FireEye (NASDAQ: FEYE) recently unveiled Helix, an integrated platform that bundles its security products — network, endpoint, Threat Analytics Platform, Advanced Threat Intelligence, and FireEye Security Orchestrator — onto a single system with a single user interface. Users can also add the company’s cloud-based FireEye as a service (Faas), email, and other threat intelligence and orchestration tools, and integrate third-party threat intelligence streams and alerts into Helix.
The key facts
The cybersecurity firm demonstrated Helix at its FireEye Cyber Defense Summit in Washington D.C. in late November. It noted that while rivals like Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks had already moved toward similar platform strategies, FireEye planned to stand out from the competition with automation capabilities and its “best in breed” threat intelligence solutions, Mandiant and iSight.
The platform should widen FireEye’s moat against Cisco, which has been bundling its own security and threat detection services into its networking hardware and software. It will also reduce FireEye’s dependence on on-site appliances, which have dragged down its sales growth in recent quarters. Core Networks CEO Albert Mino recently told CRN, “[Helix] completely changed my view of FireEye from an appliance company to a real cybersecurity company.”
Plenty of challenges ahead
Helix is an encouraging step in the right direction, but FireEye will likely have to prove the platform’s effectiveness in sales growth to win back investors. The company’s revenue rose just 13% annually, its slowest growth rate since its IPO in 2013. The company is laying off staff to improve its profitability, but the departures of major executives and its liberal use of secondary and convertible offerings to raise cash have raised red flags among tech investors.
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