Astaro launches Astaro Security

Astaro announced the release of the Astaro Security Gateway Version 8. This major release comes with several new features and general improvements, providing SMB as well as enterprises with comprehensive protection. While Unified Threat Management has been the option of choice for the SMB sector for some time, Astaro's partners have observed an increasing demand from enterprises for integrated security solutions.

The latest version of Astaro's flagship solution comes with a host of new features, including, Multi-role Administration which specify access permissions for different administrators, configuration change auditing where one can see what settings were altered in the configuration and by whom? The next is IPv6 support which accommodates the next iteration in IP addressing, printable configuration where one can save a copy of configuration maps for auditing or compliance reasons, VPN activity reporting displays the status and historical activity of your remote workers and country blocking disallows all communications with specified countries or regions.

The new features of the Astaro Security Gateway V8 appeal to both the enterprise and SMBs. For example companies can now track all network activities from users logged in from remote locations and completely block Internet traffic from selected countries. Additionally, the user interface of the Astaro Security Gateway has been revised in order to further simplify management tasks. These changes include the introduction of a search function which automatically brings up all menu items related to the administrator's query.

“Version 8 is further testimony of Astaro's commitment to innovation. Astaro will continue to invest efforts in developing extremely useful features for our customers worldwide and in India. With features like country level blocking, IPv6 support, configuration change auditing etc Security administrators get unprecedented ease of use, flexibility and ROI on their investment in Astaro solutions,” said Sunil Sapra, Country Manager, SAARC (India).

MetricStream announces MetricStream GRC Platform 6

Bengaluru-based MetricStream, one of the market leader in governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions, has announced the availability of 'MetricStream GRC Platform 6'. The release breaks new ground along three dimensions: It delivers the user experience required for success of GRC applications in large scale deployments, it enables rapid and cost-effective configuration of GRC applications, and it provides an analytic infrastructure that links GRC with business performance.

This platform introduces a new level of simplicity and ease-of-use to enable successful adoption of GRC applications among users across the enterprise. The platform has been designed to provide an engaging and rich user interface, with major emphasis on intuitive and value-added information presentation for both-frequent and heavy users like auditors and risk and compliance program managers as well as for light users and business users like auditees and functional managers who are responsible for specific controls. “MetricStream GRC applications are being rolled-out to tens of thousands of employees across our customers' organizations indicating increasing involvement of functional staff and business line managers in risk and compliance programs,” said Vidya Phalke, CTO at MetricStream.

Many innovative Web 2.0 concepts have been implemented to provide improved visual appeal and intuitive navigation. This includes redesigned user portals, simplified layouts, visual controls, interactive icons, multilevel tabs, expandable and collapsible menus, collaboration gadgets, one-click access to task assignments, selective refresh and enhanced personalization. A new GRC data browser introduces flexible and multidimensional tree-based data navigation for objects such regulations, policies, functions, processes, risks, controls, audit programs, control activities and audit tasks. It significantly simplifies visualization of complex relationships between such objects enabling users to quickly access information at any level of granularity in the hierarchy.

CSC launches software to streamline vendor management

CSC has released a new Web-based software called Vendor Solutions Suite to help firms improve the quality, productivity and cost-effectiveness of their third-party vendor relationships. This software aids management of the entire relationship with vendors from assignment of tasks to review and approval of expenses. It automates and simplifies the vendor assignment process, tracks performance, promotes best practices and can ultimately lead to lower expenses. Vendor Solutions Suite complements CSC Legal Solutions Suite, which is used by more than 50 companies to manage 7,000 law firm relationships.

“Companies spend millions of dollars each year with outside vendors that provide a myriad of services to help them run their businesses,” said Mike Fitzgerald, Senior Insurance Analyst for Celent, a research and advisory firm.

“Vendor Solutions Suite is ideally suited for any type of firm that manages a high volume of vendor billings manually,” said Jim Cook, President- Business Solutions and Services Sector, CSC. By delivering powerful metrics on vendor performance and costs, Vendor Solutions Suite helps clients reduce expenses, improve communication and consistency, and increase payment processing efficiency.

Dax Networks launches a NAS device

Dax Networks, recently launched DX-2102E-NAS, a scalable Network-Attached Storage (NAS) device. The device is a storage device for small businesses and SOHOs, and offers the features that are often found in high-end NAS servers. It comes with in-built multimedia capabilities, and has a built-in iSCSI target service, policy-based unauthorized IP blocking, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), remote replication, a Gigabit LAN port, and 3 USB ports (with a built-in auto-copy feature).

The in-built iSCSI target feature makes the NAS an ideal solution for backup or storage expansion. The NAS is populated with 2x1TB HDDs and is scalable up to four TB depending on the expansion needs of the consumer.

The backup software helps NAS users to perform real-time synchronization.

To prevent NAS from malicious attacks, the server manager can create an IP filter policy to allow, deny, or auto-block the IP address or network domain that attempts to connect to the NAS via SSH/ Telnet/ HTTP(S)/ FTP/ samba/ AFP.