Astaro's flagship offering is the Astaro Security Gateway, (formerly known as Astaro Security Linux) a security platform that is provided either as software with an included, hardened Linux OS (it is installed and runs on a customer supplied dedicated application server) or in pre-built appliance versions.

The security platform provides multiple functions to the organization. Among them:

- Firewall: The stateful packet inspection firewall examines packet headers for conformance to administrator defined rules (allowing for packet filtering). Application-level proxies allow for the scanning and policy-enforcement of payload data specific to Web traffic, E-mail, DNS, or other application types (proxies are available for HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, SOCKS, POP3, SIP, and SMTP); and the firewall additionally protects against common DoS/DDoS attacks.

- VPN Gateway: Supporting net-to-net, host-to-net, and host-to-host configurations. Both IPsec and PPTP connections are supported. Supported encryption methods include AES, DES, Twofish, 3DES, and Blowfish (among others) and key authentication protocols include Passphrase, X.509v3 certificates, raw RSA keys, and RADIUS.

- Anti-Virus Gateway: Protects both inbound and outbound E-mail traffic (SMTP, POP3) and Web traffic (HTTP, FTP). Scan technology is based on signature recognition, behavior analysis, and emulation of suspicious code in a protected environment. Dual virus scanning engines are included; from the ClamAV Open Source project and from Kaspersky Lab.

- Intrusion Protection: Identifies suspicious behavior and notifies the system administrator about incidents; can additionally work in conjunction with the firewall to automatically block intrusion traffic. Utilizes a database of over 3,000 rules.

- Anti-Spam: Scans messages and assigns a spam score based on multiple methodologies, including sender address verification, RBLs, header analysis, body analysis, and whitelist and blacklist settings.

- URL Filtering: Wherein a database of over 60 million Web addresses is checked on each Web page request, with matches either recorded or blocked per administrator defined rules. Web sites are pre-categorized into 60 categories; and up to 18 customized category groupings can be defined by the administrator (as can whitelist/blacklists).

- Spyware protection: Includes application blocking (blocking downloads from Web sites flagged as spyware sites, including the optional ability to block downloads from unknown/uncategorized sites); filtering of ActiveX, Java, Flash, VBScript, JavaScript, etc.; and communication blocking between infected PCs and the spyware sites attempting to collect their information.

As mentioned earlier, the Astaro Security Gateway is served in both self-contained software and pre-loaded appliance versions. Available appliances include:

- 110/120: Desktop models, sporting 3 10/100 Ethernet ports and supporting traffic throughput of 100 Mbps firewall and 30 Mbps VPN. The lower model (110) supports only 10 users behind the firewall; the 120 (and all other models) support an unlimited number of users behind the firewall. Both models include a 20 GB drive.

- 220: Rack mount model, with 8 10/100 Ethernet ports and supporting traffic throughput of 260 Mbps firewall and 150 Mbps VPN. Includes a 40 GB drive.

- 320: Rack mount model, with 4 10/100 and 4 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports and supporting traffic throughput of 420 Mbps firewall and 200 Mbps VPN. Includes an 80 GB drive.

- 425: 1U Rack mount, w/8 Gigabit ports (4 connected to a PCI-Express bus for "near-line" performance) and targeted to offices of between 500 and 1000 employees (throughput is 1.2Gb/sec firewall, 265Mb/sec VPN). The 425 includes a 74 GB SATA drive.

- 525: The newest entry in the line, targeted to implementations serving 1000-2000 employees. The 2U 525 boasts dual processors, an acceleration card for enhanced content scanning, redundant/hot swappable RAID drives (120GB SATA) and power supplies, and firewall throughput of up to better than 3 Gb/sec. Two versions of the firewall will be offered; with either ten GbE copper ports (525), or four copper GbE and six SFP ports (525F).

Appliance base pricing ranges from $695 to $19,995. The 525/525F models are expected to be available on January 24; the remaining models are available now.

Visit the Astaro Web site for further information.