Overview of the Employee Internet Management Industry
Winter, 2003
Introduction
Market Description
Corporate Vendor EIM Matrix
Summary of Vendors in the EIM Market
Comparison Table
Introduction
Websense participates in an emerging software category called employee Internet management or EIM. As described by IDC, a leading high-tech analyst group, EIM
encompasses the traditional Internet access control and management markets with additional management and productivity-enhancing capabilities. According to IDC, the conservative view of the EIM market is that it will
grow to greater than $655 million by 2005.
It is important to note that the EIM market is about management of employees at corporate enterprises or government agencies and therefore excludes the home,
school, library and home office markets. EIM involves Internet access by those employees and how corporations or government agencies manage and take advantage of the access they have given these employees.
Market Description
Research by IDC reveals that the EIM market is set for explosive growth in the next few years:
- Once a simple tool, Internet access control (IAC) software has evolved into a major corporate application.
- More than 409 million employees worldwide will use the Internet by 2005.
- IDC estimates that the worldwide market for EIM software increased from $62 million in 1999 to $214 million in 2001, and predicts that the market will grow to $655 million by 2005.
- From 2000 to 2005, IDC predicts the following annual growth in international EIM markets: United States, 30 percent; Europe, 43 percent; Asia/Pacific, 68 percent; and the rest of the world, 39 percent.
Corporate Vendor EIM Matrix
The diagram below describes the position of the main software solutions within the new employee Internet management market. The enterprise EIM
market includes companies with over 100 Internet-enabled employees.
Enterprise scalability reflects a supplier's ability to scale from small to large, enterprise-class implementations.
Completeness of EIM solution indicates the supplier's ability to deliver the various functions and features that customers value in an EIM solution.
Summary of Vendors in the Corporate EIM Market
Websense Enterprise
Websense Enterprise was designed to accommodate the unique needs of a corporation. Utilizing a sophisticated application with a proprietary URL database, Websense can be configured to the unique culture
of a corporation with numerous management and reporting functions. It is tightly integrated with the leading Internet infrastructure providers, including Cisco, Check Point, Inktomi and CacheFlow. As a result,
Websense is used by 20600 organizations, and is preferred by the Fortune 500.
SurfControl
While Websense is focused on the corporate market, SurfControl spreads itself across all three market
segments – corporate, education, and home. Its flagship product, SurfControl Web Filter, is designed for small businesses. SurfControl's enterprise product, Web Filter VS, has limited policy and management capabilities.
Secure Computing SmartFilter
In 1999, Symantec purchased URLabs, the publisher of I-Gear, now called Web Security. The product was
geared for the education market, with limited success in the enterprise market. Web Security uses so-called Dynamic Document Review to look at each Web page as it passes through the network. This technology is
based on keywords and is thus prone to inaccuracies. Furthermore, determining content in real-time affects network performance.
N2H2
N2H2 is primarily targeted at the education market, and its share of the corporate market is negligible. N2H2 switched from a hardware/software proxy combination to a software solution. Its new software products have
had minimal success in the corporate market. The company's poor financial condition had been impacting its ability to maintain its database and funding of new product development. N2H2 was recently purchased by
Secure Computing.
Vendor Comparison Table
The following table details the leading EIM providers offerings and is broken into the following segments:
- Enterprise Features:
How well does the product meet the administrative and technology needs of a enterprise
- Management Options:
Is the offering flexible enough to meet the needs of the employees
- Reporting:
Reports on activity
- Database of Internet Sites:
Accuracy and freshness of the database
- Performance:
The ability to scale to meet performance demands
- Network Control Points:
Where in the network does the product interface
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Enterprise Features |
Pass-by/pass-through hybrid |
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Choice of Integrated or standalone deployment |
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Limited Integrations |
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Provides EIM protection at the server, network and desktop level |
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Central policy distribution |
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Policy-based by users/departments |
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Remote Management |
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Pre-defined access policies |
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NT support |
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Solaris support |
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LDAP support |
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Support for multiple NIC cards |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Management Options |
Block or allow access |
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Continue/defer option |
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1 (on select platforms only-Windows edition) |
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Time-based quotas |
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Transparent ID |
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Customized block pages |
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Local language block pages |
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Multiple "Yes Lists" |
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Management of file types by category (audio, video, executables, etc.) and updates |
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Filter by file name/type |
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Dynamic protocol management and updates |
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Dynamic bandwidth management based on network load |
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Block/allow file attachments via IM |
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Password override |
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* SurfControl's "Threshold Blocking" feature does not notify users they are under a quota. By not proactively
notifying users of the policy and giving them a choice to continue or defer surfing, SurfControl's approach will lead to increased support calls to network administrators. Only available on
SurfControl's Standalone, Microsoft Proxy Server and ISA server versions. |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Reporting |
Number of reports |
60+ |
45 |
zero |
50 |
6 |
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Custom reports possible |
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Local language reports |
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Risk reports |
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Web-based realtime analysis |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Database of Internet Sites |
Number of sites |
6 million+ |
6 million+ |
1 million |
Not available |
4 million |
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Effective in blocking Adult Material sites Based on eTesting Labs study |
98% |
92.5% (missed 15 million pages that Websense blocked) |
Not available |
Not available |
92.5% (missed 15 million pages that Websense blocked) |
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Effectiveness in blocking Gambling sites Based on eTesting Labs study |
95% |
65% (missed 1.9 million pages that Websense blocked) |
Not available |
Not available |
35% (missed 3.6 million pages that Websense blocked) |
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WebCatcher (adaptive database)* |
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Manages embedded URLs (Google cache pages, Akamai content, etc.) |
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Frequency of updates |
Daily |
Daily |
Daily |
Daily |
Weekly |
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Number of categories |
80+ |
40 |
31 |
42 |
30 |
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Comprehensiveness of database relative to Websense** |
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48% |
<50% |
TBD |
<25% |
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Primary focus |
Business |
Business, School and Home |
Consumer |
School |
Business |
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* WebCatcher enables the Master Database to grow based on the surfing patterns of the entire Websense customer community.
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** To derive this comparison, the Websense database was passed through each of the supplier's products. The percentage listed
above reflects the number of sites blocked by Websense that are also blocked by their product, and it demonstrates that many sites that should be blocked are not being blocked by other
supplier's products. |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Performance |
Scalable to >20,000 users |
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Effective at high network speeds |
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Not susceptible to overload during high Internet usage periods |
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(Prone to under-blocking in high volume situations) |
(Prone to under-blocking in high volume situations) |
TBD |
TBD |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Cache Servers Supported |
Blue Coat Systems Appliance |
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Cisco Content Engine |
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HP ProLiant |
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Dell PowerApp.cache |
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F5 EDGE-FX |
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Hewlett-Packard Web Cache |
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iMimic DataReactor |
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InfoLibria DynaCache |
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Inktomi Traffic Server |
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Network Appliance NetCache |
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Stratacache |
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Volera Excelerator |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Firewalls Supported |
Check Point FireWall-1 |
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Cisco PIX Firewall |
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CyberGuard Firewall |
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NetScreen |
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ServGate |
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SLMsoft SecurIT |
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SonicWALL Firewall |
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Secure Computing SecureZone Firewall |
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Computer Associates SessionWall |
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Websense |
SurfControl
Web Filter |
Symantec
Web
Security |
N2H2 |
Secure
Computing
SmartFilter |
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Proxy Servers, Switches and Internet Appliances Supported |
Cisco Catalyst 6000 Switches |
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Microsoft Proxy Server |
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Microsoft ISA Server |
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Sun ONE Web Proxy Server |
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Squid Proxy Server |
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