Introduction

In today's world, ensuring security and stability of the corporate network infrastructure is no longer an option. In a global economy, businesses demand 24 x 7 uptime and expect that communication with their peers will be both swift and secure. Previously, when contending with these requirements, network administrators were forced to install third-party firewall software (such as Check Point's FireWall-1) on standalone PCs or proprietary hardware. This necessity forced administrators to deal with details such as hardware selection, operating system configuration, and software installation and provided for inconsistent stability and security, even within the same organization. Even a formal, standardized corporate policy that specifies all of the above may be forced to differ in implementation by hardware vendors or will be implemented in slightly different ways by different administrators. Is the default installation of your operating system secure enough? (Probably not.) Is the hardware adequate for the task at hand? Is the hardware optimized for high performance under conditions common to firewalls? Is secure, remote access or troubleshooting possible? Are remote operating system or firewall software upgrades possible?

Enter the Nokia Security Platform (NSP), a group of UNIX-based appliances that provide easy, integrated access to third-party software such as FireWall-1 or Internet Security Systems' (ISS) RealSecure intrusion detection platform. NSP's applications provide a resounding "Yes" answer to all the questions we just asked. All the models have standardized on a common Web interface, called the Voyager, through which you can remotely administer and configure almost any aspect of the...