At the same time, Astaro has announced a new and more flexible licensing model for its security gateway. The changes to its business model are billed as allowing more clients to adopt the UTM technology in their businesses. The company says it plans to release new products this summer keep the sales momentum going.

According to Jan Hichert, Astaro's CEO, the free offering announced late last year has become very enticing for users, with large numbers of users downloading and installing the software.

The basic premise of the new pricing strategy, he told Infosecurity, is that Astaro's potential market becomes larger – a lot larger.

"It's better to have 10% of 1,000 pounds, than to have 100% of 10 pounds, as with lower pricing, a lot more clients can afford the technology" he said.

"We've just celebrated our tenth anniversary, so we decided to start looking at our business model, and how we could improve it. The changes in pricing are the direct result of that" he added.

The changes – a free firewall and up to 60% off hardware pricing in some cases – reflect a change of security strategy in many client companies, he went on to say.

And that change means that a lot of companies are focusing on the total cost of ownership of their security technology, which is why Astaro has adopted such a low-cost pricing strategy.

"We're now reaching the stage where clients can elect to take our hardware and then install the security modules they need, adding to them as their needs increase. The pricing strategy – which is quite revolutionary in our business – will be a success" he explained.

The new business model, says Hichert, also supports Astaro's future product strategy, with further applications being released in the summer of this year.

First to come are applications for mail archiving and the management of wireless security. These new applications will be presented publicly for the first time in March at the CeBIT Computer Faire In Hannover, Germany, and RSA in San Francisco.