Astaro Announces Astaro Security Gateway Version 6.2

Network assurance appliance now best migration path for Novell security users.

London and Karlsruhe (Germany) – 20th March 2006 - The Astaro Corporation ( www.astaro.co.uk), a leader in providing unified threat management security solutions, today announced a new release of its award-winning Astaro™ Security Gateway (ASG) appliance designed to permit users of Novell® BorderManager® to migrate to Astaro Security Gateway V6.2 quickly and easily. This new functionality ensures that ASG V6.2 is the product of choice for Novell customers seeking to protect their investments in technology now and in the future.

ASG V6.2 offers users of Novell products, including Groupwise® and eDirectory™, exciting new functionality that makes it easy to integrate modern, advanced unified threat management appliances into existing Novell installations. Astaro Security Gateway V6.2 now includes:

• A single sign-on (SSO) capability for Novell eDirectory users. With ASG V6.2 eDirectory SSO, Novell users will only need to authenticate once at initial client login to gain web access to the Internet. Based on the ASG V6.2 SSO authenticated user, user-, group- and/or container-based access control and content inspection profiles are assigned. Once authentication is complete, the entire Web security capabilities of Astaro Security Gateway are applied to traffic flows based on the user, including prevention of phishing, virus and spam attacks, without the need for further authentication at the browser level. This high level of integration with Novell eDirectory services delivers improved administrator productivity, vastly enhanced security and excellent end-user transparency.
• A new eDirectory tree browser integrated into ASG’s easy-to-use WebAdmin interface. With the eDirectory browser, administrators logged into the ASG V6.2 appliance can quickly and easily select users, user groups or containers and add them to access control profiles or Web content inspection policies. With the ASG V6.2 eDirectory browser, administrators can easily manage user-based Web access control at the gateway without writing complex Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) rules or having to manage LDAP Distinguished Names (DNs).
• A new “generic proxy” which supports any TCP and/or UDP application that needs to be reachable through the security gateway. Astaro Security Gateways employ a unique intrusion prevention architecture to manage security in all traffic flowing into and out of the network. ASG currently supplies dedicated application proxies for common protocols, such as the Web (HTTP, FTP), email (SMTP, POP3) and others (DNS, SOCKS). With the generic proxy, Novell users will be able to ensure that Novell and other application traffic is reachable through the security gateway while ensuring the same level of security management that is provided for traffic routed through the supplied protocol-specific proxies.

“With the announcement of Astaro Security Gateway V6.2, we have made it possible for the large number of Novell BorderManager customers who have been waiting for a path forward to achieve network assurance in a single, easy-to-digest migration,” said Alex Neihaus, vice president of marketing, Astaro Corporation. “With ASG V6.2, Novell customers can integrate the best unified threat management appliances and fully support their long-term investments in Netware networks and Novell applications. Plus, ASG V6.2 appliances dramatically improve network administrator productivity while lowering overall cost.”

Pricing and Availability
Astaro Security Gateway V6.2 is available immediately via the ASG Up2Date service. Administrators will be able to apply V6.2 to currently operable gateways after it is automatically downloaded on the administrator’s selected schedule. New Astaro Security Gateway appliances manufactured after March 19, 2006 will have V6.2 included automatically. Users of software versions of Astaro Security Gateway may download the new release from www.astaro.com/bordermanager. A publicly accessible Wiki designed to support the community of BorderManager customers migrating to Astaro Security Gateway V6.2 is available at www.astaro.com/bmwiki.

About Astaro - www.astaro.co.uk
Astaro develops a complete line of network security products including the Astaro Security Gateway software and Astaro Security Gateway line of security appliances. All Astaro products offer nine critical security applications in three categories - Web Security, Email Security and Network Security - fully integrated on a single management platform. The company is headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany and with facilities in Burlington, Mass.. Astaro's software has won numerous industry awards, and is protecting over 25,000 networks in 60 countries, including such organisations as EADS, Los Alamos National Labs and Stanford University. Astaro products are distributed by a worldwide network of 450 solutions partners who offer local support and services.

Press Contact
Dan Purvis, Goode International
+44 (0) 1491 873323, email: dan.purvis@goode.co.uk