HP Beefs Up Virtual And Physical Security Offerings

In an effort to prevent network breaches in both physical and virtual environments, Hewlett-Packard has announced some high-performance security solutions.

The offerings include the HP Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) module for the HP A5820 data centre switch, which converges storage and network top-of-rack switches as well as dedicated server and storage network adapters to reduce connectivity complexity at the server edge.

Virtual Threats

The HP TippingPoint Secure Virtualisation Framework (SVF) is a suite of products designed to help prevent network threats from impacting virtualised environments. The TippingPoint Virtual Controller (vController), the first product introduced under the SVF, extends TippingPoint security protection from physical to virtual networks by routing it through a TippingPoint N-Platform Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) appliance.

The vController prevents security attacks by inspecting all VM traffic as it moves through the network, either between VMs or from VMs to traditional servers. The company announced the TippingPoint S-series solutions are now shipping worldwide, and pricing for the new S-series hardware solutions starts at $24,995 (£16,566), based on configuration. Pricing for the new S-series software solutions is variable based on deployment, HP noted.

Additional vController benefits, according to HP, include increased network security by extending HP’s automated threat-prevention capabilities to virtual environments; reduced deployment complexity by enabling customers to extend the same processes, tools and expertise used in securing their physical environments to their virtual infrastructures; and simplified management of network security by providing single-pane-of-glass management, visibility and control across both physical and virtual networks.

Website Blocking

HP also has expanded its security product line with the introduction of the TippingPoint Reputation Digital Vaccine service (Rep DV). Rep DV helps ensure that customer-deployed IPS solutions have the most current and accurate list of malicious or suspicious websites and blocks traffic to or from these sites automatically. The list of sites is updated every two hours and powered by HP’s DVLabs.

In addition, the company is introducing two HP TippingPoint S-series solutions, the TippingPoint S1200N IPS A7500 Module, which delivers Tipping Point IPS security inspection in a blade, and the TippingPoint S1500 SSL Appliance, a dedicated solution for decrypting and re-encrypting Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) website traffic, which allows encrypted network traffic to be inspected for malicious content.