WatchGuard unveils enterprise network security app

WatchGuard Technologies is launching a network security appliance that targets enterprise campuses, data centres and other high-performance network environments.

The XTM 1050 is WatchGuard’s first extensible threat management (XTM) network security appliance and is said to incorporate security, extensible networking and management features, and unparalleled ownership properties.

It achieves 10 Gbps firewall and 2 Gbps IPSec throughput through dual quad-core Intel processors and advanced crypto-acceleration hardware.

“Network threats are evolving and becoming more sophisticated, which has a deleterious effect to businesses and consumers,” said Scott Robertson, WatchGuard’s Regional Director ANZ.

“By making network security extensible, WatchGuard takes an unequalled position in the industry,” he said in a statement to the media.

“The XTM 1050 embodies our vision of bringing extensible protection and networking in one high-performance, easy to manage and easy to own appliance.”

WatchGuard also has included two new security features in the XTM 1050: HTTPS inspection and VoIP security.

The HTTPS inspection technology enables network administrators to manage and monitor HTTPS packets with more transparency.

Meanwhile, the VoIP security feature incorporates technologies such as network address translation, port obfuscation and SIP and H.323 proxies to thwart would-be VoIP systems and network hackers.

The device integrates 12 line-speed, high density Gigabit Ethernet ports with the option to upgrade 4 ports to fibre, as well as enterprise-level features such as dual hot-swappable power supplies and fans.

To support high-performance environments, the XTM 1050 uses active-active multi-WAN load balancing to achieve high availability, and the ability to cluster two WatchGuard XTM 1050 appliances as a single, logical unit, thus achieving nearly 2X throughput.

As well, the XTM 1050 includes WAN and VPN failover with dynamic routing and traffic shaping capabilities to maximise network performance and redundancy.

The WatchGuard XTM 1050 will be available in Q4, 2008. Pricing will be announced upon availability.