VSS Monitoring Accelerates, Simplifies IT Security Solutions Deployment

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 25, 2014) - VSS Monitoring, a leading provider of network visibility and monitoring solutions with its robust network packet broker (NPB) technology, today announced the release of VSS Monitoring System Software 3.3. The new functionality lets enterprises accelerate the deployment of IT security solutions needed to provide defense against a wide range of insider threats and external attacks that lead to costly, disruptive data breaches and compliance violations. Seamless plug-and-play functionality allows customers to rapidly deploy new IT security technologies as well as quickly replace existing solutions that can't defend against the rapidly changing threat landscape or detect Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), zero day malware, or other advanced attackers.

Additionally, chaining-in-series capabilities give network operations professionals the flexibility to replace, upgrade, or add IT security technologies on the network without impacting network availability or performance.

Today's traditional enterprise network design hampers the ability of security solutions to keep pace with traffic loads and advanced threats. This is because network monitoring and security solutions are deployed on the same layer of most enterprise networks. Any needed additions or changes to existing security solutions can impact network throughput or overall performance and even cause outages on a specific network segment or the entire network. To counter the limitations of this traditional network design, System 3.3 architects a defense-in-layers security and monitoring fabric by decoupling the security and monitoring plane from the network plane, essentially enabling an impact- and disruption-free network architecture for flexible security solution configuration -- and improved network-wide security.

Moreover, with the additional flexibility of this architecture, security tools that are already deployed on a specific network segment, and may be "blind" to risks on other network segments -- an even greater risk in today's distributed networks -- can be chained together for centralized deployment and management, with no network disruption. This approach enables greater reliability of security solutions and greater visibility of security solutions into all network traffic -- critical concerns in establishing a defense-in-depth strategy.

Enables Highly Secure Real-Time Analysis of Big Data

A key capability enabled by System 3.3 is the ability to balance traffic loads across multiple security systems on the network -- in near real time -- to avoid overloading or oversubscribing any specific tools. Furthermore, VSS Monitoring now supports 40 gigabit-per-second networks, meeting customers' scalability needs.

Leveraging VSS Monitoring's recently announced vSpool product, a product that helps organizations manage and optimize their Big Data, System 3.3 can balance loads across as many as 16 ports, while defining specific failover actions for greater system dependability. All captured data is time-stamped, port-stamped, and optimized, then packaged in standard format (e.g., PCAP) for later storage in content platforms or analysis in Big Data systems. As a result, System 3.3 enables enterprises to capture Big Data for real-time analysis and provides a defense-in-depth security architecture for threat detection and prevention, network forensics, and GSR compliance within a highly secure, scalable network environment.

"Data center consolidation initiatives have caused enterprise networks to rapidly scale in size and performance, not to mention create increased levels of complexity and risk. To regain control and effectively manage these environments, operations teams have to have complete visibility, without impacting performance," said Bob Laliberte, sr. analyst, of ESG. "VSS Monitoring's approach to decouple the network and security planes makes sense, because it allows enterprises to achieve the dual purposes of preserving system performance and still maintain a strong security posture."

"With current network architecture, if you need to upgrade or replace a security product, your options are limited and any option may impact the operation and security of your network environment for the worse, leaving the enterprise exposed," said Martin Breslin, founder and president of VSS Monitoring. "Our goal was to reinvent the corporate network and remove shackles to performance while maximizing visibility across all segments of the distributed network. Our latest release turns that vision into a reality."

Pricing and Availability

VSS Monitoring System Software 3.3 is available immediately, with pricing depending on system configuration. Customers running earlier versions of VSS Monitoring System Software with a current support agreement will be automatically upgraded to the latest version at no cost.

About VSS Monitoring

VSS Monitoring is a world leader in network packet brokers (NPBs), providing a visionary, systems approach for optimizing and scaling the connectivity between network switching and the universe of network monitoring and network security tools. VSS Monitoring NPBs improve tool usage and efficiency, simplify IT operations, and greatly enhance ROI from tools. For more information, visit www.vssmonitoring.com.