SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- SonicWALL, Inc., the leading provider of intelligent network security and data protection solutions, has seen a rapid rise in the demand for SonicWALL's Live Demo platform by customers, VARs and MSPs. As businesses expect more from their IT departments, IT professionals now demand rigorous hands-on experience with security products prior to purchase to ensure they are suitable selections. Designed to allow customers to 'try before they buy,' the SonicWALL Live Demo unified platform provides an online demonstration solution for each of SonicWALL's security appliances and software solutions. Accessible to all, Live Demo can be found here: http://livedemo.sonicwall.com/

The SonicWALL Live Demo Site marked its three-year anniversary with theaddition of hands-on experience for the Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) feature set. The already extensive testing platform now includes NGFW features like application intelligence, control and visualization of network traffic. The inclusion of NGFW functionality and the necessity to learn and gain insight into new solutions have resulted in 62 percent growth in year-over-year traffic to SonicWALL's Live Demo site.

"Our customers continue to demand SonicWALL's products due to their quality and breadth of offering. However, while they know what to expect, they often request an opportunity to test the solutions before making their investment," said Mike Ferraro, security specialist at CDW. "We use the SonicWALL Live Demo site daily to help demonstrate the capabilities of the company's solutions as well as highlighting their ease of use. It really has become a key sales tool for us and one that has helped directly drive significant sales numbers."

The portal now boasts in excess of 180,000 unique visits a year from resellers, distributors and customers. The demand emphasizes the need for information from end-users who seek to experience viewing features and functionality before investing in IT deployments. In addition to being able to view a demonstration of products, users can simulate how appliances will cope with traffic spikes and adapt to an administrator's granular settings. Individuals can also identify how ongoing maintenance would be managed before making a purchase. Users of the demo site are able to graphically observe real-time application traffic, trace it back to individual users and construct policies to optimize applications vital to their network.

"With increasingly stretched IT budgets and an ever-evolving Internet-borne threat landscape, purchasing an IT security solution has become a much tougher decision than ever before for IT professionals," said Patrick Sweeney, vice president of product management and corporate marketing at SonicWALL. "Hands-on experience is critical for IT managers to ensure they're buying the right products with the right features and the right ease of use before they commit to spending their budget. As well as helping sales, sites like Live Demo improve customer satisfaction and help ensure that technology purchases are a definite match to what the business requires."

About SonicWALL, Inc.

Guided by its vision of Dynamic Security for the Global Network, SonicWALL develops advanced intelligent network security and data protection solutions that adapt as organizations evolve and as threats evolve. Trusted by small and large enterprises worldwide, SonicWALL solutions are designed to detect and control applications and protect networks from intrusions and malware attacks through award-winning hardware, software and virtual appliance-based solutions. For more information, visit http://www.sonicwall.com/.