February 2008 Entries
Barracuda Networks Launches First Enterprise-Class Web Application Controller for SMB Market - February 9, 2008
Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG Offers Robust Web site Application Protection at an Affordable Price
Campbell, Calif., Feb. 7, 2008 – Barracuda Networks, Inc., the worldwide leader in email and Web security appliances, today launched the Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG, the first and only enterprise-class Web Application Controller available for small and medium businesses. Ideal for SMBs on a tight IT budget, this is the first appliance to fully secure Web applications and ensure compliance with regulations, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for $10,000.
“We are essentially bringing plug-and-play PCI compliance to the mass market,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks. “Until now, most businesses in the SMB space were facing very expensive and time-consuming audits of their Web infrastructures in order to achieve PCI compliance. Further, these audits would be required every time the organization makes a change to their Web applications, so it is very possible that such costs could very quickly overwhelm a business.
“With the Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG small and medium businesses will no longer have to worry about the recurring costs of application source code audits and instead they can achieve PCI DSS compliance without breaking the budget,” added Pao.
As the June 30, 2008 deadline mandating e-commerce businesses of all sizes be compliant with requirement 6.6 of PCI DSS quickly approaches, many SMB organizations have been left with no choice but to prepare for very expensive and very detailed custom application code reviews. The Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG now provides these organizations with a cost-effective and powerful solution that will protect and maintain their Web infrastructure as well as satisfy PCI DSS requirements.
Comprehensive Web site Protection
The Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG brings the same award-winning protection from Web site threats, such as unauthorized access, data theft, denial of service or defacement, offered in the full Barracuda Web Application Controller line. The Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG secures against all common Web application threats including SQL injections, cross-site scripting attacks, session tampering and buffer overflows. Operating as a full proxy the Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG inspects both request and response traffic, providing the capabilities to not only block inbound attacks, but also to shield SMB business Web sites from hackers and to filter outbound traffic, preventing sensitive data leakage, such as Social Security and credit card numbers. In addition the Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG integrates traffic management capabilities including caching, compression and load balancing, enabling Web application security as well as an increase in performance and availability of the applications. Incorporating these features into the Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG eliminates the need for multiple devices on the network, which ultimately brings down the user’s total cost of ownership.
The Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG is the first model to be added to the Barracuda Web Application Controller product line since Barracuda Networks completed the acquisition of NetContinuum, the leading provider of Web Application Firewalls, in September 2007.
“One of our goals in acquiring NetContinuum was to deliver industry-leading capabilities to a set of customers who had previously been unable to deploy Web site security solutions,” said Pao. “With the launch of the new Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG we are combining Web application security, traffic management and SSL acceleration into an easy to use and affordable solution for protecting Web sites of all sizes.”
Pricing and Availability
The Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG is currently available and priced at $10,000. International pricing varies by region. For more information, visit http://www.sencilo.com/security-web-application-controllers.php
About Barracuda Web Application Controllers
Barracuda Web Application Controllers, including both the Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Barracuda Application Gateway, protect Web sites from attackers leveraging protocol or application vulnerabilities to instigate unauthorized access, data theft, denial of service or defacement. Designed to deliver comprehensive Web security, Barracuda Web Application Controllers act as a proxy for Web traffic to insulate Web servers from direct access by hackers, enforces data security standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and secures Web sites against the top 10 major Web vulnerabilities compiled by Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). Available in two models, the Barracuda Web Application Firewall provides Web applications and Web services with complete protection against malicious attacks. The Barracuda Application Gateway, also available in three models, enhances the powerful Barracuda Web Application Firewall to integrate traffic management capabilities for increased performance and availability.
About Barracuda Networks Inc.
Barracuda Networks Inc. is the worldwide leader in email and Web security appliances. Barracuda Networks also provides world-class IM protection, application server load balancing and message archiving appliances. More than 50,000 companies, including Coca-Cola, FedEx, Harvard University, IBM, L'Oreal, NASA and Europcar, are protecting their networks with Barracuda Networks’ solutions. Barracuda Networks' success is due to its ability to deliver easy to use, comprehensive solutions that solve the most serious issues facing customer networks without unnecessary add-ons, maintenance, lengthy installations or per user license fees. Barracuda Networks is privately held with its headquarters in Campbell, Calif. Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in more than 80 countries worldwide.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/products-security.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: Barracuda Networks Security RSA Encryption Cisco Decru Neoscale EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant SSL SonicWall Secure Computing Firewall VPN Endpoint
With Expert Guidance and Consulting from Sencilo Solutions, Advance Search Selects MDI iSCSI SAN for its High Performance and Ease of Management. - February 9, 2008
Just two weeks after Dell acquisition of iSCSI SAN maker EqualLogic Corp., one of its server customers put a SAN from EqualLogic competitor MDI into production. "If we'd waited two weeks, would it have changed our decision? Hard to tell," said Thomas Berry, Director of operations for equipment vendor Advance Search. "I know now there may be further integration [with Dell and EqualLogic], but at the time I didn't."
