Press Release
Stonesoft joins the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program to secure virtual network environments
With their software-based design and advanced usability, StoneGate secure connectivity solutions are ideally suited for virtual environments
Helsinki, Finland – 27 February 2008 – Stonesoft, an innovative
provider of integrated network security and business continuity solutions, has today announced it
has become a member of the Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) Program of VMware, the world’s leading
provider of virtualization solutions for x86-based servers and desktops. With its StoneGate
Firewall/VPN and IPS technologies, which are unrivalled in their suitability for virtual
environments, Stonesoft has unique competence and expertise in securing virtual as well as physical
network environments.
The VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) Program will provide Stonesoft the technical and
marketing resources needed to fully test, support and market StoneGate products to companies
looking to secure their virtual network environments.
With their software-based design and production-proven technology, StoneGate solutions stand
out in their ability to adapt to virtual environments. Stonesoft has already used the platform
internally for several years and is now offering it for customer use. Stonesoft has also several
years of extensive experience in providing security solutions for virtual servers and networks
running on IBM System z environment.
"When companies put virtual servers into production, they typically start out using the same
methods to secure virtual servers as physical ones," said
John Burke, Principal Research Analyst with Nemertes
Research. "Amongst participants in our data center security research, segmentation is a major
strategy and 67% used VLANs, firewalls, and intrusion prevention devices between servers to segment
data center networks. Unfortunately, in virtual environments segmentation becomes increasingly
difficult as it directly reduces the agility and flexibility that provides the strongest impetus
for virtualization. To avoid having security polices undermine larger data center and business
strategies, security architects need to carefully select products that are supportive of
virtualized infrastructures."
“Virtualization technology has matured rapidly and is currently one of the leading trends
among enterprises and organizations. Regarding the business benefits brought by virtualization, we
strongly believe this development will continue to expand”, said
Outi Torniainen, Vice president of Marketing at Stonesoft.
“As a provider of integrated network security and business continuity, Stonesoft understands
the security challenges of virtualized networks. With our background and experience, we can offer
network security solutions that allow organizations to get the full benefits from virtualization –
securely.”
“We strongly believe on the impact of virtualization and are pleased to become a member of
the VMware Technology Alliance Partner Program. We are proud to offer our customers the possibility
to test and use StoneGate products in VMware virtual environments and help them to reach better
sustainability and even lower cost of ownership (TCO) than before”, said Torniainen.
“The strength of the StoneGate solutions lies in their capability, agility and flexibility,
which make them ideal for use in virtual environments”, highlighted Torniainen. “Whereas using
hardware-based firewalls in virtual environments often requires considerable efforts or is not
possible at all, in this aspect our StoneGate products have once again proven their excellence.
Moreover, only few vendors can provide a solution for the virtual as well as the physical
environment, with centralized management and consistent security policies.”
Key benefits of virtualization
While virtualization concentrates more users and applications on fewer, more complex, shared virtual environments, organizations benefit from significant reductions in their need for server room space and energy consumption. In addition to cost savings, this helps them to reduce environmental impact. Additional benefits include enhanced manageability and flexibility. New machines can be easily created and redundant ones destroyed.Virtualization is particularly attractive for large organizations and Managed Service Providers (MSP) with several customers, firewall clusters and IPS appliances. Instead of having to set up environments with dozens of servers, MSPs can now manage with just one computer. In addition, unlike most virtual-network security products, which are built on the vendors’ own hardware, StoneGate solutions are suitable for consolidation projects as they can be installed at any location in the virtual network.
In the common scenario where organizations have consolidated servers in virtual environments, the traffic between servers is protected by StoneGate Firewall/VPN and IPS solutions.
About Stonesoft Corporation
Stonesoft Corporation (OMX: SFT1V) is an innovative provider of integrated network security solutions to secure the information flow of distributed organizations. Stonesoft customers include enterprises with growing business needs requiring advanced network security and always-on business connectivity.StoneGate™ secure connectivity solution unifies firewall, VPN, IPS and SSL VPN blending network security, end-to-end availability and award-winning load balancing into a unified and centrally managed system. The key benefits of StoneGate secure connectivity solution include low TCO, excellent price-performance ratio and high ROI.
StoneGate Management Center provides unified management for StoneGate Firewall with VPN, IPS and SSL VPN. StoneGate Firewall and IPS work together to provide intelligent defense throughout the enterprise network while StoneGate SSL VPN provides enhanced security for mobile and remote use.
Founded in 1990, Stonesoft Corporation is a global company with corporate headquarters in Helsinki, Finland and Americas headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.stonesoft.com.
Contact
For more details, please contact:Stonesoft Corporation
Outi Torniainen
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Tel. +358 9 476 711
E-mail: outi.torniainen@stonesoft.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2008