Juniper Networks on Oct. 2 added three new unified threat management tools to its Secure Services Gateway appliance lineup in an effort to market the gateway devices to remote business locations.
The products promise more comprehensive filtering capabilities to help block malware and other threats from corporate networks. The devices offer a built-in firewall and VPN, along with anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, Web filtering and intrusion protection features. Integration between the tools is an important benefit, according to Juniper officials in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Two of the new network security gateways, the SSG 5 and the SSG 20, promise to handle up to 160M bps of firewall traffic and 40M bps of VPN throughput, with the more powerful SSG 140 platform slated to deliver more than 350M bps of firewall traffic and 100M bps of VPN data. The devices run on Junipers NetScreen ScreenOS 5.4 operating system.
Juniper officials said the new gateways will pool data from intrusion prevention, anti-virus and Web filtering tools to better protect traffic flowing in and out of remote networks. In addition to serving as integrated gateways, the machines also may be employed as stand-alone network protection devices.
With the addition of the three newest gateway appliances, Juniper now offers nine models within its SSG family. The SSG 5, which starts at $700, offers seven Ethernet ports and a factory-configured WAN, as well as optional support for 802.11 wireless platforms. The SSG 20, which sells for $900, features five Ethernet ports and two expansion slots and supports optional 802.11 wireless systems connectivity.
The SSG 140, priced at roughly $3,000, boasts eight Ethernet ports and two copper Gigabit ports, along with four WAN expansion slots. The SSG 5 and SSG 20 are targeted at small branch offices and power-user telecommuters, while the SSG 140 is designed for midsize branch offices and stand-alone businesses, Juniper officials said.
“Juniper Networks has taken a leading security device platform and has evolved it into a very strong multifunction security and routing platform including intrusion prevention, anti-virus, anti-spam and Web filtering,” Charles Kolodgy, an analyst at IDC, of Framingham, Mass., wrote in a report. “The advanced content security functionality enhances existing application and network-level threat control, and offers performance and extensibility to ensure security processing for distributed enterprises and branch offices.”