Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Sourcefire Enhances, Extends IPS Protection To SMEs

Best known for Snort, its free, open-source network intrusion prevention and detection system (IDS/IPS), Sourcefire Inc. is enhancing and broadening the for-profit portion of its IPS portfolio. The company has announced a new version of its software, Sourcefire 4.10, with enhanced awareness and third-party interoperability for the Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS); Sourcefire 8000 Series Appliances, a modular and scalable high-speed platform for enterprise customers; and Sourcefire IPSx, a streamlined, easy-to-manage IPS for smaller organizations with limited technical resources.

Available immediately, 4.10 features improved GUI performance and added detection for key applications including Facebook, Windows Media Player and Google Toolbar, as well as for Apple, Android and Blackberry mobile devices. Shipping in May, the 8000 Series appliances are powered by the FirePOWER acceleration technology, providing users with up to 40Gbps of throughput and more than  20Gbps of real-world IPS protection.

The new hardware will be stackable to deliver 80Gbps of throughput and more than 50Gbps of protection. According to NSS Labs, the 8260 is the fastest IPS tested to date and has the lowest per megabit cost we have calculated.

Also shipping in early May in three models (250 and 500Mbps and 1Gbps), IPSx addresses a new market for Sourcefire: smaller companies without the security capabilities of its traditional enterprise customers. With an intuitive GUI that simplifies IPS implementation and management, IPSx can be installed in less than 30 minutes with automated security and simple administration.

Appliances are a big and growing part of the IPS market, states Gartner Research. In its "Magic Quadrant for Network Intrusion Prevention Systems" report, released in December, the 2010 IPS market was expected to have grown 20 percent over 2009, to $1.4 billion, while the appliance-only IPS portion was expected to hit $1.1 billion, up 10 percent year-over-year.

  • 1