McAfee is using the
Interop show in Las Vegas to launch a new
intrusion prevention system
(
IPS) for 10-gigabit Ethernet networks and the integration of
several other products.
McAfee IntruShield 10 Gigabit Ethernet platform will be
available later this year. The new IPS supports IPV 6 (Internet
Protocol Version 6).
"Many enterprise datacentres are moving toward 10g Ethernet
networks but there hasn't really been an IPS out there that's
10g-compatible," said John Vecchi, McAfee's director of product
marketing for network security solutions.
One analyst said the technology won't necessarily be the best
fit for everyone.
Eric Maiwald, senior analyst at Midvale, Utah-based Burton
Group, said IT professionals have to take a careful study of their
own environments to determine if this product is truly viable for
them. Every IT outfit is configured differently, and while one
might be a perfect match for the latest IntruShield, another may be
configured in a way where the product wouldn't work as well,
Maiwald said.
"The raw number is only one part of the equation," he said. "How
was the throughput measured? What configuration was used during the
test?"
Maiwald added that he hasn't seen as much evidence that IT shops
are clamoring for a 10g IPS to better protect the core.
"A faster device certainly enhances your options in terms of
where you can put the thing, but it remains to be seen if this
truly takes the use of IPS to the next level."
Despite his reservations on the IPS front, Maiwald said he sees
promise in McAfee's integration efforts. McAfee also unveiled
IntruShield 4.1, which it said offers enhanced integration with
other products in its security risk management portfolio, including
Foundstone,
Network Access Control (NAC) and ePolicy Orchestrator.
"Foundstone can pass information to IntruShield so that alerts
can be better prioritized," he said. "IntruShield can also pass
attack information back to Foundstone so Foundstone can then
conduct a scan to see if the target was vulnerable to the attack.
That information is quite useful and this will probably help reduce
false positives and such."
Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee has worked hard to improve its
standing in the market following an internal scandal that forced
the retirement of CEO George Samenuk, who was replaced by Dave
DeWalt in March.
A special committee of McAfee's board of
directors investigated certain stock options granted in the
last 10 years and ultimately found that McAfee needed to restate
some of its historical financial results.
Despite such setbacks, security experts have
lauded McAfee's recent product moves as a model
for other security vendors to follow as they fight to stay
relevant in an increasingly saturated market.