Palo Alto to give away next generation firewall appliance

Palo Alto Networks to give away FREE next generation firewall appliance at ITEX

1st Place winner of race car simulation experience will take away a prize valued at more than $70,000

Auckland, Monday, 21st November, 2011 - The upcoming ITEX convention – to be held Wednesday, 23rd November, at Auckland’s Sky City Convention Centre – will feature a technical demonstration by Palo Alto Networks and its local partner Katana Technologies.

As part of the demo, attendees will find two race car simulators that can be used by delegates to race Bathurst, also known as Mount Panorama. The link? Panorama is the name of Palo Alto Networks’ cutting edge central management console.

Steve Rielly, Director of Katana Technologies, will oversee a Top 10 Shootout competition, where the top 10 qualifiers from the day will race again to set the pole position grid, just as it’s done at Bathurst.

All Top 10 winners will receive free Internet Application Visibility Reports (AVRs) from Katana Technologies and Palo Alto Networks.

The Top 3 place holders will receive additional Data Centre and Internet AVRs.

The 1st Place winner will be awarded a free Palo Alto Networks PA-2050 next generation firewall appliance for a year.

“Palo Alto Networks has been in New Zealand just over two years now, and the products are, quite literally, amazing people. This is a great opportunity to spread the word about Palo Alto, while also having a lot of fun and blowing off some steam,” says Katana Technologies’ Steve Rielly, the mastermind behind the racecar competition and prize giveaway.

Palo Alto Networks is gaining popularity and market share among New Zealand educational institutions, banks, and the Enterprise. Now with the PA-200 appliance, Managed Service Providers and Enterprise environments with regional branch offices, in particular, are growing excited about its feature set for the extremely competitive price. And, as Panorama offers 25 device licenses out of the box, Corporates can bring the entire organisation under a single, centralised view, with minimal investment.

“The Palo Alto Networks security platform is particularly relevant for the NZ market because it finally enables organisations of all sizes to realise the ‘Social Enterprise’.” says Rielly. “Everyone has added the label ‘Next Generation’ to their product line-up, but it’s just that, a label. Gartner defines a Next Generation Firewall as one that is built from the ground up as an application firewall, not as an add-on helper; Palo Alto Networks is the only one that fits the bill, and is proving itself to be a seriously innovative solution.”

About Palo Alto Networks:
Founded by security visionary Nir Zuk, Palo Alto Networks offers real innovation in the firewall by enabling unprecedented visibility and control of applications and content – by user, not just IP address – at up to 20Gbps, with no performance degradation. Based on patent-pending App-ID™ technology, the company’s next generation firewalls accurately and control applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or SSL encryption – and scan content to stop threats and prevent data leakage. Enterprises can, for the first time, embrace Web 2.0 and maintain complete visibility and control, while significantly reducing total cost of ownership through device consolidation. Most recently, Palo Alto Networks has enabled enterprises to extend this same network security to remote users with the release of GlobalProtect™ and to combat targeted malware with its WildFire™ service. www.paloaltonetworks.com

About Katana Technologies:
Katana Technologies is a leading New Zealand provider of IT security solutions designed to provide organisations with unprecedented visibility and control of their infrastructure and intellectual property. Raising the bar for advanced IT security solutions, the Katana Technologies portfolio contains only solutions that are best in their class, and visionaries in their field of expertise. Katana Technologies was the first partner for Palo Alto Networks in New Zealand. www.katanatechnologies.net

About ITEX:
ITEX is one of New Zealand’s premier business technology shows and networking opportunitys. The 2011 convention will be held on Wednesday, 23rd November, at the Sky City Convention Centre. Technology Demonstration Rooms at the conference will be hosted by Palo Alto Networks and Squiz. Sponsors include Kordia, IBM, D-Link, Ricoh Consulting Services, Connector Systems, Intergen, Randstad, RedHat, Potentia, PlanIT and Cisco, as well as additional award sponsors. Exhibitors will include APC, Microsoft, AbsoluteIT, Cliftons, Maclean, CheckPoint, Plan-b, Polycom, Sato, Sophos, iQ4bis, Mobile Mentor, Beetil, Fortinet, Cackle, Jabra, Tata, Indigo, MicroStrategy, QualIT, Vadacom, Ruckus, Aerohive, SonicWall, Brocade, Blue Coat, Comworth, Aura, Agile, Plantronics, LifeSize and Cin7. www.itex.net.nz

ENDS

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