NFR Updates Intrusion-Detection Line

The update primarily focuses on better correlating low-level intrusion alerts coming from multiple sensors and eliminating "false positive" security alarms, said Andre Yee, CTO of the Rockville, Md.-based vendor.

The product, Sentivist 4.0, includes a feature called Meta Alert Correlation, which assesses multiple low-priority alerts in combination with each other rather than as separate events. This produces a higher level of accuracy, Yee said. Sentivist 4.0 also uses operating system and application fingerprinting to continuously update a company's host vulnerability profile.

Another new feature is the Enterprise Console, while allows network administrators to monitor hundreds of sensors in concert. "I think the real issue isn't scalability, it's manageability," he said.

Finally, Sentivist 4.0 supports Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6, which protects against advanced intrusion tunneling techniques.

Prices for the Sentivist software start at $13,000. Sentivist sensors are priced between $11,000 and $20,000.

Currently, NFR Security only derives about 20 percent of its U.S. revenue from channel partners. However, the company is building its North America channel in anticipation of the release of an intrusion-protection appliance in 2004, Yee said.

"You'll see the impact of the indirect channel program next year," he said.