Secucloud has created a totally new cybersecurity framework that can process virtually unlimited traf�c (100m+ subscribers). The ECS2, as the core DNA, enables dynamic scalabil ity in virtual cloud environments according to performance demands, whilst deploying the most up-to-date – patent pending – security technologies for cyber-attack detection and prevention. The ability to handle millions of subscribers makes the system unique on the market and positions Secucloud to offer high level security solutions to mass markets such as mobile subscribers or private �xed line customers for the �rst time.
Chris Rodriguez | Senior Industry Analyst | Frost & Sullivan
Secucloud offers a cost effective, comprehensive, and high value cloud security service backed by a massively scalable platform and purpose-built security technologies. Its innovative solution offers unique advantages that
hold the potential to advance in the cloud security industry.
Learn more at www.secucloud.com© 2017 Frost & Sullivan
Secucloud Receives Frost & Sullivan’s New Product Innovation Award in Cloud Security Services
BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH
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Contents
Letter of Congratulations ............................................................................................. 3
Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 4
Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 4
New Product Attributes and Customer Impact .......................................................... 4
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 8
Significance of New Product Innovation ......................................................................... 9
Understanding New Product Innovation ......................................................................... 9
Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................. 10
Best Practices Award Analysis for Secucloud ................................................................ 10
Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................. 10
New Product Attributes ....................................................................................... 11
Customer Impact ............................................................................................... 11
Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 12
Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 13
The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 14
Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 14
About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 14
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Letter of Congratulations
We are proud to present you with this year’s Award for best practices in New Product
Innovation in the Cloud Security Services industry.
Frost & Sullivan is pleased to have identified Secucloud as the New Product Innovation
leader in the cloud security services industry. Our global team of analysts and consultants
continuously research a wide range of markets across multiple sectors and geographies.
This involves extensive primary and secondary research across the entire value chain of
specific products. In light of this research, Frost & Sullivan recognizes that Secucloud with
its Elastic Cloud Security System (short ECS2) has successfully introduced a new and
innovative product into the market, with a clear emphasis on product quality and
customer value.
It is a huge challenge to achieve excellence in a new product and increasingly difficult
considering today’s competitive intensity, customer volatility and economic uncertainty —
aside from the difficulty of innovating in an environment of escalating challenges to
intellectual property. Taking these aspects into consideration, this Award signifies an even
greater accomplishment.
Moreover, we recognize that your selection as recipient of this Award is the result of many
individuals (employees, customers, and investors) making daily choices to support the
organization and contribute in a meaningful way to its future. We enthusiastically
acknowledge and celebrate these achievements.
Once again, we congratulate you on your achievements and wish you great success in the
future. We are here to support you on your future endeavors.
Sincerely yours,
David Frigstad
Chairman
Frost & Sullivan
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Background and Company Performance
Industry Challenges
Cyber threats are at an all-time high, and it seems that even the largest and most
technology savvy organizations are at risk, as evidenced by the recent Equifax data
breach.
Threat actors are ceaseless in their efforts to find new vulnerabilities to exploit and new
methods for defeating security tools. Security companies are quick to identify these new
attack trends and respond by either developing new tools or new features in their
products to stop future attacks. However, closing one attack vector simply drives
attackers to develop new hacking techniques.
As a result, businesses of all sizes are investing in a plethora of security solutions to
attempt to reduce risk. However, the strategy to daisy-chain dozens of disparate security
tools together is proving to be deficient in key requirements such as security,
performance, efficacy, integration and scalability. Security teams are quickly becoming
inundated with an unmanageable number of security tools, an unwieldy number of
dashboards and interfaces to keep track of, and an impossible (and growing) number of
alerts to investigate.
Essentially, security vendors and hackers are caught in a cycle of invention, success,
defeat, and then adaptation. Unfortunately, IT organizations are caught in the middle of
this cycle, with a patchwork strategy that is unfeasible in the long term.
