Vanilla PR: Changing security landscape drives development of NETASQ V9 UTM platform, raising bar for unified network security

Customers to benefit from major performance, protection and control enhancements 

Network security pioneer and innovator NETASQ, has today announced major performance, protection and control enhancements to its NETASQ UTM (Unified Threat Management) platform. The latest version will give both large enterprises and SMBs the power to improve business performance and service continuity, reduce complexity and risk and critically, benefit from network security that sets a new standard at the application layer. NETASQ v9 will be available from 30th June 2011.

With the proliferation of mobile devices, virtualisation, cloud computing and the convergence of voice, data and video only complicating the situation for today’s IT security professional, the need to develop a solution that revolutionised the approach to network security was clear. Fabien Thomas, NETASQ CTO, commented, “Cloud-based platforms as a service revolutionize the way we work, yet simultaneously pose sophisticated security risks and network complexities. With our unique IPS-centric architecture, NETASQ v9 delivers unparalleled throughput without compromising on protection.” 

Unified threat management, or UTM, has become the accepted solution for the consolidation of network security functions. The initial offerings in this space were essentially firewalls with rudimentary intrusion prevention and sometimes VPN gateway functionality. Subsequently, antivirus, antispam and various other countermeasures have been added. More recently, NETASQ has introduced increasingly sophisticated capabilities including deep SSL inspection, application control and, so far uniquely in the UTM space, native vulnerability management. 

NETASQ v9 takes UTM to the next level, offering a full range of security functions that are always enabled by default across the entire NETASQ solution portfolio. And with a clean and intuitive new web-based console, configuration of NETASQ UTM solutions has never been easier. 

• Wizards guide you effortlessly through most of the common tasks, using everyday language that relates directly to the challenges of the business. 

• Real-time error-checking, offers immediate alerts to any inconsistencies or opportunities to enhance security.

• NETASQ management integrates seamlessly with Active Directory, providing real-time event monitoring and offering advanced reporting capabilities, ensuring that the right level of information is always available in the exact format needed to keep the business running smoothly.

“With the availability of NETASQ version 9 and its unprecedented levels of performance, control and protection, security without compromise is no longer simply a pipe dream. We believe this is an enormous stride forward for UTM applications,” Thomas continues.

Product Highlights

Performance

NETASQ version 9’s architecture combines the performance of hardware acceleration with the flexibility of software. Using just half the resources of a classic architecture for the same level of inspection, it acts as a genuine “software ASIC”, boosting the performance of its NG series by more than 50%. To ensure service continuity and fast response times, the operational switch-over delay from redundancy to active firewall service has been cut to less than a second.

Control

• According to IDC, more than 40% of network security flaws can be attributed to errors in firewall configuration. In response, NETASQ version 9 offers the most intuitive management interface to date. Simplicity and usability enhancements drastically reduce the risk of such configuration errors. For example, as new rules are created or modified, any logical inconsistencies are immediately highlighted, in real-time, alerting the administrator to potential security loopholes and thus shrinking the cost and duration of deployment. 

Protection

• NETASQ version 9’s intrusion prevention engine sets a new standard for network security at the application layer. The patented IPS analyses web applications on the fly, interpreting the various APIs, identifying the most advanced attacks and cleaning application traffic in real time. 

• SSL decryption and multi-protocol inspection of encapsulated traffic will put even the best hidden threats under the spotlight.

About NETASQ

With over 75,000 unified threat management firewalls deployed to business, government and defence organisations of all sizes, NETASQ delivers solutions of unrivalled performance, protection and control and the most comprehensive EU and NATO certifications of any firewall. NETASQ is present in 40 countries and has been securing businesses since 1998. 

For more information: http://www.netasq.com
Photos and logos: http://www.netasq.com/marketing/marketing.php

Press contacts:

Vanilla PR
Nicola Males / Sarah Weldon-Gamble
+ 44 7976 652491/ + 44 7786 087789
nicola@vanillapr.co.uk
sarah@vanillapr.co.uk 

NETASQ
Marie-Pierre CZABAK / Manon HASARD 
+33 1 46 21 82 38 / +33 3 20 61 90 49
marie-pierre.czabak@netasq.com / manon.hasard@netasq.com