SonicWALL began as Sonic Systems, a maker of networking products for Apple computers. It made its name with a different box. Small offices, newly connected by DSL and cable modems, had almost no protection. SonicWALL sold them a firewall appliance that sat between their network and the internet and kept intruders out. When it filed to go public in late 1999, always-on broadband was spreading fast, and so were the attacks.

Two Brothers and Their Resellers

The brothers Sreekanth and Sudhakar Ravi started the company in 1991. Big companies had security teams and expensive firewalls. The brothers bet that small businesses would pay for real security too, if it came as a simple appliance at an affordable price. SonicWALL sold through resellers who installed and supported the boxes for local customers. That reseller network became one of its biggest strengths.

Thoma Bravo, Dell, and Back

SonicWALL priced at $14 a share in November 1999. It survived the downturn and stayed public for a decade. Through those years, its brand and its focus on smaller customers stayed largely the same. In 2010 Thoma Bravo took it private, and in 2012 Dell bought it. In 2016 Dell sold its software businesses, and SonicWALL became independent again under private equity owners.

Cover: View of Pirna with the Fortress of Sonnenstein, Bernardo Bellotto. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a fortress above a walled town (a wall that keeps intruders out).