The changing threat landscape and rapidly evolving technologies demand a new approach
to security. Security companies that pioneer new security technologies, delivery platforms,
and strategies are the lifeblood of the security industry. By identifying customer needs
and developing new solutions from the ground up, innovative new products can help
businesses to move beyond a tedious and unfruitful security tool investment cycle.
New Product Attributes and Customer Impact
Secucloud, a spin off from Gateprotect (Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity) is an emerging
player in the cybersecurity industry.
The extensive experience gained at Gateprotect has enabled Secucloud to take poll
position in understanding current market needs and to spearhead the firewall-as-a-service
revolution. Secucloud has created a totally new cybersecurity framework that can process
virtually unlimited traffic (100m+ subscribers). The ECS2 as the core DNA enables
dynamic scalability in virtual cloud environments according to performance demands,
whilst deploying the most up-to-date – patent pending – Security technologies for cyber-
attack detection and prevention. The ability to handle millions of subscribers makes the
system unique on the market and positions Secucloud to offer high level security solutions
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to mass markets such as mobile subscribers or private fixed line customers for the first
time. Additionally, Small and Medium Businesses benefit from cloud based security
services as they are always up to date, high performance and automatically scalable for
future growth – without the need for any investment in new or additional hardware.
As can be seen, the innovative Secucloud solution offers specific unique advantages that
hold the potential to advance the cloud security industry.
Integrated Layered Security for Every Business
The relentless cycle of innovation and adaptation between hackers and security vendors
has generated a slew of security point products. Each new product requires a capital
investment, as well as time to test, deploy, and manage the solution. These challenges
are drastically compounded by the dearth of security expertise and the general inability to
retain such talent. Simply put: small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) are hard
pressed to keep abreast of the latest security tools. Yet, conventional wisdom posits that
“layered security” is the optimal approach to thoroughly mitigate risk.
Cloud-based security services present an opportunity to integrate and flatten these many
security layers. Specific to Secucloud, its Elastic Cloud Security System (ECS2) is offered
in three tiers, with the base subscription level providing a host of essential protections
such as anti-malware, anti-bot, anti-phishing, IP reputation, and content security. The
second tier offers vital network security tools such as next generation firewall (NGFW) and
intrusion prevention systems (IPS). And finally, the highest tier delivers advanced
malware sandbox analysis technologies.
“Secucloud has created a totally new
cybersecurity framework that can process
virtually unlimited traffic (100m+ subscribers)”
Generally, enterprises can afford the large team necessary to cobble together a patchwork
out of these disparate solutions, and to manage these solutions on a day-to-day basis.
SMBs, however, require these technologies to be integrated out-of-the-box, with a “single
pane-of-glass” management interface. The Secucloud service offers these benefits, and
represents a layered security solution that is more effective and simplified compared to
cobbling together an assortment of on-premises security appliances from multiple
vendors.
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Empowering Service Providers, TELCOs and ISPs, to Solve Customers’ Most
Significant Security Challenges
Consumers and businesses of all sizes are increasingly inundated with new security
technologies. In particular, mobile consumers and SMBs are in dire need of trusted
partners that can deliver effective and affordable self-managed and managed security
services. However, these security services must be comprehensive and capable of
addressing continually evolving threats.
A widespread concern in the modern digital age is the ability to secure communications
across a whole host of devices. The Internet of Things (IoT), adoption of cloud services
and proliferation of mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), all push the
security architecture boundaries in even the largest and most sophisticated enterprises.
The Secucloud ECS2 architecture allows providers like TELCOs, ISPs and MSSPs to gain
security protection for all types of network connections, including home devices, remote
offices, smartphones, tablets or laptops and IoT devices. As a service provider cloud-
based service, ECS2 directs all connections through Security Access Nodes (SANs) for
inspection. Each SAN is virtualized within the service provider’s network environment and
allows service providers to implement a secure customer experience without any
modification of its existing infrastructure, operational workflows and systems. The SAN
nodes use Secucloud’s proprietary Intelligent Algorithm Based Steering (IABS) engine to
automatically direct traffic through multiple threat detection engines for true “layered
security” protection.
