WatchGuard
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| WatchGuard Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | February, 1996 |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington |
| Key people | CEO: Joe Wang |
| Industry | Security software, Security appliances, Internet security, Network security |
| Products | Unified Threat Management (UTM), Firewalls, Antivirus, Intrusion-prevention, Anti-spyware, Anti-spam, URL filtering |
| Employees | 350 |
| Website | www.watchguard.com |
WatchGuard Technologies is a provider of Internet security solutions for small- to mid-sized enterprises worldwide and a pioneer in security appliances. WatchGuard products include the Firebox line of firewall and VPN appliances.
The genesis of the Firebox product was Mazama Software Labs, a Seattle software company founded in 1995 by David Bonn to create easy to use Internet security products based on the Linux operating system. [1] In February 1996, Mazama merged with Seattle Software Labs and the Firebox appliance was born. The companies first product was announced in a sneak preview published by Network Computing in September 1996 [2] and the the signature red Firebox 10 appliance was launched in December 1996. Seattle Software Labs became WatchGuard in early 1997 after raising venture capital from OVP Ventures, Matrix Partners and RRE Ventures. Expanding on the success of the Firebox 10 product, the company introduced the Firebox 100 in September 1997. [3]
The Firebox product line was one of the first widely available network security appliances and won multiple awards, including Testers Choice Award from Data Communications (1997), Best Buy Award from Network Solutions (1997) and Editors Choice Awards from Communications News and Network Solutions (1998). WatchGuard capitalized on their early lead in this market with the Firebox II appliance launched in May 1998 at Networld Interop. [4] In 1999, the company launched the LiveSecurity service for IT administrators in addition to a managed security product for ISP's which was adopted by companies such as UUnet, PSINet and Verio.[5]
In July 1999 the company filed for an initial public offering on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol WGRD and closed the year with $47m in annual revenue. In Oct 1999, WatchGuard acquired Beadlenet of Laguna Hills, California and introduced a successful line of SOHO products.[6] By the end of 1999, the companies market capitalization was $558m. [7]A secondary public offering followed in January of 2000 and market capitalization jumped to over one billion dollars during 2000.
During 2001, WatchGuard introduced the Firebox III product, and expanded the product line to include antispam and VPN solutions but the economic downturn of 2001 and competitive pricing pressure resulted in declining sales[8], and layoffs followed late 2001 through to 2004. [9] [10] [11] In 2006, after several years of management turnover, declining revenue and losses [12], WatchGuard was purchased for $151m by Francisco Partners and Vector Capital and taken private in October 2006. [13] [14]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Mazama Packet Filter", June 1st, 1995.
- ^ "Seattle Software's Firewall Keeps Watch", Sept 24th, 1996.
- ^ "Firewall application shored up", CNET, Sept 16,1997.
- ^ (May 5,1998). "WatchGuard Introduces Firebox II". Press release.
- ^ "WatchGuard To Provide Verio's Security Services", April 27th, 1999.
- ^ "WatchGuard buys way into SOHO market", Oct 27th, 1999..
- ^ "1999 IPO scorecard", Dec 31st, 1999.
- ^ "WatchGuard warns of disappointing quarterly results", Dec 21,2001.
- ^ "Recent layoffs", April 4, 2001.
- ^ "Recent layoffs", May 15,2002.
- ^ "Recent layoffs", Oct 29,2004.
- ^ "WatchGuard Q4 misses estimates, shares downgraded", March 14, 2006.
- ^ "WatchGuard being bought for $151M", July 25, 2006.
- ^ (Oct 4, 2006). "WatchGuard Announces New Ownership". Press release.
