* Novell announces Novell Security Manager powered by Astaro
Last issue, I mentioned the “triumvirate” of products that represented the old Novell – the one headquartered in Provo. Those products were NetWare, GroupWise and BorderManager. NetWare, as we know, is disappearing as a product name (if not as a technology) with the advent of Open Enterprise Server.
GroupWise, while there is a roadmap for the immediate future, is starting to get the same treatment that NetWare did in the years leading up to the release of NetWare 6 and 6.5, with many thinking that some new, open source based collaboration product (such as the “Hula” initiative I mentioned last issue) will be its eventual migration path.
Now, it seems, it’s BorderManager’s turn.
At LinuxWorld last week, Novell announced the availability of “Novell Security Manager powered by Astaro” (there’s a mouthful for you!). This is a new packaging and branding of the Linux-based perimeter management appliance from Astaro Internet Security (https://www.astaro.com/).
For the BorderManager community, the fascinating part of this should be the product’s list of features:
* Firewall protection that controls the flow of traffic into an organization based on ports, protocols, sources and destinations.
* VPN gateway that eliminates expensive leased lines for remote users to reduce costs.
* Intrusion protection that detects and/or blocks attacks on the network and allows administrators to limit activities such as instant messaging, chat and peer-to-peer networks.
* Virus protection scans for more than 100,000 virus signatures using multiple methods including signature checking and heuristics.
* Spam protection blocks, quarantines or reports suspected spam using selected rules, patterns and thresholds.
* Content filtering blocks access to undesirable Web sites with access policies that can be customized for different users or groups.
Looks like a partial list of BorderManager features, doesn’t it? In fact, in a story about the product’s announcement, Network World Senior Editor, Deni Connor wrote (https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2005/0214novellsec.html?rl): “Novell and Astaro are working on future releases of the Novell Security manager to include Novell’s BorderManager functionality.”
BorderManager does protect Linux networks, so why does Novell need another border product? Well, this new thing is an appliance. But Novell has built and shipped appliances before. My inbox is open; let me know what you think of this new development.
