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New firewall standards


Johannesburg, 20 Oct 2010

WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today raised the bar of what constitutes a firewall, by unveiling WatchGuard Application Control.

With WatchGuard Application Control, businesses now gain in-depth, granular control over Web 2.0 applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and hundreds more. Not only does WatchGuard Application Control protect against the next generation of threats that leverage these popular applications, now businesses can rein in how individual employees use such applications, directly from the corporate firewall.

By leveraging more than 2 300 unique application signatures, WatchGuard Application Control enables the firewall to identify and control more than 1 500 applications. This level of control gives businesses newfound freedom to align business needs with IT and security policies. By doing so, businesses gain greater efficiencies and improved productivity, and administrators gain unprecedented visibility and control over applications traversing their networks. Available in Q4 of 2010, WatchGuard Application Control will be available for all WatchGuard XTM series of multifunction firewall appliances.

“The explosion of new applications entering business networks creates havoc for administrators who need to protect business assets while simultaneously need to support agile and efficient work environments,” said Tim Helming, Director of Product Management at WatchGuard Technologies. “For example, many organisations today may want to allow use of Facebook, but not sub-applications, such as Mafia Wars, FarmVille, or Facebook Chat. With WatchGuard Application Control, businesses gain a better handle on reducing risks right down to individual employees and the myriad applications that they bring into their networks.”

With WatchGuard Application Control, administrators can select which applications to control from 13 major categories. For example, within the instant messaging category, administrators can manage popular IM applications, such as QQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and more. Other categories include: Mail (HotMail, Gmail), Social Media (Facebook, MySpace), Peer-to-Peer (Gnutella, Bittorrent), Remote Access Terminals (TeamViewer, GoToMyPC), Databases (MS SQL), File Transfer (Megaupload), VoIP (Skype), Streaming Media (YouTube, Hulu), Network Management (MS Update) and Tunnel Applications used to bypass firewalls (Ultrasurf, Avoidr).

“Having the ability to monitor, manage and control which applications go through our network is a tremendous advantage,” said Jason Omens, IT Manager at BuzzBee Company, a strategic marketing firm. “With WatchGuard Application Control, BuzzBee employees can utilise the latest Web 2.0 apps in a way that is productive and highly secure without risking our network to new forms of attacks or malware.”

For more information regarding WatchGuard's Application Control, please contact Robinson Distribution. Robinson Distribution is the official distributor for WatchGuard for sub-Saharan Africa.

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WatchGuard Technologies

Since 1996, WatchGuard Technologies has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit http://www.watchguard.com.

Robinson Distribution

Robinson Distribution specialises in business critical solutions for South Africa and Africa. It offers a selection of only the best solutions from reputable suppliers with the ability to provide excellent service. Robinson Distribution has established itself as the top distribution company in South Africa. Please visit http://www.rdgroup.co.za for more information.

Editorial contacts

Karen Potgieter
Robinson Distribution
(+27) 083 299 4355
karen@rdgroup.co.za