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WatchGuard unveils Vision of Extensible Network Security

June 2008 by Marc Jacob

WatchGuard Technologies, a global provider of network
security solutions, today announced its vision of taking unified threat
management (UTM) to the next level of performance, scalability, high
security, investment protection and end-user choice with its
extensible threat management (XTM) and connectivity solutions.

"With the increase of mobility, consumer and Web 2.0 applications moving
into the enterprise, security of the network perimeter is at an
inflection point, and how security is viewed, architected and managed is
quickly changing," said Joe Wang, CEO, WatchGuard Technologies. "As a
pioneer and award winning innovator of UTM technologies and solutions,
WatchGuard is taking UTM to its next level with our XTM vision and
technology direction."

In 2004 industry analyst firm IDC coined the term UTM to describe
integrated network appliances that perform firewall, gateway anti-virus,
and intrusion detection/prevention services. By 2008, WatchGuard added a host of new, extensible services, such as virtual private networking (SSL VPN), advanced web (HTTP and HTTPS), application and content filtering, e-mail/spam blocking - even security for VoIP (SIP and
H.323). Now, WatchGuard is redefining the network security market with
its vision of taking UTM to the next level with XTM solutions.

Threats are becoming more sophisticated and less conspicuous. This
leaves networks vulnerable to extremely targeted attacks that include
blended threats, such as phishing e-mails with malware payloads. The
challenge is to give businesses threat management solutions that not
only adapt, but can proactively address future and unknown threats so
that high security is always maintained.

Adding to this, most network administrators work in mixed network
environments of disparate infrastructure components and solutions. For
these administrators, it is imperative to have a flexible and scalable
gateway security appliance that can be modified, updated and customized to meet their particular security profiles and postures.

What is Extensible Threat Management?

Extensibility means having the ability to add on to or extend.
WatchGuard’s XTM vision is built upon the premise that network security
solutions fundamentally need to have this quality. XTM appliances must
be able to proactively adapt to dynamic network environments as well as
protect against unknown, future threats. With extensible protection, as
businesses grow, so too does their security platform.

WatchGuard XTM stands for the extensibility needed for management and
control. Network administrators do not have cookie-cutter environments.
Each is unique and thus has individualized needs and concerns.
WatchGuard recognizes this and builds extensibility into its management
and user control features so that administrators can maximize their XTM
investment to best suit their network and user needs.

WatchGuard XTM represents extensible choice. Not only do XTM appliances
need to fully interoperate and support mixed network infrastructures,
but they need the inherent security technology to be flexible, too.
This way, administrators can pick and choose the security service that
they want from the XTM device. For example, some may want anti-virus
(AV) protection provided at a different source other than the gateway.
Here, an administrator could turn "off" the AV protection at the XTM
appliance, while maintaining full firewall, IPS/IPS as well as web
content filtering at the network gateway. With WatchGuard XTM, the
choice of security services is ultimately up to the customer.

WatchGuard XTM provides extensible ownership. WatchGuard leads the
industry with software upgradeable UTM devices. This allows businesses
to maintain high security without having to rip out and replace older
devices, giving unmatched asset protection and lower total cost of
ownership. WatchGuard will continue to provide this extended life and
functionality with its next generation, XTM appliances.

Lastly, the WatchGuard XTM vision opens the doors to extensible market
opportunities. WatchGuard envisions uptake of a new class of managed
security service providers (MSSPs), who wish to provide highly reliable,
"in the cloud" managed security services to their customers. As well,
WatchGuard foresees the possibility of providing a software platform,
similar to that of other extensible applications, such as XML, so that
third-party developers can create customized security applications that
are tailor-made for WatchGuard XTM appliances.


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