Gartner Magic Quadrant: Unified Threat Management, SMB Firewalls 2017

by Joe Panettieri • Jun 23, 2017

Welcome to page 2 of 2. Here, we cover the Challengers, Visionaries and Leaders Quadrants.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Threat Management, SMB Firewalls: Challengers

Here are the companies that Gartner mentioned for the challengers player quadrant. Commentary is MSSP Alert’s.

• Cisco Systems: Cisco has bet its business on security over the past year. ChannelE2E describes the overall strategy here. Acquisitions like OpenDNS (now called Cisco Umbrella) have caught on with MSPs, but SMB partners are calling for more products and services that specifically meet their customer needs. MSSP Focus: Yes.
• SonicWall: After Dell sold SonicWall to private equity owners, SonicWall immediately regained credibility as a pure channel company. The company in March 2017 launched a major branding campaign while also accelerating R&D to better meet the needs for VARs, MSPs and MSSPs. Talk to Channel Chief Steve Pataky, and he’s outspoken about the role MSPs and MSSPs will play going forward. MSSP Focus: Yes.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Threat Management, SMB Firewalls: Visionaries

Here are the companies that Gartner mentioned for the visionaries player quadrant. Commentary is MSSP Alert’s.

• WatchGuard: Based in Seattle, Washington, WatchGuard is a privately held network security vendor that is over 20 years old, has more than 500 employees and is well-established in the multifunction firewall market, Gartner notes. MSSP Focus: Yes.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Threat Management, SMB Firewalls: Leaders

Here are the companies that Gartner mentioned for the leaders player quadrant. Commentary is MSSP Alert’s.

• Check Point Software Technologies: One of the best-known providers of firewalls, Check Point has robust high-end solutions but sometimes is late to the SMB market with targeted offerings. MSSP Focus: Yes, though Check Point itself also is an MSSP of sorts.
• Fortinet: The company has a strong presence in SMB shortlists and a strong feature/price/performance offering, which help make it a frequent choice for UTM, Gartner asserts. MSSP Focus: Yes.
• Sophos: The company has major momentum with MSPs worldwide, and refers to many of those partners as MSSPs in multiple regions. The major Sophos focus area: One vendor, one management dashboard and one partner program for MSPs. The management dashboard, by the way, is called Sophos Central. MSSP Focus: Yes.

The Actual Magic Quadrant Layout

Here’s a look at the actual Magic Quadrant layout from Gartner…