We looked at a lot of different Dell SAN products, we previously use an EMC Clariion arrays that it had purchased through Dell, but tired of trying to manage Fibre Channel. "I don't know if we just didn't understand how the EMC SAN was supposed to work, but it seemed like we were always having to open help tickets and get professional services engagements to help us work out problems," Berry said.
Since EMC was the incumbent vendor in his environment, Berry evaluated EMC's new AX4-5 array when considering a new SAN, but said he wanted a 100% iSCSI SAN. The AX4-5 is available as Fibre Channel or iSCSI. "It didn't seem like a purely iSCSI SAN to me," he said.
Advance Search also evaluated an EqualLogic PS Series SAN, and Berry said the MDI Express Stor had so many more features then the Equal Logic unit. "We did an evaluation matrix, and when we totaled up all the points, they were the clear winner," he said. "MDI Express Stor have native CIFS, NFS and iSCSI protocals, in other words we got to retire some 12 file servers using the Express Stor, something the Equal Logic can only dream of doing. What tipped the balance was has a familiar Windows Server look and feel so training is a snap, the Equal Logic unit like other Dell products try to sell you week long training which adds to the TCO of the SAN. Our support staff was already familiar with Windows so the choice was a no brainer, said Berry.
Sencilo showed us how the Equal Logic units requirements twice the disk space (RAID 50) to get half the performance of the MDI unit, along with its non-Active-Active design, we needed high-availability, not the dated design from Equal Logic. Brian McCarthy, the President and Storage Veteran said "selling against Equal Logic is more about pointing the features of a Microsoft based Storage Server vs. Equal Logic who uses a dated Open Source O/S, which explains why upgrades and bug fixes can take months to resolve." McCarthy went on to say, "had Dell not purchased Equal Logic it would of been road kill for Microsoft and it's Windows Storage Server partners."
The MDI SAN will eventually hold 35 TB capacity, but Berry admitted the company is not far along in rolling it out. Only about 10 TB of SQL, file and print, and Exchange data have been migrated to the SAN. The migration is going on while Advance Seach is also rolling out VMware server virtualization, upgrading to SQL 2005 and Exchange 2007, and creating SQL and Exchange server clusters. "We like to do a lot of things in parallel here," he said.
The virtual iSCSI SANs have also not yet seen the light of day. "Our DR facility is at SunGard in Florida," he said. "Once we get the production SAN rolled out, we'll do our first migration of data to the DR server at our primary site and ship it to them, rather than trying to do the first upload over the wire."
We owe a great deal of thanks to Brian McCarthy and his team for showing us the true cost of ownership of a Equal Logic SAN vs. the MDI Express Stor iSCSI SAN. Sencilo will be a long-term trusted partner for years to come.
Sencilo Solution is a Florida based integrator specializing in storage, networking and security solutions Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers.
Each product has been carefully selected for its unique value to a solution or deployment. Sencilo sales and technical team is thoroughly trained in all of our major products and are able to provide value in up front architecture planning and product selection. Our technical expertise is known throughout the storage, networking and security industry.
Uncomplexifing data dedupe - February 6, 2008
Source de-duplication is set to be "more disruptive" than previous technologies
Data de-duplication technology has emerged as a key technology in the effort to reduce the amount of data backed up on a daily basis, which in many enterprises is growing at more than 100% every year.
For example, Jame Thomson, IT manager at Tampa-based medical firm, was able to use data de-duplication technology to reduce the amount of data streamed from more than a dozen remote offices and thereby cut his backup window from 11 hours to 50 minutes. Thomas says his compression ratio for his backups run as high as 55:1, using technologies provided by Sencilo Soutions.
Vendors have taken different approaches to the technology resulting in multiple distinct products that users should become familiar with in order to choose the flavor that best suits their environments.
Data de-duplication uses commonality factoring to reduce the amount of data either at the backup server or at the target storage device. As a result of enormous compression ratios achieved by data de-dup technology, SATA disk are becoming more attractive as a viable, online alternative to traditional tape-based backup. For example, people working at remote and branch offices need instant access to all the data and applications available at their company's headquarters. So IT shops typically set up remote mini data centers, with application servers, block and file data storage, backup tape and report printers, sacrificing administrative control. By utilizing data de-dupe technology, backups can be performed over the WAN using spare nighttime bandwidth, eliminating the need for tape at remote sites.
Brian McCarthy, President and Industry Storage Veteran for Sencilo Solutions says de-duplication technology mainly resides in the backup space, complementing traditional tape libraries with the purpose of lowering costs and reducing data.
