Verizon Apps Help Secure Enterprise IP Networks

Verizon Business is looking to make it easier for enterprises on its Private IP program to manage and secure their IP networks. The new tools include a group of management and monitoring capabilities delivered as an SAAS, new security assessment capabilities and the ability to offload to Verizon the management and monitoring of their network-based firewall.

Verizon Business is rolling out new and enhanced IP networking offerings designed to improve management and security of enterprise private IP environments.

Verizon Business officials announced the capabilities at the Interop 2009 show in Las Vegas, which runs May 17-21.

The new tools in the Verizon Private IP enterprise networking platform touch on fault management and monitoring, greater Internet security and enhanced firewall capabilities for IP networks, which Blair Crump, president of worldwide sales for Verizon Business, said are playing a larger role in enterprise IT environments.

"IP networks have fast become the heart of most business operations worldwide, which means that companies, more than ever before, we are relying on network security and the performance of their business applications to fuel success," Crump said in a statement.

Further reading

Verizon's new Asset Assurance offering was born out of a collaboration between it and CA while they were working together on WAN Analysis, performance analysis, capacity and bandwidth tool.

Asset Assurance is powered by CA's Spectrum Infrastructure Management software and is designed to improve network monitoring, IT service management and service-level reporting for devices in a business' Private IP network. Part of Verizon's Application Aware suite, the tool is delivered as an SAAS (software as a service) that performs tasks such as device monitoring, alarming, fault isolation and root-cause analysis.

Verizon also is offering its Internet Security Assessment to help Private IP customers review their security environment and assess their risks. The tool's Virtual Discovery and Classification application helps enterprise learn about emerging threats and other network issues, while the External Risk Assessment service scans the network and identifies potential threats.

Verizon's Secure Gateway offers new capabilities for businesses that want to offload to Verizon the management of the firewalls on their networks. Before, that job was on the customers, who had to use a Web-based GUI to manage policies to control public Internet traffic that was on their private network.