Cisco Systems, a multibillion-dollar player in security tools for businesses, is planning to move into the consumer market.
The San Jose, California-based networking giant plans to release products later this year that translate its enterprise-scale technologies to the home, keeping consumers safe as they increasingly get networked and go online, Cisco executives told ZDNet Australia sister site CNET News.com.
"If you think about what's required in the home, it is a 'mini' version of the enterprise," said Richard Palmer, general manager of Cisco's security technology group. "You have to replicate the broad portfolio of technology solutions that we have in an easy to deploy, easy to buy way that consumers find interesting and are willing to spend money on."
The move positions Cisco to grab a bigger chunk of the security market, which, according to research firm IDC, hit US$32 billion in 2005 and is poised for double-digit growth through 2010. It also puts Cisco in competition with security specialists such as Symantec and McAfee, but not in the traditional way. Cisco won't sell software that people install on their PC. Instead, it will add security features and services to its Linksys home-networking gear and Scientific Atlanta set-top boxes.
"We think security is going to be a fundamental requirement for the networked home," Palmer said. Buying security software and loading it onto a PC isn't the way people will be securing their systems in the near future. "That market is being transformed," he said.
Linksys has plans for routers and other gateway devices with a variety of security features, said Mani Dhillon, director of product marketing at the company, which was bought by Cisco in 2003. "We're working very hard to have something we can bring to market this year," he said.
The top of the line would be a device -- possibly connected to a service -- that scans all Internet traffic as it enters a home network and automatically filters out all malicious traffic, he said.
Somewhat less advanced is the idea of filtering access to Web sites at the router -- which allows multiple devices to use the same Internet connection -- rather than on the PC itself. Linksys is working with IronPort Systems, a recent Cisco acquisition, to build a service for its routers that would shield people from known malicious sites. At the moment, people who want similar surfing protection have to install tools such as McAfee's SiteAdvisor or Exploit Prevention Labs' LinkScanner.
"By putting some of the functionality typically seen in security applications onto your network, you don't have to go off and individually manage every PC to make sure is up to date," Dhillon said.
The Linksys team is also thinking of ways to use Cisco's network access control features, or NAC, in its consumer routers. This would automatically run a health check every time a device connects to the home network. It would verify whether security patches and other safety settings on the PC are up-to-date.
"Security is very high on our list," Dhillon said. "We think this could hit the sweet spot for a good percentage of our customers, if we position it correctly." One of the challenges for Linksys is making sure its products don't become overly expensive, since additional features will require more powerful hardware, he said. A bottom-of-the-range Linksys home router costs around US$50.
Linksys rival D-Link already sells a US$99 security device. However, the D-Link "SecureSpot" is not a router or gateway, instead it sits in-between a router and a cable modem. D-Link partnered with McAfee for many of the features, which include antivirus and spyware blocking. "Security is top of mind for consumers and it does make sense for us as networking vendors to offer solutions," said Daniel Kelley, D-Link's director of marketing.
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