When California Casualty recently replaced its Cisco MARS security box, the property and casualty insurance company not only swapped out the hardware appliance for a software-based virtual one, but also ended up phasing other tools it found to be no longer necessary. California Casualty ditched the Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis and Response System (MARS), a security information event and monitoring (SIEM) appliance, mainly because Cisco wanted the company to scrap the device and start over again with a brand-new one. The insurance company, which still uses Cisco firewalls and intrusion-detection products, wanted to upgrade its existing box, as starting from scratch proved more expensive than was acceptable. "Our existing MARS installation was an older box that had reached end of life," says Skip Moon, assistant vice president, network development and engineering at San Mateo-based California Casualty, which has about 700 employees, two data centers and three call centers. "Cisco wouldn't do [a simple software] upgrade and wanted a whole new start-from-scratch license. We realized we had to do something" Other Cisco MARS customers, such as Bank of the West, have been seeking alternatives in light of Cisco's decision late last year to end support for new third-party devices. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/060310-california-casualty-cisco-secur... -- www.projectskenya.info