Start-up Pareto Networks offers cloud service for rapid branch office setup

The start-up is positioning its cloud-based offering as a way to rapidly set up branch offices

Ellen Messmer (Network World)
01 July, 2010 06:31
Comments

print
email
Share this story
Share this article
- facebook facebook
- slashdot slashdot
- digg digg
- Reddit Reddit
- stumbleupon stumbleupon
- linkedin linkedin
- twitter twitter
Bookmark

Pareto Networks is making its debut this week with enterprise cloud services that streamline the setup of networking and related security services in corporate branch offices.

The start-up is positioning its cloud-based offering as a way to rapidly set up branch offices. It includes a device called the Pareto Branch Gateway, which can control VoIP use, video, IP address management, SSL VPN tunnels, authentication, Web security filtering and other functions. IT managers can manage these functions remotely, through Pareto's cloud.

Pareto's metered service can also store configuration data and logs for associated services from Pareto.

Pareto views its services as a rapid set-up approach for "rolling out a large number of branch offices or kiosks, or for teleworkers," says Michael Peachey, the company's vice president of marketing and product management. "We take the complexity out of networking and put it into the cloud, with bundled hardware and annual subscription."

Subscription pricing starts at $228 per location, per year, for a maximum of about 20 to 30 users.

The reporting and management tools available through Pareto's cloud service provide IP address management, visibility into application data flows, and logs concerning access. The firm only stores this type of management and log data, not the application traffic content.

Pareto has integrated its service to work with McAfee's Web Protection security-as-a-service, VeriSign's cloud-based authentication and OpenDNS cloud-based DNS services. According to Peachey, customers pay for those costs directly with the providers.

As part of the service, there is a hardware device called the Data Center Gateway that would sit in the customer's data center, as well as an option called the Virtual Branch Gateway that could be used to connect into other cloud-based services, such as those from Amazon.com.

Pareto is not disclosing where its data centers are located or the number of its employees. The company says it is undergoing approval for SAS-70 certification but that has not yet been completed.

Pareto was founded in 2007 by Carl Mower, Pareto's vice president of engineering, and company CEO Matthew Palmer. According to Peachey, the company has received about $8 million in funding from Retro Venture Partners as well as investors that include James Jordan, former CEO of Kalpana; John McNulty, former CEO at Secure Computing; Frank Marshall, a private investor who has held executive positions at Covad Communications, Cisco and Juniper Networks; and Tom Kendra, executive vice president of CA's Enterprise Products and Solutions Business.