5.2 Firewall product functional summaries

Current firewall product literature lacks true standards, a problem encountered by many firewall shoppers. Vendors naturally prepare marketing literature that puts their products in the best possible light and describes them in ways that are appropriate to the company's design and sales philosophies. However, standards have emerged in other areas of hardware and software, both in terminology and the description of features. For example, when a car brochure refers to antilock brakes or touts dual air bags, we can expect these items to fall within certain parameters.

Hoping to apply this type of standardization to firewall product descriptions, the ICSA Firewall Product Developers Consortium has supported a solution, developed by Marcus Ranum of Network Flight Recorder, Inc. (http://www.nfr.net), referred to as "Firewall Product Functional Summaries." The purpose of the firewall product functional summary program is twofold:

1. To provide a structured format in which vendors can describe the distinguishing features and advantages of their products

2. To provide a structured format from which potential firewall customers can compare and contrast the features and design principles of firewall products

In other words, we want vendors to provide product information in a format that allows potential firewall customers to make meaningful comparisons between products. Over the past three years, ICSA has collected Firewall Product Functional Summaries from members of the Firewall Product Developers Consortium and posted them on the ICSA web site. Copies have also been made available on the Third Annual Firewall Buyer's Guide CD. The summary format...