SafeNet Inc. on Tuesday will announce its new SafeEnterprise Security System, a centrally managed set of products that helps securely tie together disparate networks and devices.
The system is made up mainly of existing products. But the heart of the new offering is the Security Management Center, a console designed to handle all of the management tasks for the SafeNet appliances. The Java-based platform enables administrators to perform remote configuration, monitoring and firmware updates on the boxes.
The SMC also handles the implementation and enforcement of security policies across the network.
The introduction of the SafeEnterprise system is something of a departure for SafeNet. The company, which has strong historic ties to the National Security Agency, can lay claim to having installed the first commercial VPN nearly 10 years ago. And for most of its existence, SafeNet has pursued twin strategies, both of which have been focused on the hardware business.
Much of its business has come from selling embedded security systems to hardware manufacturers and networking companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and Nokia Inc. Its intellectual property is found in the vast majority of the VPN clients and appliances deployed around the world.
Its other main line of business has been selling security appliances to the enterprise and government markets. Those appliances are what make up the bulk of the SafeEnterprise offering. The components include the High Assurance Remote client software; High Assurance 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Gateway VPN and firewall appliances; and ATM Encryptor, Frame Encryptor and Link Encryptor boxes.
The SafeEnterprise system was designed to solve one specific problem: how to securely link different types of networks without instituting onerous restrictions and creating more management headaches.
“Its a very real situation that we wont get away from in the next few years,” said Sean Price, vice president of SafeNet, based in Baltimore, Md. “We have multiple networks with multiple access points and have to find a way to tie them together securely.”
The SafeEnterprise system is available now.
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