Check Point Revs Security Platform

Check Point Software introduced a new version of its underlying security software platform that the company says will make it easier to update its products to respond to new threats and support new security technologies and approaches.

We're finally seeing security platforms built on commodity hardware catch up to current bandwidth levels. Every time we see a major bump in speed (100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps and so on) software-only solutions like Check Point's have been unable to compete for some time. This signifies one of the first real attempts at achieving enterprise-class bandwidth without using a specifically developed hardware platform. Realistically, though, I expect it will still be a while before the open-platform approaches are able to regularly get near 10 Gbps of throughput. Jordan Wiens NWC Contributing Editor

Check Point's NGX software powers the vendor's VPN, firewall and security management software. The just-released NGX R65 version features a new plug-in architecture that will let companies speed up distribution of new protections to devices across their networks. That will make the devices more effective in securing networks from new threats, while lowering administrative costs, Check Point says.