FORT LEE, N.J., Feb. 9, 2004 (PRIMEZONE)-- Whale Communications, the innovator of Application Aware(tm) SSL VPNs, today announced its SSL VPN sales grew 229 percent in 2003 over 2002.
"The strong market acceptance of the Whale remote access gateway reflects the growing sophistication of the large enterprise buyer. The market has now entered the phase where these customers in increasing numbers fully appreciate the strategic value of owning a flexible access control platform," said Dana Hendrickson, President, Breakaway Marketing Group, a market analyst firm and publisher of the SSL VPN Central web site.
Whale booked more than $2.3 million in revenue in the second half of Q4. In 2003, it also sold close to 200 e-Gap(r) Remote Access Appliances, primarily to enterprises delivering access to more than 2,000 users. Fortune 500 enterprises, including Mutual of Omaha, Loews Corp, Dominion Resources, Yellow Technologies and Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), have selected Whale's Application Aware SSL VPN to provide secure remote access.
"Our increasing market share and wins in the large enterprise space are due to our flexible platform which allowed us to provide them with exactly what they needed in terms of application security, user experience and of course our ability to smoothly integrate with their existing environment," said Whale's President Daniel Steiner.
Whale sees the market segmenting between large enterprises opting for SSL VPNs as a strategic access device and those smaller enterprises selecting SSL VPNs as IPSec VPN replacements.
Application Aware SSL VPNs enable enterprises to provide remote access not only to trusted employees from un-trusted endpoints but also un-trusted users from un-trusted endpoints. Now enterprises can easily extend their SSL VPN usage to provide access to customers and partners as well as employees. By being application aware, Whale's e-Gap Remote Access Appliance is the ultimate secure access layer. It has built-in support for key applications and the ability to learn with ease additional applications. Whale's flexible platform is designed to meet the secure access needs of enterprises today and tomorrow.
Whale believes that the market segmentation, which was emphasized by the entrance of Cisco, Check Point and Symantec, will completely change the sector in 2004.
"Our application awareness gives us a real technology advantage. It gives us an edge as far as time to market is concerned. Having built the product infrastructure in 2003, the other players will need to go back to the drawing board to catch up. We've seen this at customer sites where we were able to provide access solutions within days that our competitors were unable to deliver without issuing new versions," said Gamiel Gran, Whale's VP of business development. "This also positions us well for developing and deepening existing partnerships with leading application vendors."
Des Lekerman, managing director of UK reseller Eurodata, summarized this from his point of view: "We have a reputation for identifying early on the next leading technologies, and we are always on the look out for new products to take to market successfully. Almost two years ago we were the first in the UK to provide Whale's solution. Our expectations were high, yet our sales have exceeded them and now we are seeing the market split between the strategic enterprise remote access solution and the simple IPSec replacements as benefiting both Whale and us."
In the UK, Eurodata working jointly with Whale, has developed business with some leading customers that include BT Syntegra, AMEC, Financial Times, Hasbro and the Alea Group.
About Whale Communications
Whale Communications, the leading enterprise-class SSL VPN vendor, is enabling companies to provide employees and partners secure access to corporate data and applications from any web browser. Its award-winning solutions have been securing enterprises worldwide since it was founded in 1998. Privately held, Whale is funded by prominent venture firms and industry leaders, including Goldman Sachs, Soros Private Equity Partners and the BRM Group, the founding investor of Check Point Software Technologies. The company is headquartered in Fort Lee, New Jersey and has international offices in Israel, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Whale Communications, e-Gap, Application Aware, Whale and the Whale logo are trademarks of Whale Communications Ltd. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders. For more information about Whale visit: www.whalecommunications.com