The main benefit to de-dup technology is that you're not seeing your virtual tape library fill up, and you're "not seeing your backup targets fill up as fast as it normally would," McCarthy says. Watch for Gartner, Inc.'s Magic Quadrant to show up with several of the leader including Quantum, Overland Storage, EMC, and NetApp.
De-dupe can be done at the target of a backup stream (the storage array or tape drive) or at the source of the data being backed up (the application server). Traditionally, de-dupe products had been used as a target for backup data, but McCarthy says there is "a growing emphasis de-duping back on the server."
Target de-dupe products are generally used as part of a final repository for backup data. Most backup software today supports tape volumes, files or raw disk as targets. Target de-dupe products mimic a tape library and support virtual tape libraries (VTL), or they can act as a network-attached storage file server supporting network file system (NFS) or Common Internet File System files. Target de-dupe technology can also work on raw disk supporting Internet SCSI or Fibre Channel logical unit numbers (LUN). Prominent target based de-dupe products are sold by Data Domain Inc., Diligent Technologies Corp., ExaGrid Systems Inc., Overland Storage., Quantum Corp., and Sepaton Inc.
Today, de-duping data at the target is the leading method, but de-duping data at the source where the data is coming from is even more disruptive, and the benefits are far greater, McCarthy says. But having a integrator who specializes in this type of technology is most important to your success. Sencilo has deployed some 2+ peta-bytes of de-dup based VTLs.
Source de-dupe products replace backup software used in a client/server configuration, where remote clients de-dupe data being backed up and only transmit unique data to the central server. This reduces bandwidth requirements considerably, according to McCarthy. Some prominent source-based de-dupe products include Asigra Inc.'s Televaulting for Enterprises, EMC Corp.'s Avamar, Network Appliance Inc.'s SnapVault, and Symantic Corp.'s NetBackup Pure Disk.
In band or out of band
Another characteristic used to discriminate target de-dupe products is when data de-duplication processing occurs. Data de-duplication takes time to compute and find commonality in the data being backed up. To minimize the effect on backup performance, some vendors de-dupe data in the background. These de-dupe products buffer the backup stream to disk and then after the fact reduce its size via de-duplication. ExaGrid, FalconStor and Quantum provide target de-dupe products that do background data de-duplication. This type of technology will shortly replace first generation products from suppliers like Data Domain, who plays mostly in the small non-critical shops. Earlier products can handle the backup stream and de-dupe in band, in real time. Target vendors that de-dupe in band include Data Domain and Overland Storage. All source vendors de-dupe in band as well. Paradoxically, the in-band vendors are not able to sustain full backup stream performance, and therefore less desirable for anything larger then a few tera-bytes, and found more in the SMB space.
The unit of de-dupe granularity, called chunk size, further differentiates de-dupe products. Only NetApp touts a fixed chunk size equal to data block size, according to McCarthy. Most de-dupe products claim variable chunk size from the file level down to sub-block level. By using variable chunk size for data inserted into a file, you need only show the changed data as being different, and the rest of the file would be the same. Even more impressively, most de-dupe products can not only reduce data from generations of the same file but also eliminate data copies across files.
Yet another de-dupe difference is file-type sensitivity. Some target products open the backup stream to determine data type and invoke file-type-specific policies to provide better de-duplication. Sepaton claims to have the most file-specific policies. Other target vendors claim that their products perform file-specific de-dupe to a lesser extent, including Data Domain, Diligent and Quantum, which all claim they are completely agnostic regarding backup streaming, they may claim it but not all of them are telling the truth. So check with a partner with experience that has installed and supports them.
The numbers for de-dupe compression rates range anywhere from 3:1 to 500:1. De-dupe products can sustain these high compression rates because backups generate duplicate data every time a full backup is run. Moreover, beneath the file level, most data is not unique even though a file is modified. But, some data does not de-dupe well, including audio, photo, movie and other media files that simply don't have excess white space or duplicate data.
Bob Sanders manages 12 De-Dup boxes throughout the U.S that Sencilo sold them last year. They are being used as VTL targets for Symantec NetBackup. The boxes have a capacity of .5TB to 18TB. But, each of Sanders VTL boxes backs up the equivilant of 600TB to 1,500TB of data.
The arrays have been in production for more than nine months. Each office does a local backup to its on-site de-dup boxes. That data is replicated off-site to headquarters in Orlando and then again replicated to the law firm's secondary site. Before the Sencilo solution, Sanders says his company had DLT-3 tape changers and LTO-2 tape. Backups at some offices used to take more than 14 hours, but now with new de-dup VTLs, the backups are under 45 minutes. Sanders backs up one site with 163 TB of data onto 4.6TB of Data Domain for a compression ratio of 34.6:1. Smaller sites have experienced a compression ratio as high as 55:1.
"The hardware was comparable to buying all-new tape hardware, but the speed and the ability to not have to manage the tape is what really got us … the replication is an added bonus," Sanders says.
