SonicWALL acquisition of Aventail brings two SSL VPN providers together

Network security firm SonicWALL announced plans late Tuesday to purchase Aventail for about $25 million.

Both companies provide SSL VPN solutions, but Aventail produces a more sophisticated offering for large enterprises, Dana Hendrickson, director of consulting firm Breakaway Marketing, told SCMagazine.com today. As one entity, the products will be integrated to allow SonicWALL, which largely sells to small- and-medium-sized businesses, to market its product to an expanding customer base.

"SonicWALL clearly wanted to go into the high-end enterprise space now," Hendrickson said. "They need the sophisticated functionality that Aventail has."

Seattle-based Aventail products include granular access control management and comprehensive endpoint security that permits cache cleaning and encrypted workspaces, he said.

The SSL VPN market is growing, especially considering about 85 percent of data in need of protection originates outside the organization, according to a joint statement today announcing the acquisition.