Introduced to ISA Server

With ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft is trying to bring a number of performance and security functions together under a single management interface in a single product. They seem to have done a pretty good job a key portions of the task, if the demonstration we had in the Gainesville, Florida Real World Lab is any indication. We will, of course, reserve judgement until we've had a chance to put the product through its paces on our own, but the management interface, at least, looks quite good.

That management interface was, in fact, the only thing I saw today that gave me any pause. Is it possible to make a product too easy to use? The only worry I have is that, if the folks in the central network management group aren't careful about how they define priveleges for admins at branch offices, a remote admin could wander over his head into security policies very quickly.

In addition to the demo, we were able to talk for a while, and part of the conversation makes up today's podcast, which you can find here. Enjoy and, as always, let me know what you think.