“The ECS2 as the core DNA enables dynamic
scalability in virtual cloud environments
according to performance demands, whilst deploying
the most up-to-date – patent pending – Security
technologies for cyber-attack detection and prevention.”
As already mentioned, the most important fact is, that the solution is scalable to support
100 million and more subscribers. As a cloud-based architecture, ECS2 service provider
customers can automatically spin up additional virtualized SAN instances as required. The
service provider does not have to worry about capacity.
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Supports Partners’ ROI Requirements
The Secucloud ECS2 has a number of characteristics that make it a valuable investment
for service providers. The Secucloud offering is cost effective and requires no expensive
appliance or any other special hardware aside from the underlying compute and storage
equipment. The ECS2 service is elastic, scales up as needed, and customers only pay for
what they use. The SAN platform runs on commercial off-the-shelf hardware and can be
replaced and upgraded as needed, thereby avoiding the need for costly appliance
replacement cycles. The Secucloud solution offers rapid integration (three months, on
average)—another characteristic that aids partners to achieve their ROI goals.
Secucloud also offers value in the form of the ability to generate new revenue streams.
For example, Secucloud offers security solutions for mobile users and their devices that
service providers can also provide to their customers, including:
Net Protection, a “clean pipe” solution that requires no installation on end user
devices and is always updated
A solution that automatically protects users on public Wi-Fi (VPN or DNS client)
An on-device agent for real-time protection and anti-theft/anti-loss features
Secucloud’s mobile security solutions include a free trial period and one-click booking, as
well as easy-to-understand statistics and reporting to convey value to end users.
Importantly, the offering allows for customization by the service provider in support of
marketing and branding objectives. Secucloud mobile solutions can also be monetized by
optionally serving advertisements.
Flexible Architecture Delivers Advanced (and Future-Proof) Protection
Secucloud offers advanced security technologies such as malware sandbox analysis
capabilities including intelligent deep threat analysis and hybrid code analysis. This
Secucloud malware sandbox technology detects and extracts suspicious files, isolating
them in a virtual environment to methodically and thoroughly test their functionality.
Subsequent files exhibiting similar malicious or unwanted behaviors are identified and
mitigated (e.g., altered, quarantined, or removed).
Future threats are a constant concern for any organization planning an effective and
durable security architecture. The Secucloud framework is extensible and can be updated
with new technologies as they become available. As a cloud service, customers are always
using the latest, most up-to-date version.
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Conclusion
Secucloud has identified two pressing needs in the security industry: the need for
comprehensive but simplified security for consumers and SMBs, and the need for TELCOs
and Service Providers to expand their profit-generating opportunities by offering high
effective security services for their subscribers so as to become trusted cybersecurity
partners for their SMB customers. To address these needs, Secucloud has built a solution
that combines the expertise of its founders’ elite pedigree in security with the advantages
of a cloud service. The result: a cost effective, comprehensive, and high value cloud
security service backed by a massively scalable platform and purpose-built security
technologies.
With its strong overall performance, Secucloud has earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2017 New
Product Innovation Award in Cloud Security Services.
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Significance of New Product Innovation
Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon continually introducing new products
to the market and successfully commercializing those products. For these dual goals to
occur, a company must be best-in-class in three key areas: understanding demand,
nurturing the brand, and differentiating from the competition.
Understanding New Product Innovation
Innovation is about finding a productive outlet for creativity—for consistently translating
ideas into high-quality products that have a profound impact on the customer.
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Key Benchmarking Criteria
For the New Product Innovation Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated
two key factors—New Product Attributes and Customer Impact—according to the criteria
identified below.
New Product Attributes
Criterion 1: Match to Needs
Criterion 2: Reliability
Criterion 3: Quality
Criterion 4: Positioning
Criterion 5: Design
Customer Impact
Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value
Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience
Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience
Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience
Criterion 5: Brand Equity
Best Practices Award Analysis for Secucloud
Decision Support Scorecard
To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance
categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool
allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to
the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that
basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation.
