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The virtualization was initially driven by the idea of getting more use out of underutilized servers. The next logical progression
is to eliminate some of the dedicated appliances strewn across enterprises, says one analyst.
“It makes sense to take what used to be a separate, dedicated, physical appliance and make it a separate, dedicated, virtual
appliance,” says Neil MacDonald, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
Kohn says the creation of the virtual appliance was easy because the company originally based its product on standard hardware
and software, namely Linux and Solaris. In addition, the company’s pricing model – which is based on number of users, not
per appliance – translates easily to the virtual world.
For an organization with 250 users, a one-year license of Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway for VMware with antispam,
antivirus, and content-compliance modules will cost around $10,000.
The virtualized appliance is available in beta version now at Proofpoint’s Web site. Proofpoint plans to release virtual versions
of its e-mail security appliance for other virtual environments, though company officials declined to specify which ones.
Proofpoint competes with e-mail security appliance makers such as IronPort, CipherTrust, Barracuda, Tumbleweed and Mirapoint.
