Qualys has been marketing a consultant edition with a virtual scanner, announced this summer in Las Vegas at the security conference for US federal agencies.

…a new edition of the QualysGuard Consultant service, featuring virtualized scanner appliances (vScanners)…

[…]

…senior security analyst for The 451 Group. “The addition of virtualized scanner appliances to Qualys’ portfolio means that its customers will no longer be required to transport physical appliances to client sites…”

That sounds really good, but it raises an odd question. Why market a travel case while at the same time boasting about the lack of need for physical transport? Or is the case only available for the old appliance?

It looks like a case made available when it is no longer needed. Confusing. Maybe for the vScanner it comes filled with USB sticks to move data when their cloud is “unavailable”. Maybe it comes with extra pairs of underwear for when the consultant realizes the vScanner is unable to scan the hypervisor (beta expected Q4).