Astaro Security Gateway 7.5 Provides Improved IPS Performance and Enhanced Usability

Astaro launches latest version of its flagship UTM appliance based on user feedback.

October 5th, 2009 (Wilmington, MA) – Astaro (http://www.astaro.com), a leading network security vendor, has announced today the release of the Astaro Security Gateway version 7.5, which includes an improved Intrusion Protection Engine, Multicast support, and real-time bandwidth monitoring capability. Using the recently released Feature Request Site, Astaro was able to focus on user feedback and suggestions to add features and improvements to the latest release of their Unified Threat Management product.

Version 7.5 of the Astaro Security Gateway includes over 50 new features and improvements. Among these improvements is an upgraded Intrusion Protection Engine which increases performance up to 400% by efficiently utilizing multi-core CPUs. The enhanced IPS Engine now integrates detection capabilities for Microsoft vulnerabilities released under the Microsoft Active Protection Program (MAPP). This ensures a quicker and more accurate protection against new, not yet publicly released Microsoft vulnerabilities.

The latest version of the Astaro Security Gateway adds a real-time bandwidth monitor to instantly provide a detailed breakdown which can show who is currently using up all the Internet bandwidth. Additionally, Astaro extended its Web Security engine with a “captive portal” to allow authentication of guest users across facilities such as hotels, stadiums and convention centers without the need to change browser settings.
The Astaro Security Gateway version 7.5 now supports multicast routing based on PIM-SM, extending the use cases of the product into real-time data networking environments like financial services, audio/video streaming, IPTV and more.

Tuning-in to their customers, this release added more than 70% of the most requested usability changes from users into this release. These small improvements, like import/exporting of lists, clone objects, scheduled updates, flush DNS cache, customizable shortcuts, deletion confirmations and dozens more will save network administrators valuable time within WebAdmin.

Astaro integrated customers and partners into the development process, with many of the innovative new features scoring highly in the points system provided through the Astaro Feature Request Site. Customers and partners posted, discussed and evaluated suggestions for product improvements, and popular ideas are given stronger consideration when designing new versions of Astaro’s products. Another source for customer feedback was the beta testing community; the beta discussion section on www.astaro.org saw more than 7000 posts placed across 1100 constructive articles.

"The Astaro has won many accolades for its power and ease-of-use, but if you’ve ever touched one in the past, you will be amazed at the flexibility and ‘finishing’ of this newest version," said Robert H. Alfson, MediaSoft, Inc, who took part in the beta testing for Astaro Security Gateway V7.5. "One example of that is the new button to test the timeserver settings, a feature requested on the new Astaro Feature Request Site."

"The latest release of the Astaro Security Gateway was designed to improve performance and streamline the daily use of the product," said Gert Hansen, co-founder and Chief Software Architect at Astaro Corporation. "In addition to the improvements included in the 7.5 release, what makes this new version so valuable is the validation of our roadmap by including customer and partner feedback into the development process. With their assistance we were able quickly evolve the usability of the product by including many small things that make their job easier."
Customers with valid maintenance agreements will receive the V7.5 upgrade at no cost. The update function can be applied automatically via their Astaro Security Gateway.