April 2, 2005 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - Stonesoft Corp., an innovative provider of integrated network security and business continuity solutions, today announced that ProPlus, a leading provider of IT solutions and services to niche markets across Canada, is implementing Stonesoft's StoneGate solution to deliver 24x7x365 managed firewall security and always-on customer access to hosted email and business applications in small to medium sized businesses.
Smaller organizations frequently find their level of network protection compromised because they get caught between the need for advanced network protection and the costs of purchasing and maintaining these systems. High-end firewalls provide the desired level of security, but require expensive internal IT resources for administration. Conversely, low-cost "plug and play" security devices, available off retail shelves, quickly become ineffective without regular monitoring and software updates. As a result, smaller businesses are turning to managed security service providers, like ProPlus, for optimum security at affordable rates. ProPlus utilizes Stonesoft's StoneGate platform to provide enterprise-class protection and virtual private networking to smaller organizations.
"StoneGate helps us deliver on our promise of Internet business continuity and security, which is crucial to our business and that of our clients," said John Kennedy President of ProPlus. "Managing security is serious business and StoneGate has proven itself as the best platform to deliver on our commitments to clients. It provides operational efficiency, high availability and ensures the highest level of security."
Initially, ProPlus deployed StoneGate to secure its own network infrastructure, and to upgrade VPN capabilities supporting its existing application service provider offerings. Quickly ProPlus realized that StoneGate also enabled them to extend in-demand managed firewall services to its client base, increasing revenue opportunities.
With StoneGate, ProPlus can monitor and manage customer firewalls from a central location through a single user interface. ProPlus customers receive a hardware appliance that comes pre-installed with the StoneGate software and is ready for network plug-in on their premises. Final software configuration is then performed remotely by ProPlus. The StoneGate solution allows ProPlus to remotely distribute frequent software updates to firewall appliances, to ensure the highest level of protection against the latest security threats.
"For today's organizations a secure and continuously available Internet connection is essential," said Juha Harkonen, chief executive officer for Stonesoft Inc. "This is especially true for managed service providers like ProPlus that depend on the Internet for the delivery of services to customers in order to meet stringent service level agreements."
StoneGate is the only firewall and VPN solution available with patented Multi-Link(TM) technology, which performs load balancing between multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for continuous Internet access and reliable, fault-tolerant VPNs. This unique feature watches multiple ISP connections and enables failover in the event of a network outage. It also selects the fastest route for inbound and outbound traffic, for fast throughput and performance.
