More and more applications are moving to cloud and more users are moving off-premise. According to John Pescatore (News - Alert), an analyst, Next Generation Firewall or “NGFW” will follow the same pattern – extending to NGFW as a service, to inject the same firewall policy between the users and the Internet and in between the cloud-based services consume that used to be inside the data center.

 

Introducing a private cloud-based approach to extend next-generation firewall visibility and control to remote endpoints, Network security company Palo Alto Networks announced the launch of GlobalProtect that is designed to help enterprises secure remote endpoints with faster performance and easier management.

 

GlobalProtect extends the same visibility and control of applications, users, and content that Palo Alto (News - Alert) Networks customers typically enjoy inside the enterprise network to endpoints outside the network, company officials said.

 

GlobalProtect ties application-, user-, and content-based policies to roaming users through a persistent thin client that can be pre-installed or installed on demand. Similar to a virtual private networks or “VPN,” remote traffic is sent over a secure tunnel.

 

However, unlike typical VPN deployments, which direct traffic to a few geographically centralized gateways, the GlobalProtect client automatically connects to the nearest corporately-managed Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewall deployed at a hub, branch, or in a private cloud, the company said. This results in faster throughput, easier management, and better protection.

 

Palo Alto Networks pioneered the next-generation firewall three years ago. This enables it to lead the market with GlobalProtect and introduce a new approach to managing and securing remote endpoints while offering security and performance those other firewall vendors cannot match, Rene Bonvanie, vice president of worldwide marketing at Palo Alto Networks, said.

 

The company is widely recognized as the only network security vendor with true application visibility and control in the firewall, enabling enterprise IT managers to make informed policy decisions that improve their overall security posture. Its next-generation firewalls enable unprecedented visibility and granular policy control of applications and content – by user, not just IP address – at up to 10Gbps with no performance degradation.

 

GlobalProtect will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010 and will initially support Windows-based PCs and laptops. Based on patent-pending App-ID technology, Palo Alto Networks firewalls accurately identify and control applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or SSL encryption – and scan content to stop threats and prevent data leakage.

 

Palo Alto Networks recently introduced new functionality that enables enterprises to control Facebook (News - Alert) Social Plug-ins, TMCnet reported. These will empower the users to enjoy the fun of Facebook without worrying about the privacy concerns.