Ratings guidelines are illustrated below.
RATINGS GUIDELINES
The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by New Product Attributes and Customer
Impact (i.e., These are the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the
definitions for each criterion are provided beneath the scorecard.). The research team
confirms the veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which
confirms that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a
significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies.
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The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the
interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key
participants as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.
Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)
New Product Innovation
New Product
Attributes
Customer
Impact Average Rating
Secucloud 9 10 9.5
Competitor 1 8 9 8.5
Competitor 2 7 8 7.5
New Product Attributes
Criterion 1: Match to Needs
Requirement: Customer needs directly influence and inspire the product’s design and
positioning.
Criterion 2: Reliability
Requirement: The product consistently meets or exceeds customer expectations for
consistent performance during its entire life cycle.
Criterion 3: Quality
Requirement: Product offers best-in-class quality, with a full complement of features and
functionalities.
Criterion 4: Positioning
Requirement: The product serves a unique, unmet need that competitors cannot easily
replicate.
Criterion 5: Design
Requirement: The product features an innovative design, enhancing both visual appeal
and ease of use.
Customer Impact
Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value
Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar
offerings in the market.
Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience
Requirement: Customers feel they are buying the most optimal solution that addresses
both their unique needs and their unique constraints.
Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience
Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service and have a
positive experience throughout the life of the product or service.
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Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience
Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality.
Criterion 5: Brand Equity
Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty.
Decision Support Matrix
Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,
analysts then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to
visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at
best-in-class levels.
High
Low
Low High
Cu
sto
mer I
mp
act
New Product Attributes
Secucloud
Competitor 1
Competitor 2
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Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching,
Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices
Frost & Sullivan analysts follow a 10-step process to evaluate Award candidates and
assess their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the
Awards are based on close adherence to this process.
STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT
1 Monitor, target, and screen
Identify Award recipient candidates from around the globe
Conduct in-depth industry research
Identify emerging sectors
Scan multiple geographies
Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria
2 Perform 360-degree research
Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline
Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners
Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria
Rank all candidates
Matrix positioning of all candidates’ performance relative to one another
3
Invite thought leadership in best practices
Perform in-depth examination of all candidates
Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all
candidates Identify any information gaps
Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates
4
Initiate research director review
Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles
Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives
on candidates’ performance Update candidate profiles
Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper
5
Assemble panel of industry experts
Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders
Share findings Strengthen cases for
candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates
Refined list of prioritized Award candidates
6
Conduct global industry review
Build consensus on Award candidates’ eligibility
Hold global team meeting to review all candidates
Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all
eligible candidates
Final list of eligible Award candidates, representing success stories worldwide
7 Perform quality check
Develop official Award consideration materials
Perform final performance benchmarking activities
Write nominations Perform quality review
High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes
8
Reconnect with panel of industry experts
Finalize the selection of the best-practice Award recipient
Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select recipient
Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria
9 Communicate recognition
Inform Award recipient of Award recognition
Present Award to the CEO Inspire the organization for
continued success Celebrate the recipient’s
performance
Announcement of Award and plan for how recipient can use the Award to enhance the brand
10 Take strategic action
Upon licensing, company is able to share Award news with stakeholders and customers
Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess Award’s role in future
strategic planning
Widespread awareness of recipient’s Award status among investors, media personnel, and employees
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The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best
Practices Awards
Research Methodology
Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research
methodology represents the analytical
rigor of our research process. It offers a
360-degree-view of industry challenges,
trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of
Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.
Too often companies make important
growth decisions based on a narrow
understanding of their environment,
leading to errors of both omission and
commission. Successful growth strategies
are founded on a thorough understanding
of market, technical, economic, financial,
customer, best practices, and demographic
analyses. The integration of these research
disciplines into the 360-degree research
methodology provides an evaluation
platform for benchmarking industry
participants and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels.
About Frost & Sullivan
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and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's
Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined
research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation
of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages more than 50 years of
experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses, and the
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please visit http://www.frost.com.
360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN
THE CHAOS