Enterprises adopt virtualization both to bring consistency to their IT infrastructure and to profit from a technology, which brings about a huge TCO reduction, enhanced system exploitation and manageability, load balancing, server portability and immediate recovery.

Poor security practices though, may nullify the dramatic benefits of virtualization. Its dark side is indeed the possibility to arbitrarily connect virtual hosts to network segments with different trust levels. The fact that traditional IPS/IDS appliances, once shielding the physical network, are useless in a fully virtualized environment is a further aggrieving factor.

By sharing the same hardware platform to host operating systems, CRM and ERP as well as all services once located in the DMZ, all affected by potential application vulnerabilities, virtualization raises new challenges for the protection of business critical information.

The lack of visibility and controls on internal virtual networks created for VM-TO-VM communications blinds existing security policy enforcement mechanisms. — GARTNER INC, JANUARY 25, 2010 (1) (1) Addressing the Most Common Security Risks in Data Center Virtualization Projects, Neil MacDonald, Gartner Inc., January 25, 2010

To adequately protect such multi-layer architectures, enterprises need a mature virtual security solution, allowing to centrally manage multiple virtual and physical security devices. They also require to support smooth migrations within meshed topologies, network segmentation and optimal protection of the inter-site communication. The NETASQ Virtual Appliance for Enterprise is the solution covering all these expectations.

Located in the system kernel, our patented intrusion prevention engine delivers real-time behavioral and protocol analysis of the data flow. It combines several technologies to proactively protect against thousands of existing and future threats.Deployed in a virtual environment, the NETASQ Virtual Appliance for Enterprise comes with an efficient and intuitive management interface. Per user security policy configuration and comprehensive network monitoring are natively supported to let the security team in control of their virtual network.

On top of the field-proven EAL 4+ certified solution, our virtual appliance integrates all functionalities you would expect from a complete all-in-one solution (UTM). An enterprise may also benefit from a real-time vulnerability assessment engine*, which drastically reduces the risks for sensitive architectures. Last but not least, NETASQ’s VU (unlimited) contributes to secure mobility by delivering a proactive analysis of the data flow coming through “secure” SSL or IPSec VPN tunnels.

One of the principles driving virtualization being a massive cutback on infrastructure costs, NETASQ Virtual Appliance for Enterprise is delivered at no initial cost, “on demand”.

To benefit from the full range of security features offered by NETASQ’s Virtual Appliance for Enterprise, large organizations just need to yearly subscribe for the services, firmware and protection updates. The subscription approach bears several advantages, among which full cost control on a yearly basis and fast return on investment for state-of-the-art protection are just a few.

NETASQ Virtual Appliance for Enterprise delivers future-ready, enterprise-class security, granting to large global organizations true protection against internal and external threats. It safeguards both the performance of their virtual network and the employees’ productivity.