Barracuda extends Next-Generation Firewall for the mid-market

Barracuda Networks, Inc. has announced the latest release of the Barracuda Firewall, the next-generation firewall designed for the mid-market. Barracuda Firewall version 6.5 packages enterprise-grade next-generation firewall technology, including advanced application control, with a simple, customisable user interface, at affordable price.

According to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Network Firewalls report in April 2014, “less than 20 percent of Internet connections today are secured by next-generation firewalls (NGFWs). By year-end 2014, this will rise to 35 percent of the installed base, with 70 percent of new enterprise edge purchases being NGFWs.” As security threats continue to increase in quantity and sophistication, this requirement becomes increasingly important. However, many organisations lack the resources of dedicated IT staff and budgets to handle complicated, expensive enterprise solutions.

“Our customers work in all types of organisations, from mid-market businesses, to government agencies and educational institutions, to departments or divisions within Fortune 2000 enterprises. They face the same challenges that larger enterprises face, but they face them often with limited time, limited budgets and limited resources,” said Stephen Pao, GM security at Barracuda. “Barracuda reduces that burden for our customers. The Barracuda Firewall is designed for the mid-market, and brings that enterprise next-generation firewall functionality to our customers in an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution.”

The Barracuda Firewall provides advanced next-generation features like application control, QoS, link aggregation, IPS and VPN at an affordable price. The new application control and usability features make the Barracuda Firewall very cost effective and easy to use. Highlights of the Barracuda Firewall version 6.5 include:
• Enterprise-grade application control – The new release provides enhanced application control over more than 1200 browser and non-browser-based applications. Administrators can define dynamic application polices to establish acceptable use policies for users and groups by application, application category, location or time of day. These policies can be set to block unwanted applications for certain users or groups; control and throttle acceptable traffic; preserve bandwidth and speed up business critical applications; enable or disable specific sub-applications (e.g., Facebook Chat, Skype Video); and inspect SSL-encrypted application traffic.
• Easy to use, easy to manage – The new release includes a redesigned User Interface (UI), making it even easier to navigate. The updated UI maintains consistency with other Barracuda security products to minimise the learning curve for existing Barracuda customers looking to deploy affordable, easy-to-use and manage next-generation firewall functionality.
• Customisable dashboards – The new release delivers increased flexibility in monitoring network traffic and firewall status. The dashboards provide a granular view of user activity such as application usage and bandwidth utilisation, which can be used to determine performance bottlenecks and tune policy accordingly.
• Enhanced reporting – The new release supports detailed reports around network traffic, Web requests and application usage. Reports can be generated via the Barracuda Report Creator and can be filtered for specific users and groups for additional granularity.

Franklin Synergy Bank is a community bank located in Franklin, Tennessee, with approximately 70 employees across 11 locations. “Integrating our network, email and Web security provides us with best-of-breed security across multiple threat vectors,” said James Dyal, network administrator for Franklin Synergy Bank. “Combine that with the consistent user interface and support, and Barracuda truly is the trusted IT partner for our business.”