Barracuda has launched its new Barracuda NextGen Firewall desktop appliances, which are the industry’s first advanced next-generation firewalls that include advanced traffic optimisation capabilities available in the sub-?600 price range. These powerful desktop appliances are designed for distributed networks, and provide branch offices with improved security and network performance as those offices access private and public cloud-based applications. The new models include F18, F80, F180, and F280, which all have the ability to run full security and network optimisation. They also provide intelligent traffic regulation at the network perimeter to ensure business quality access, performance, and reliability to mission critical applications.
“Typical gateway security devices for remote locations can be a bottleneck when all security functions are enabled. This issue is compounded when you take into account the growing number of organisations that rely on SaaS and public cloud applications,” explained Dr. Klaus Gheri, VP Network Security, Barracuda. “As the adoption of these cloud-based applications increases, organisations are forced to rethink their network architecture and thus the technology needed to protect it. Most ‘next-generation’ firewalls today are designed to filter out undesired application traffic rather than proactively regulate and prioritise business critical traffic. The new Barracuda NextGen Firewall desktop appliances change that approach. Barracuda NextGen Firewalls provide a high level of security, and play an active role in application delivery and network performance, which other security devices used to secure remote locations in this price range typically do not offer.”
“Companies are using the cloud every day as well as supporting remote workers through VPN access. Cloud applications like Salesforce are no longer a luxury but a necessary part of business operations,” said Jason Pappalexis, Research Director at NSS Labs. “A next-generation firewall strategy that includes secure access and full next-generation firewall functionality with central management will be important for today’s hybrid networks where application-aware traffic distribution is key. The most successful firewall vendors will be those that help address the unique challenges created within a hybrid network.”
Security and Performance: No Longer “Either/ Or” for Branch Offices
Organisations today run hundreds of Internet applications such as Office 365 and Salesforce, and enterprise applications increasingly reside in virtual data centers and public cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. With the increasing adoption of SaaS, virtualisation, and public cloud applications, the network architecture and security requirements have evolved, and specifically, the firewall has evolved from a security-only device to one that also improves network performance and availability. Historically, this functionality has been reserved for large enterprises with the resources and budgets to support it.
With today’s announcement, Barracuda is changing that approach. Highlights of the new Barracuda NextGen F-Series desktop appliances include:
• Leading Pricing - Offers industry’s lowest price point for advanced desktop appliance next-generation firewall functionality.
• High Performance - Improves bandwidth availability and user experience with built-in WAN Optimisation and intelligent dynamic link balancing and failover.
• User and Application Awareness - Allows organisations to prioritise traffic for active bandwidth management, application usage, and customised network access.
• Dynamic Link Balancing - Ensures business continuity and bandwidth management via dynamically balanced traffic across multiple Internet connections.
• Intelligent Site-to-Site Connection Management - Provides high quality, reliable connectivity across multiple locations (both hardware and virtual appliances). IPsec VPNs ensure secure connectivity to other remote sites, centralised offices, as well as public cloud offerings like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
• Next Generation Security - Delivers application control, user awareness, deep SSL traffic inspection, web filtering, IPS, and optional malware and Advanced Threat Detection (ATD).
