all cash transaction.
The purchase of MailFrontier enables SonicWALL to bring powerful, easy to manage email security to channel partners and their end users as part of its end-to-end suite of secure content protection. MailFrontier's customers will benefit from the integration of SonicWALL's market-leading secure content management (SCM) and unified threat management (UTM) capabilities, while SonicWALL's distributed enterprise customers will have access to a further range of offerings for the mid-market.
Palo Alto, California-based MailFrontier is a privately-held company providing award-winning email security and compliance solutions to the mid-enterprise market. Its powerful, easily-managed products protect organizations against inbound and outbound email threats such as spam, viruses and phishing, and provide policy enforcement and control to simplify achieving regulatory compliance and corporate governance. MailFrontier currently has over 1,700 customers using its appliance and software based email security services offering across a broad range of industries worldwide, including large distributed deployments such as OfficeMax and Wyndham International.
The acquisition supports SonicWALL's commitment to creating profitable opportunities for its channel partners by offering them an integrated set of products and subscription services that provide powerful, simple alternatives to complex technology. SonicWALL's global network of 10,000 solution providers will benefit from the ability to sell an even broader range of products and services from a single supplier that understands the unique requirements of small and mid-enterprise companies. The MailFrontier Gateway platform provides a foundation for continued development of security solutions and enables SonicWALL's managed services partners to deliver a hosted email security platform to their end customers.
"MailFrontier's solutions, providing power without complexity, are a natural fit with our offerings," said Matthew Medeiros, president and chief executive officer of SonicWALL, Inc. "Secure content management is a high growth segment offering excellent potential for SonicWALL and our partners worldwide. MailFrontier's IP portfolio provides a significant opportunity for future expansion of our capabilities in this area.
"Our channel partners and their customers are adamant that they need a powerful, simple solution that can be integrated into their broader secure network," added Medeiros.
Anne Bonaparte, president and chief executive officer of MailFrontier, said, "Given the continued complexity and hybrid nature of threats attacking corporate networks, security is of critical importance. End users are increasingly concerned about protection of content on outbound email paths for regulatory compliance and corporate governance requirements. Our combined technology strengths and distribution breadth will enhance the comprehensive security solutions we are able to offer our customers."
End-user requirements for protection, productivity and regulatory compliance in their email communications are driving rapid growth in the email messaging security area, estimated to reach $1.6 billion by 2007(1). Research firm, IDC, ranks SonicWALL as the global leader in UTM units and shipments(2) and third in web filtering appliances. Today's move addresses strong channel demand for a comprehensive SonicWALL messaging security solution to support this growing market. SonicWALL has shipped more than 750,000 products to-date.
About SonicWALL, Inc.
Founded in 1991, SonicWALL, Inc. designs, develops and manufactures comprehensive network security, secure remote access, and continuous data protection solutions. Offering both appliance-based products as well as value-added subscription services, SonicWALL's comprehensive solutions enable organizations to secure deep protection without compromising network performance. SonicWALL is a recognized global leader in the small and medium business markets and its solutions are deployed in distributed enterprise environments, government, retail point-of-sale and healthcare segments as well as through service providers. SonicWALL, Inc. is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol SNWL. For more information, contact SonicWALL at +1 (408) 745-9600 or visit the company web site at http://www.sonicwall.com/.
About MailFrontier
MailFrontier is the leading provider of email and compliance solutions that protect organizations against threats such as spam, phishing and viruses, identify and enforce regulatory and corporate compliance policies, and enable consolidation of email infrastructure. The MailFrontier platform provides power without complexity. The company has more than 1,700 enterprise customers, including HealthEast Care System, Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., OfficeMax, Pier 1 Imports, SAP and Wyndham International. Founded in 2002, MailFrontier is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. For additional information, go to http://www.mailfrontier.com/.
Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding providing a suite of secure content protection offerings, the benefits of the acquisition to existing customers of MailFrontier, the benefits of the acquisition to customers of SonicWALL, the ability to create profitable opportunities for channel partners by providing an integrated set of products and subscription services, the benefits of the acquisition to SonicWALL's global network of solution providers, the ability to exploit Mail Frontier's gateway platform to develop security solutions, enhanced ability to provide comprehensive security solutions, secure content management as a high growth market segment, the ability to leverage MailFrontier's intellectual property portfolio to expand SonicWALL capabilities, the expected growth of the market for email messaging security and the strong channel demand for a comprehensive messaging security solution. These forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the time the statements are made and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. In addition, please see the "Risk Factors" described in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2004, and our reports on Form 10-Q for interim periods thereafter, for a more detailed description of the risks facing our business. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to SonicWALL as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to SonicWALL as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.
NOTE: SonicWALL is a registered trademark of SonicWALL, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
(1)(2) "IDC Worldwide Secure Content Management 2005.2009 Forecast Update and 2004 Vendor Shares, Q3, 2005" Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker, Q3, December 2005
FCMN Contact: mmcevoy@sonicwall.com
© 2006 PR Newswire
