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Paul H. Desmond


Check Point Preps Its VPN for Enterprise Duty

Check Point Software Technologies has announced a new release of its VPN-1/FireWall-1 software that is intended to increase the reliability, scalability, ease-of-use, and performance of Check Point-based virtual private networks.

The release of Check Point's Next Generation (NG) VPN culminates a five-part software release for VPN-1/FireWall-1, says Johnnie Konstantas, product marketing manager. Previous releases addressed "Next Generation" user interface, management, performance, and VPN client functions.

In concert, the features are intended to allow enterprises to more easily deploy and manage large VPNs while maintaining security end-to-end.

Key to the latter is a personal firewall that comes with Check Point's previously announced VPN-1 SecureClient Next Generation software. The firewall can be centrally managed, enabling an administrator to ensure it complies with corporate policies.

SecureClient also includes a Security Configuration Verification feature. Each time the client logs in to the VPN, an automated check is performed to ensure proper policy is running on the client and that it hasn't been altered.

In addition, NG VPN has a feature intended to automate the deployment of new gateways in site-to-site VPNs. NG VPN software includes a certificate authority (CA) that is used to distribute x.509-based digital certificates to all modules in the network. The certificates are used to authenticate modules to each other, without administrator intervention, enabling users to more easily administer large VPNs.

A new performance monitor capability allows administrators to graphically monitor the performance of the VPN down to individual applications. The function can be used to compare performance to predefined thresholds, including service-level agreements.

Check Point also added support for the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) standard, which allows administrators to mark certain applications as more critical than others, ensuring them of priority service through the network.

The caveat is that all network elements within the cloud have to support DiffServ for the feature to work. "We've chosen this standard in a forward-looking way, knowing this is where Internet infrastructure is going," Konstantas says.

The final major new feature in NG VPN is one that allows for the use of an alternate, private-line path to a gateway if the primary Internet path is out of commission.

NG VPN software is free to customers with a Check Point software subscription. For new users, the software ranges from $4,995 to $20,000 per gateway, depending on configuration. Now in beta test with a number of customers, the software will be generally available in mid-summer.

—Paul H. Desmond