Check Point offers ISP security
The software will enable ISPs to manage security for several corporate customers from a single location.
Provider-1 enables a service provider to manage Check Point's Firewall-1 and virtual private network (VPN) software running on different corporate networks from a single management console at the ISP's central office. While Firewall-1 now allows remote management, it has required a different machine for each customer.
"Provider-1 is targeted at managing hundreds and thousands of enterprise customers," said Paul Vettoretti, Check Point business development manager. "What has not been available is a large infrastructure approach which allows you to manage a large number of enterprise customers."
The product is targeted at ISPs and telcos that want to outsource management of security operations for their customers, and Vettoretti said interest in the product has been great, with 25 service providers in the beta program. The product works only for managing Check Point firewalls, however.
"Check Point clearly has differentiated itself from other companies claiming to offer high-level management capabilities for the service provider, " Mark Sims, CEO of Netrex, a security consulting firm, said in a statement. "Provider-1 will enable us to effectively manage not just security services for our customers, but to extend into the management of VPNs as well."
The new software, due to ship by year's end, also can split management tasks so an ISP can manage the firewall but the corporate customer can manage the database that controls which of users can pass through the firewalls.
. Check Point is likely to add centralized management of its FloodGate-1 product for bandwidth management to a future version of Provider-1, Vettoretti indicated.
Provider-1 is due to ship by year's end and will be priced from $3,000 per network managed, depending on configuration.