NetClarity Pursues SMB Managed Security Services Market

Gary Miliefsky

“If you look at Privacyrights.org‘s figures, you’ll see that there have been more and more data breaches against SMBs since July of last year,” Miliefsky said. ‘The SMB has become the target of 2012.”

There are several reasons why hackers and identity thieves are targeting SMBs more than ever. One is that the cost-reward ratio when hacking into an SMB network is far better than targeting an enterprise company.

So as other NAC solution providers like StillSecure, Juniper Networks and ForeScout offer their solutions to large enterprises, NetClarity has developed a NAC offering to help quell the SMB security crisis, at an SMB price, the company claims.

“We can detect suspicious devices on networks through our agentless solutions. We even offer Active Directory (AD) integration  in our $1,500 appliance,” Miliefsky said. NetClarity’s Nano NAC offering starts at $1,500. The company then charges 25 percent more a year for its cloud-based services like PCI compliance reporting. NetClarity in November 2011 launched an SMB MSSP offering that is now the focal point of its lofty 2012 goals.

So how is NetClarity able to focus on lower price points, according to Miliefsky, when larger NAC providers often sell their solutions for tens of thousands of dollars? Two answers: Outsourcing, and the channel. NetClarity currently has 40 distribution partners in 40 countries, each with groups of engaged resellers. The partners do their own marketing, which saves NetClarity tens of thousands of dollars each year. NetClarity’s cloud services are outsourced to multiple sites. And the company has made it solution as easy to use as possible so that it doesn’t have to have a support staff to handle issues for each of its thousands of customers.

The result of NetClarity’s strategy? The company has grown by over 340 percent over the last five consecutive quarters.

“The high end of our market is the small enterprise,” Miliefsky said. “We’re not interested in moving up the food chain. The smaller you are, the harder you fall. And the smaller you are, the more vulnerable you are.”

Miliefsky is confident NetClarity’s offering can gain even more traction in the SMB managed security services provider sector — an area that many vendors continue to overlook. One potential rival, Bradford Networks, recently folded its dedicated channel team but the company insists it will still work closely with MSPs as partners.

“In our space today, there is no competition,” Miliefsky insisted. “Sometimes we run into the larger players, but nothing else besides that.”

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.