I can always count on my pal Chris Hoff to tell me when he thinks I'm full of it. Though evidently a Pink Floyd fan, the ever verbose Mr. Hoff weighed in on my frivolous use of their lyrics in the Security is just another bring in the wall post (here [0]).
Since responding to a comment that no one would read wouldn't allow me to debate, let me post Chris' comment and my response.
Is there anybody...out there? [0](Keeping in spirit with your Pink Floyd theme...)
How appropriate that the next song after "Is There Anybody Out There" is "Nobody Home" because, sadly, you aren't and yet you left your lights on ;)
I take issue (for obvious reason) that people who choose best-in-breed are doing so merely because they are "...gluttons for punishment." That's as asinine a statement as saying that everyone who drives a Ferrari is an A-hole with a compensation problem...OK, bad example. Umm....
But seriously...
Perhaps they choose best-in-breed because in terms of managing risk, the value they get from using BIB productsis is greater than the cost of stringing together less capable or robust products/solutions - however "integrated" they may be.
Sometimes you want the best coverage for your dollar spent -- and when absolutes count, people aren't necessarily willing to gamble on "relative" security.
It's all scales of economy -- comparing the Fortune 2000 with Joe's Ice Cream and Taxidermy is a stupid exercise. Different strokes for different folks, but BIB is NOT an inappropriate solution for those who can afford it.
Equating BIB as "overpriced" or bloated is simply unfair. You don't have to be a commodity (or even integrate a bunch of commoditized functions) to show value and innovation isn't only derived from non BIB players.
As you know, Crossbeam provides UTM solutions -- but we don't offer $500 perimeter widgets that are "good enough." We are the ONLY Enterprise and Provider class UTM solutions vendor that combines the integration of BIB security functions for large enterprises and service providers. We don't sell one vendor's version of the truth and that flexibility combined with performance and high-availability means that BIB and UTM are not mutually exclusive.
That's a brick in very strong wall.
-Chris
The religion of best of breed (BOB) vs. "good enough" is no longer interesting to me. I believe that a SMALL subset of the buying commmunity will buy best of breed because of the things you mention. That may be a big enough market for someone like Crossbeam to thrive, but then again maybe not. But I know that your positioning is about more than just best of breed, right?
But why should customers have to settle? Isn't your point that it's possible to take best of breed functionality and provide a more effective level of integration and flexibililty with your hardware? Or am I missing what Crossbeam says their positioning is?
I don't think you are telling me (or the readers) that providing hardware to host best of breed software is the endgame. What customers want is the reduction of complexity. That may mean integration. Or it may mean abstraction (so the best of breed is basically hidden and dramatically simplified). But to have to settle for best of breed that is not integrated over time seems like we are giving up. Admiting failure is not one of my strong suits.
My point is that integration/abstraction and as a result, the "another brick in the wall" innovation strategy has passed the tipping point. The perimeter defense aspect of security is a mature market and no amount of wishing is going to change that fact. I know you guys do more than perimeter defense (see I have been listening a bit), but that is still the highest profile part of the market.
It is my belief (and remember I get paid to have opinions) that perimeter best of breed is a dying architecture. Crossbeam even calls what you do UTM. So maybe we are just disagreeing about semantics and words. Ultimately isn't this abstracted "security services" layer that you evangelize more of what customers are interested in.
To get back to my another brick analogy, you could say that every new best of breed application you add to your box is another brick that makes your box more interesting to customers. No?
If we are being honest, what you and Nokia have done is pulled the asses of security software vendors out of the fire. Without Nokia and Crossbeam, CheckPoint would have been marginalized a LONG TIME AGO.
Like everything else, it takes a long time to replace the old boss with the new boss (may as well throw some of The Who in there, while I'm at it). So this will play out over the next few years. But to be clear, I have no doubt as to how the movie ends.