Sophos has announced that it has once again been positioned in the “Leaders” quadrant of Gartner’s 2013 “Magic Quadrant for Unified Threat Management”.
The quadrant is based on an assessment of a company’s ability to execute and completeness of vision. Sophos is the only IT security to be positioned as a Leader across three key areas of security: unified threat management (UTM); mobile data protection; and endpoint protection platforms.

According to Gartner, Leaders are at the forefront of making and selling UTM products that are built for midsize business requirements. The requirements necessary for leadership include a wide range of models to cover midsize business use cases, support for multiple features, and a management and reporting capability that’s designed for ease of use.

Vendors in this quadrant lead the market in offering new safeguarding features, and in enabling customers to deploy them inexpensively without significantly affecting the end-user experience or increasing staffing burdens.

These vendors also have a good track record of avoiding vulnerabilities in their security products. Common characteristics include reliability, consistent throughput and products that are intuitive to manage and administer.

This latest recognition comes on the heels of Sophos’ UTM momentum. From a growth perspective, the company recently recorded its third consecutive year of 30% growth for UTM; Sophos’ UTM-specific business now accounts for more than $100-million in revenue. Additionally, the company’s number of UTM channel partners grew 23% worldwide, further reflecting its “channel-first” focus.

From a technology perspective, Sophos delivered numerous UTM advancements to securely and efficiently meet the needs of the evolving business network.

In the last year, the company introduced: Sophos UTM Connected, which delivers combined gateway, endpoint and cloud web protection; Sophos UTM 100, a small business UTM that provides enterprise-grade security at a fraction of the cost; Sophos UTM Manager, a free central management tool for service providers that simplifies the process of managing multiple UTM installations; and Sophos Complete MSP Security, which offers complete protection for networks, endpoints and mobile devices from a single vendor.

Sophos also continues to advance small and medium-sized branch office security with its Remote Ethernet Device (RED) appliances.

“Sophos continues to push the needle with simple, yet powerful solutions to address complex security issues, as evidenced by its market growth, channel expansion and product delivery,” says Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos distributor, NetXactics. “An aggressive roadmap, coupled with an ongoing focus on the mid-market, positions the company for further success in future.”

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