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$28 Million for an Old Idea?Part 2: Page 2 of 3

First, it provides visibility into, and control of the applications on your network. If you don't want users fooling around with P2P apps, you shut them down at the gateway. If you only want them to use a corporate-approved IM system, PAN's firewall allows that one and no others.

PAN's firewall also includes attack protection capabilities. It can detect and block viruses, spyware and exploits.

There are other ways to do this, of course. IPSs block malware. Web and IM proxies can enforce policies and control some rogue apps. And Network Behavioral Analysis systems can help identify and control application usage.

But why add to the network architecture if, by rethinking the firewall, you can integrate these functions into one platform?

PAN's application-based policy enforcement goes a long way to addressing issues such as regulatory compliance, employee productivity and bandwidth management. It also lets administrators shut off common channels for malware and other exploits.