Network Security News

SaaS vendor using swine flu to scare up sales?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

In an effort to prove the relevancy of its cloud-based services amid concerns over data security of web-based IT, one company's blog has cited the scare over the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, as a reason to buy its products.

The Silicon Valley based vendor of software-as-a-service (SaaS) recently announced that it is partnering with a major web security vendor on its WAN optimization products.

But with the possibility of a global H1N1 pandemic looming, the company's marketing evangelist - in a May 1 blog post - touted IT consolidation and virtualization initiatives as a solution to enable workers to work remotely in the event of an office shut-down due to the flu.

In early May, when media coverage of the flu outbreak was at a fever pitch, the company blog directly linked fears of a pandemic to work-from-home solutions.

"Fears of a potential pandemic are beginning to hit business environments where companies are worried not only for the safety of their employees, but also the health of their business," the company's marketing maven said in a May 1 blog post.

"If you can't go into the office or travel on business what do you do? You can work from home!" the blog said. "Even if you do not experience flu like symptoms, working at home is going to obviously limit your exposure to contagious ailments like swine flu."