RedCreek to refresh VPN offerings
The upgrade aims to ease management of encryption cards and client software as well as enforcement of corporate security policies.
The upgrade, free to existing RedCreek customers, is designed to make it easier for users to manage encryption cards and client software as well as to ease enforcement of corporate security policies.
The new Ravlin technology also will be available for Cisco's PIX firewall and Secure Computing's remote access software under licensing agreements. No information has yet been released on upgrades pricing for those vendors.
The Ravlin PCI cards handle encrypting and decrypting data sent securely between two points over a network via a tunnel or VPN. That moves computation-intensive cryptography functions off the main microprocessor of security devices or machines that host firewalls, allowing them to run faster.
The 3.0 release includes the new RavlinNodeManager, which allows a security officer to manage each secure connection involving Ravlin hardware and software separately.
"Customers want to be able to enforce their security policy, but the policy from one node to another may be different than somewhere else on the network," said RedCreek's Cary Hayward. "They may have varying levels of trust depending on whom they're trying to tunnel to."
The management software monitors the interface, SNMP, RADIUS, routing/subnet information, Ravlin IPSec policy entries, and statistical information for each link. Any standard SNMP Manager also can be used.
Release 3.0 integrates all mandatory components of the Internet Engineering Task Force and IPSec protocols (which are still in development) into RedCreek's standalone offerings--Ravlin 10, Ravlin 4, and RavlinSoft--and also its OEM PCI cards.
The company also has received a new $12 million round of venture financing, raising its total to $30 million. In May, Cisco invested $6 million in the company.
The new 3.0 version is available through RedCreek?s resellers at no charge. New customers can purchase the Ravlin 4 for $1,300, Ravlin 10 for $3,500, RavlinNodeManager for $1,000, and RavlinSoft client software for $20 to $45 per copy, with site licenses also available.