SonicWall’s second acquisition in under two months “vaults us forward with our entire cloud offering”, its CEO has told IT Channel Oxygen.
Having not made an acquisition for nearly two decades, the cybersecurity vendor today confirmed it has followed up its November 2023 purchase of SolutionsGranted by grabbing security service edge (SSE) specialist Banyan Security.
San Francisco-based Banyan bills itself as a leading light in zero trust network access (ZTNA).
‘We’ve been listening to our partners’
In exclusive comments, CEO Bob Vankirk (pictured above) said SonicWall’s desire to supercharge its cloud offering prompted it to buy rather than build a proposition in this space.
“At SonicWall, we have been leaning into cloud and we have been growing at a strong clip,” he told IT Channel Oxygen.
“This move vaults us forward with our entire cloud offering. We’ve been listening to our partners and they have already moved to VPN SaaS and we always strive to accommodate them as best we can.”
Although for years firewalls were the “cornerstone of cybersecurity defences”, the rise of cloud and secure access service edge (SASE) has seen the focus shift to more flexible approaches like SSE and ZTNA, Vankirk added.
“Together, SonicWall and Banyan Security will provide partners a way to deploy a comprehensive secure access service edge (SASE) architecture that leverages security service edge (SSE) capabilities integrated with SD-WAN, network, and security technologies – all managed through a unified platform with flexible as-a-service consumption models and world-class customer service,” he said.
In a canned comment, Joshua Skeens, CEO of US SonicWall partner Logically, said he saw the move as confirmation that SonicWall is extending its cybersecurity leadership to the cloud.
“As businesses embark on their cloud journey, they will require hybrid deployments which SonicWall is ideally positioned to provide, and we are excited to be working alongside SonicWall as we empower businesses to thrive in this new era,” he said.
Acquisitions like buses for SonicWall
The move comes on the heels of SonicWall’s purchase of SolutionsGranted, which it claimed arms its channel partners with the latest managed detection and response services.
This marked the vendor’s first acquisition since it span out of Dell in 2016, and, indeed, for nearly 20 years.
SonicWall’s Banyan buy comes two years after it raised $30m in Series B funding, bringing its total money raised to $47m.
The deal – which was completed on 26 December – aligns with SonicWall’s “best of suite” strategy, which includes network, endpoint, wireless, cloud email, and threat intelligence under a single, multi-tenant portal, the vendor claimed.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
