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
ATLANTA – February 27, 2008 – Stonesoft, an innovative provider of
integrated network security and resilient connectivity 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 as well. Stonesoft also has
several years of experience providing security solutions for virtual servers and networks running
in an 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. "Among participants in our data center security research, segmentation is a major
strategy and 67 percent 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 resilient connectivity, 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 in 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 further improve
sustainability and even lower the cost of ownership (TCO)”, said Torniainen.
“The strength of the StoneGate solutions lies in capability, agility and flexibility, which
make the solutions 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, Stonesoft’s software-based solutions have once again proven their excellence.
Moreover, Stonesoft is one of the few vendors that can provide a solution for the virtual as well
as the physical environments, 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. Other 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 (MSPs) with several customers, firewall clusters and Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) appliances. Instead of having to set up environments with dozens of servers, MSPs can now manage all of these systems 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 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:Jennifer Lake
Lois Paul & Partners
512-638-5313
jennifer_lake@lpp.com
Laurie Douglas
Stonesoft Inc.
678-578-8429
laurie.douglas@stonesoft.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2008