Dell Jumps Into Crowded Endpoint Security Fray

Dell Tuesday joined an endpoint security fray already crowded with established players Symantec and Sophos as well as a bevy of hungry startups.

Dell, Round Rock, Texas, rolled out the Dell Data Protection and Endpoint Security Suite, which the company said sets itself apart by streamlining management and reporting as well as offering advanced encryption technology and easy deployment.

"Today we are taking our solutions approach to the next level by being able to provide our partners and customers an integrated security suite that they can sell alongside their Dell [products] or any other [products] that they might bring to market," said Brett Hansen, executive director of end user computing software and mobility at Dell. "This suite will address one of the most fundamental challenges facing midmarket companies today, which is how to efficiently and effectively secure their endpoints and end users."

[Related: IDC: Top 5 Corporate Endpoint Security Leaders]

Core to the Dell Data Protection and Endpoint Security Suite offering is encryption, authentication and threat protection in a single solution, Hansen said. The suite is available on preconfigured Dell commercial laptops, desktops and tablets as well as existing Dell and non-Dell devices.

"In the short term, Dell may struggle to compete. This is a very competitive market," said Stephen Monteros, vice president of business development and strategy at SigmaNet, a Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco partner based in Greenbelt, Md. "But in the long run, this totally makes sense for Dell. Over the years it has made a number of strategic security acquisitions and this will allow Dell to fill a gap from the data center to the endpoint in one unified package."

Dell’s security acquisitions date back over five years and include Kace in 2010, SonicWall in 2012, Quest in 2012 and Credant Technologies in 2013.

Monteros said the Dell Data Protection and Endpoint Security Suite created a blueprint for Dell to build an ecosystem of Dell security products and services that will be deployed and managed via one single platform. "Dell's biggest challenge is still synthesizing acquisitions into one product offering," he said.

Endpoint security platforms continue to experience growth, driven by the need to protect mobile devices and virtual environments, according to research firm IDC. The global endpoint security market reached $8.8 billion in 2013, according to IDC's analysis. The company expects the global market for endpoint security software to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.1 percent from 2013 to 2018.

Dell said its endpoint security suite has four main attributes, including consolidated management and compliance reporting; easy setup and deployment; single-pane-of-glass management; and encryption at the data level that allows security policies to be enforced across a spectrum of devices including client, removable USB drives, tablets, handsets and cloud storage services.

"This means every business needs a security solution that not only protects their employees, IP and customer information, but also generates compliance reports to show that sensitive data remains protected," Hansen said.

The Dell Data Protection and Endpoint Security Suite is available now with the list price per seat of approximately $100 per year.

PUBLISHED MARCH 10, 2015