GFI Software bangs the drum for SMB cloud security

Web security vendor GFI Software is planning to rollout online versions of its on-premise products over the course of the year via its newly launched cloud platform.

The vendor took the wraps off the GFI Cloud platform this week, which can be accessed by IT administrators via a web browser.

The first products in the GFI portfolio to be made available through the platform are its VIPRE anti-virus and malware offering and its networking monitoring tools.

In time, these will be joined by the GFI LanGuard product, which helps IT staff automate software patching.

All of the products are designed for SMBs with up to 500 staff.

Speaking to Cloud Pro, Walter Scott, chief executive of GFI Software, said the firm is planning to add more cloud products to the platform over time.

“During the first half of next year, we’re going to add our email filtering and web monitoring products and [in time] we’ll be taking the most common features of all of the products in our entire portfolio and move them to the cloud,” said Scott.

“We like cloud for how quickly we can roll out new features in the products, whereas on-premise requires a more involved install,” he added.

The cloud deployment model is also a better fit for SMBs, claimed Scott, because it makes it easier for them to get the products up and running.

“There’s a problem in the industry where software companies continue to add new features to justify them being able to update their prices or collect maintenance fees each year and it’s made things very complex [for SMBs],” said Scott.

That being said, the firm will continue to develop its on-premise portfolio, he stressed.

“Some of our on-premise products are not growing like the used to, but the cloud versions are. In the case of our email filtering product, that is because it is much easier to stop a denial of service attack in the cloud,” he explained.

“But, in a lot of cases, it doesn’t matter if it is in the cloud or on-premise. People want convenience.”