Crossbeam Expands Line of Network Security Platforms

Improved performance; platforms are flexible, scalable, and adaptable.

Note: ESJ’s editors carefully choose vendor-issued press releases about new or upgraded products and services. We have edited and/or condensed this release to highlight key features but make no claims as to the accuracy of the vendor's statements.

Crossbeam Systems, Inc. has released its newest generation of X-Series security platforms: X80-S, X60, X30, and X20. The new platforms, along with version 9.5 of Crossbeam’s open, secure X-Series Operating System (XOS), improve performance -- up to 150 Gbps of throughput -- and offer flexibility, scalability, and adaptability.

Crossbeam’s X-Series enables customers to deploy multiple best-of-breed security applications on a single high-performance chassis. With the X-Series, customers cam virtualize and consolidate hundreds of security appliances and related network devices, enabling them to easily and reliably manage traffic as security and network demands change. These capabilities slash total cost of ownership by as much as 70 percent when compared to competitive approaches in the market today.

Initially announced in October, the expanded X-Series family helps customers address their security requirements through broad performance scalability: Organizations can now deploy Crossbeam technology across their entire business and benefit from the efficiency of a single security platform with a single operating system, and module compatibility between all X-Series platforms, including:

  • X20, a flexible four-slot platform pre-configured for one security application, adaptable to run two applications with a total throughput capacity of 5 Gbps.

  • X30, a flexible four-slot platform pre-configured for one security application, adaptable to run two applications with a total throughput capacity of 10 Gbps.

  • X60, a modular, seven-slot platform that will run up to five applications and can scale to inspect traffic at speeds of up to 80 Gbps of throughput.

  • X80-S, a modular 14-slot chassis that will run up to 10 applications and can scale to inspect a real-world mix of traffic at speeds of up to 150 Gbps of throughput.

Crossbeam’s new X20 and X30 four-slot platforms are field-upgradable. The X20 and X30 can be upgraded to a seven-slot, 80 Gbps X60 platform by using an upgrade kit. This unique capability allows customers to deploy a security platform that scales to future needs while being optimized for today’s environment.

In addition to the X-Series’ current four-core and eight-core application processing modules (APMs), customers can now deploy 12-core APMs, each capable of 20 Gbps of fully inspected application performance. The new APMs significantly boost performance across the entire X-Series line.

XOS version 9.5 enables Crossbeam to expand its security partner portfolio to include any vendor, no matter what operating system their application uses.

The X-Series family integrates with HP OpenView Network Node Manager, enabling customers to easily monitor, configure, and report on the X-Series platform along with other network components from within their HP management environment. Customers can also launch Crossbeam’s at-a-glance graphical element management (GEM) tool to quickly gauge the operational status of their X-Series, troubleshoot and manage capacity. In addition, Crossbeam has greatly enhanced its alarm and management reporting tools to provide improved visibility into X-Series performance.

Crossbeam’s list of leading security partners includes Check Point, Sophos, Sourcefire, IBM, Imperva, Trend Micro, and Web Sense. In 2010 Crossbeam expanded this list to include McAfee and Sophos, offering customers even greater security application choice with McAfee’s next-generation firewall, McAfee Firewall Enterprise, and Sophos’s e-mail security gateway software, Sophos PureMessage.

More information is available at www.crossbeam.com.

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