SINGAPORE, 23 OCTOBER 2009 - A comprehensive protection system across all categories guides the current approaches of solutions providers in confronting the complexities of network security issues.
Working under this premise, network security provider Fortinet has developed FortiGate 1240B appliance with the 40 Gbps firewall and 16 Gbps IPSec VPN throughputs. The company claims these represent a 400 and 800 per cent performance advantage, respectively, over the nearest competitor.
“Cyber criminals target small and mid-sized enterprises just as they do the largest, so we’ve applied the same high-technology philosophy to our mid-enterprise products as we have our highest enterprise products, which give customers the most effective line of defence for their individual networks,” said Fortinet chief technology officer and co-founder Michael Xie.
Mid-sized enterprises present the same fundamental security challenges as high-end enterprise organisations.
The demands include higher network throughput, increased port density for greater network segmentation and sophisticated security control.
Enhanced operating system
By carrying the largest port density and best price-performance ratio among products in its class, the FortiGate-1240B platform applies the same mid-enterprise solution introduced on the FortiGate-310B and FortiGate-620B.
To extend the functionalities of FortisOS 4.0, which is the operating system of all these FortiGate devices, innovations have been made on the new maintenance release FortiOS 4.0 MR1, which has no-cost upgrade to customers with valid maintenance contracts.
FortiOS 4.0 MR1 will include anti-virus scanning and URL filtering for IPv6 traffic, optimised log data to reduce network storage consumption by 50 per cent, policy-based granular endpoint control for FortiClient—capable endpoints, and better data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities.
These enhancements will enable clients to segregate dozens of LANs within their larger network based on the presumption that each is run by its own set of security policies and performance requirements.
Other benefits
With enhancements to FortiOS 4.0, FortiGate-1240B customers will also benefit from the IPv6 support, which adds support for anti-virus scanning and URL filtering of IPv6 traffic.
In terms of log optimisation, the amount of information generated will be reduced by up to 50 per cent, and thus cutting by half the amount of information transmitted across the network. The amount required for storage and maintenance for security analysis and assisting with policy compliance is also expected to decrease.
Through its endpoint network access control (NAC), a FortiGate platform can monitor the applications being installed on FortiClient-managed endpoints. FortiGate can stop access to users that run or install violating applications.
With a more robust operating system, improvements in data loss prevention are also expected.
Based in Sunnyvale, California, Fortinet offers network security appliances for a broad range of companies, service providers and telecommunications carriers.
