Astaro Version 5 Adopted by Fitness Formula, Wehr Enterprises, Chemical, Construction and large Mortgage Companies
BURLINGTON, Mass. ‘ July 27, 2004 ‘ Astaro (www.astaro.com), developers of the most popular Open Source-based network security product with 20,000 worldwide installations, today announced several new customers of Version 5; the latest edition of Astaro Security Linux now includes Intrusion Protection based on a modified version of the Open Source project Snort, and anti-virus protection for HTTP and FTP. Version 5 will also stop viruses in password-protected zip attachments.
One of the earliest adopters is Fitness Formula, a Chicago-based health and fitness management company with eight health facilities totaling 350,000 square feet and the official health club of the Hubbard Street Dance Company and the championship Chicago Bulls.
Astaro Version 5’s new Intrusion Protection service is being used to protect 700 employees at Fitness Formula. The product’s content filtering and URL blocking is also used to keep productivity high and personal use low, limiting Internet access to business purposes only and to block personal use of bandwidth-hogging applications such as Instant Messaging, large email attachments and audio streaming.
‘Prior to installing Astaro, our email usage and web surfing was out of control, with no in-line filters in place to thwart non-work related web sites and content from entering our network of 200 desktops,’ said Greg Cibura, IT director for Fitness Formula. ‘Astaro Security Linux is worth its price 100 times over.’
Keith Wehr of Wehr Enterprises based in Baltimore, has been specializing in network support, Internet and application design services in the Baltimore metro area since 1995. His company installed Astaro Security Linux Version 5 at a mortgage company, a concrete restoration company, a construction company and a large chemical company in the Baltimore area.
Wehr Enterprises selected Astaro Security Linux Version 5 ‘because it allows us to adopt and scale to changing network conditions as they pertain not only to size but to new threats,’ said Wehr. ‘For example, three years ago spyware was not a problem like it is today. The firewalls of the past could not be upgraded to account for these new realities. We used to have to replace the whole firewall just to upgrade,’ said Wehr.
‘Astaro Security Linux makes upgrading easy since it can be customized by simply buying an additional access key to switch on Intrusion Protection ‘ a must-have these days,’ Wehr said.
‘Another major selling point is Astaro’s anti-virus service. One of my customers in 25 days received 1,500 viruses, and counting. Each was stopped dead in its tracks by Astaro’s POP3/SMTP anti-virus module. The product installs in 15 minutes and my average configuration time is two hours,’ said Wehr.
Comprised of some 60 Open Source projects plus the company’s own proprietary integration and updating services, Astaro Security Linux is a comprehensive network security product for midsized to large businesses. It combines a firewall, VPN gateway, intrusion protection, virus protection, spam protection and surf protection (URL filtering). The complete software solution bundles a hardened Linux operating system that can run on any x86-compatible hardware, and is also available as a pre-installed appliance.
Astaro Security Linux is available for a free 30-day trial at http://astaro.com/php/download.php’lang=gb. Pricing starts at $390 for 10-user licenses and $6895 for unlimited licenses.
About Astaro
Astaro was founded in January 2000 by University students in Karlsruhe, Germany and today is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. Astaro’s software has won numerous industry awards, and is deployed on over 20,000 networks in 60 countries, including such companies as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Los Alamos National Labs, Stanford University and Watsco, Inc. Astaro Security Linux is distributed by a worldwide network of 350 solutions partners who offer local support and services. http://www.astaro.com