Grahame McKenzie, manager of IT at Crawford Adjusters Canada Inc. in Hamilton, Ontario, had performed local backups at each of the company's 80 remote sites. He now manages 80 remote and 20 local Asigra clients backing up to a single 2TB Asigra TeleVault. They mirror the central TeleVault to an off-site hardened data center and copy their monthly full backups off onto tape moving these off-site to another location.
McKenzie says that before, "we weren't even doing it [backups] on the smaller XP share points -- there was no backup. It just wasn't economical; if it was an NT server, it would [be] backed up to tape." This process was time-consuming and not subject to easy validation. He says that "with Asigra, backups all take place, and they all come here, … and I get a report on everything the next day." McKenzie says that in some cases, it was difficult to quantify a return on his investment because no backups were being performed, but he did say "we don't invest in tape on our new branch servers, and we have one tape library here."
McCarthy says data de-duplication allows users to retire most of their tape infrastructure at remote and local sites. In some environments, it may not be possible to eliminate all tape processing, but it can be reduced considerably. At essentially the purchase price of replacing tape, you can get all the benefits of tape with the convenience of disk -- mainly quicker, less error-prone and less operator-intensive backups and restores.
Sencilo Solution is a Florida based integrator specializing in storage, networking and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers.
Each product has been carefully selected for its unique value to a solution or deployment. Sencilo sales and technical team is thoroughly trained in all of our major products and are able to provide value in up front architecture planning and product selection. Our technical expertise is known throughout the storage, networking and security industry. Call us today at (407) 265-6293 or visit us at www.sencilo.com
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection
Discovering Data, then Protecting It - February 3, 2008
Sencilo Solutions will be launching a data discovery and risk assessment service as compliance continues to drive interest in the space.
"Along with the forth coming product we will be launching a new consulting service to help companies discover confidential data as well as gauge and manage risks", say President and Security Expect Brian McCarthy.
Our company is leaning on its many years of experience in the data protection and data activity monitoring space with the new Discovery Service, an offering aimed squarely at helping businesses find sensitive data, identify risks posed by current operating procedures and develop plans to tighten those loose-ends. Early last year one of our insurance clients called us in to assist them with a SEC order to produce records from 2005. Our client asked us to provide them with tool so that no data was over looked on their 8 tera-byte EMC SAN, and over 900 desktops and mobile computers. The request was for file data along with e-mail and databases, "leave no stone un-turned," said their CIO.
We see the market for consulting services is driven largely by regulations such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Most companies are unable to address this requirement because they don't have the tools to find and classify private data, officials at Sencilo said. The lack of visibility into critical data assets can equal significant risk of data theft, data breaches and unapproved data access, officials contend.
"Over the years with the proliferation of data centers, databases, applications and data; not to mention acquisitions and mergers; enterprises have data scattered all over the company," said Bill Parrish, vice president of product management at the data auditing vendor. "It's very difficult to keep track of all of the different repositories and data, let alone know what's happening to the data."
Our partner Barracuda Networks recently reported last June launched its IT Risk Assessment service, found that 26 percent of the 323 IT professionals surveyed expect a regulatory non-compliance incident at least once a year. The study also examined 75 security and availability incidents and found 59 percent came down to a failure of processes.
"On one side, the bigger impact on IT performance is training and awareness, but on the other side, it tends to be the least implemented control by many organizations out there," said Samir Kapuria, managing director of Barracuda Advisory Services.
As part of Sencilo's service, consultants work with client companies to develop remediation plans after issuing a risk assessment report. The findings include an overall risk score, as well as risk profiles for all users and applications that access the sensitive data. But the core of the service revolves around finding the sensitive data and determining how it is being used. To do that, the company leverages partner's data monitoring technology.
"This is the first time that we've offered a service like the Discovery Service. However, we have provided database auditing and security consulting to our customers for several years," Parrish said.
"As a matter of fact, it was during customer engagements that we uncovered the need for a discovery service. Our customers were struggling to get a better handle on where their data was located and how it was being used."
ABOUT US
Today, leading companies rely on Sencilo’s innovative approach to protect their mission-critical data. We deliver a comprehensive portfolio of professional and fully-managed on demand services that support the complex storage, data protection, assessments, design, installation, business continuity, disaster recovery, security and compliance needs of our customers. With hundreds of customers Sencilo is unique in its ability to solve the industry's most difficult storage and security challenges.
Sencilo has continuously led the industry in service innovation by simplifying and automating tasks traditionally needed to manage multi-vendor enterprise storage and data protection environments. By outsourcing this essential business requirement, our customers reduce costs, optimize performance, and increase visibility over their storage and backup solutions, enabling them to refocus scarce IT resources in Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and Orlando.
Call us at (407) 265-6293 or visit us at www.sencilo.com
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection
