Business security innovator WatchGuard Technologies is expanding its virtualization offerings by including its line of extensible content security (XCS) appliances. Four editions of XCSv will soon be available to meet the needs of small, midsized, and large-scale distributed environments. These virtual versions provide the same levels of security offered by other WatchGuard XCS hardware appliances, according to the company.
Designed for VMware virtualized environments, the WatchGuard XCSv series of appliances provide web content, data loss prevention (DLP), email, and messaging security. Because multiple instances of XCSv can run on a single vSphere hypervisor, WatchGuard says its virtual appliance is “ideal for managed security services providers (MSSPs), hosting providers, and larger IT organizations who wish to run separate logical XCS web security and content gateways on the same host system.”
Furthermore, because the WatchGuard XCSv series can be deployed adjacent to messaging and web servers within the virtual infrastructure as well as across internal networks between virtual machines in the same cluster or on the same server, XCSv is suited to implement web and messaging security policies between domains, applications, user communities, or tenants. †
Roger Klorese, WatchGuard’s director of product management, says there are many reasons for SMBs to turn to virtualized IT solutions. Moreover, he says WatchGuard is positioning itself to address all those reasons. “WatchGuard has already taken the lead in virtualizing its firewalls,” he says, “and now the company moves security forward by expanding its virtualized offerings to soon include the full array of XCS appliances.”
WatchGuard XCSv will be initially supported on VMware vSphere versions 4.1 and 5.0. Pricing and availability are not being announced at this time; however, a limited beta will be offered within the next month, according to WatchGuard.
Channel pros and SMBs interested in participating in the WatchGuard XCSv beta should register at: watchguard.wufoo.com/forms/sign-up-for-the-watchguard-xcsv-beta-program.
