Microsoft Corp. Wednesday continued its parade of server releases, this time with
a firewall and cache server first introduced last year.

The Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) server provides access controls,
traffic filtering, intrusion detection, bandwidth control and reporting capabilities.
It marks Microsoft's first serious attempt to enter the security market. ISA
server replaces Microsoft's Proxy Server.

On Monday, Microsoft completed development on its Application Center 2000 server,
which is designed for managing distributed Web applications running within Web
server farms. The server should be generally available in four to six weeks.

Both servers are part of Microsoft's .Net Enterprise Server lineup, which is
made up of eight servers. Seven of the servers have been released: Exchange
2000, SQL 2000, Host Integration Server 2000, Commerce Server 2000, BizTalk
Server 2000, ISA and AppCenter. An eighth, Mobile Information Server 2001, was
announced in September 2000 and will ship later this year.

All the servers run only on the Windows 2000 operating system, which is showing
a slower than anticipated adoption rate in the enterprise just 1 year after
its release, according to the Gartner Group Inc. Microsoft is hoping interest
in the .Net servers will trigger upgrades to Windows 2000.

ISA's main features are a software-based firewall and a caching mechanism,
which stores frequently accessed Web content close to end-users. Enterprises
can run the server as a combination firewall/cache, or run it exclusively as
a firewall or a caching device.

Critics say the server looks good on paper and plugs a security hole in Microsoft's
.Net vision, which is to create a platform for delivering applications over
the Internet. Those same critics, however, say Microsoft faces an uphill battle
to establish itself as a firewall vendor.

But the software giant is making its move when many IT organizations are looking
to software-based firewalls or routing filters to control the flow of traffic
to and from the Internet, according to analysts. Those systems are replacing
monolithic hardware-based firewalls.

ISA's firewall features include stateful inspection, integrated intrusion detection
and data-aware application filters. It also includes the ability to alert administrators
to suspicious activity.

Microsoft says third-party vendors will add such features as reporting tools
and URL blockers. Also, ISA will rely on Windows 2000 for VPN and user authentication.

"With the release of ISA Server, Microsoft is taking a large step toward
enabling business on the Internet," Microsoft's Paul Flessner said in a
prepared statement. Flessner is the senior vice president of .Net Enterprise
Servers at Microsoft. Microsoft officials also said ISA passed the ICSA Labs
firewall certification test, a de-facto industry standard for firewall security.

ISA Server is available in two editions. The Standard Edition is priced at
$1,499 per CPU, and the Enterprise Edition is $5,999 per CPU.

Netfusion.com

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