Radware Aims New Switch At Intrusion Detection Segment

The DefensePro switch taps into Radware's legacy as a vendor of Layer 4-7 application switches to isolate, block and prevent attacks at the application layer, said Vik Desai, COO of Radware, Mahwah, N.J.

"Our switches are designed for extremely high throughput and deep inspection of packets, so when we carry that to the security space it delivers a powerful solution," Desai said.

DefensePro monitors traffic for 1,200 signature-based attacks at Port 80, the application level where most worms, viruses and denial-of-service attacks are aimed. At the same time, it also applies advanced algorithms to seek out abnormal traffic patterns and stop those attacks as they happen.

The switch provides throughput of 3 Gbps at Layer 7. The speed boost allows a high level of security without degrading network performance, Radware executives said. DefensePro also isolates attacks, preventing them from spreading.

While Radware offers products that integrate security features into its load-balancing switches, DefensePro is its first product that is 100 percent focused on security.

"This is going to open up an entire market space for our partners that had been unavailable to them previously," Desai said.

One challenge Radware will face with DefensePro is that it pits the company against a whole new breed of competitors, said Dave Whitney, regional manager at Flair Data Systems, a solution provider in Dallas. "It is certainly a congested field out there with a lot of players," he said.

One competitor is Internet Security Systems, which last month began shipping its Proventia G Series intrusion-detection appliances, which the company said detect

and block known and unknown attacks.

However, many intrusion-detection systems do not satisfy customer needs, offering subpar performance and too much complexity, solution providers said.

But Frank Darden, CTO of Mission Critical Systems, a security solution provider in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Radware's DefensePro is "an incredible product" that complements Mission Critical's other security offerings.

Pricing for DefensePro, available now, ranges from $25,000 to $65,000.