WatchGuard
 | |
| Type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Network security |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington |
| Key people | Joe Wang, CEO |
| Products | Unified threat management (UTM), Extensible Threat Management (XTM), Firewalls, Next-Generation Firewall, Email and Web Content Filtering, Antivirus, Intrusion-prevention system, Antispyware, Antispam, Application Control, VPN, Web filtering |
| Employees | 400 (2011) |
| Website | www.watchguard.com |
WatchGuard Technologies, is a provider of network security products and network security computer appliances.
History
The company's first-generation security appliance was developed by 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, one of the first widely available network security appliances, was born. 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.[2]
In July 1999 the company filed for an initial public offering on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol WGRD and remained publicly traded until the company was purchased for $151 million by Francisco Partners and Vector Capital and taken private in October 2006.[3]
In 2009, WatchGuard acquired Toronto-based BorderWare Technologies for its products including email and web content security, data loss prevention, and email encryption.[4]
References
- ↑ "Mazama Packet Filter". Linux Journal. June 1, 1995.
- ↑ "Firewall application shored up". CNET. September 16, 1997.
- ↑ "WatchGuard being bought for $151M". Puget Sound Business Journal. July 25, 2006.
- ↑ "WatchGuard Acquires Borderware Technologies" (Press release). August 4, 2009.