Like most boys I liked to play with trucks when I was little. I would always go over to by buddy Jeremey’s house to play and one day he pulled out this red, white and blue truck. He was giddy about his truck after a few minutes of pushing it around he said “check this out.” And that is when he blew my little mind. He turned that truck into a robot. Yep it was Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots. We spend the next hour or two turning it from a robot to a truck and back again as well as many variations of half truck, half robot formations. I look back and that day and the next few months as we grew our Transformer collections as these weren’t just two toys in one. By being creative we were able to make each figure become 3 or 4 different things.
Today we announced the release of the Virtual Threat Protection System (vTPS). This release extends the reach of the TPS family to virtual environments. With support for VMware, KVM and OpenStack it can provide comprehensive protection on whatever virtual platform you choose. Just like Transformers, it adds flexibility and options to your network protection. Here are a few ways customers are using the vTPS now.
Scenario 1. Remote offices are often hard to manage and control, especially when it comes to security. Being able to virtualize a remote branch office’s infrastructure can simplify deployment and management. IPS as a virtualized service makes it more flexible while giving you the security you need for your branch offices. As an added bonus you can manage a unified policy across physical and virtual IPS deployments centrally.
Scenario 2. With a virtualized IPS you now have the flexibility to grow your deployment without having to compromise on security. Adding security appliances can be as easy as spinning up another virtual instance. Policy can then be targeted precisely for the service they are protecting.
Scenario 3. Many businesses are moving to a virtual only infrastructure or an environment that excludes custom hardware. This leaves those custom built security appliances out in the cold. Using a virtual IPS, like vTPS, provides the IPS services required to protect the network from attack and vulnerabilities. Because this is software, it can be easily shared across the world avoiding customs delays.
Scenario 4. A lab is a great place to test apps, patches, and simulate attacks. Virtualization makes it easier to set up and tear down lab environments easily. When running your lab environment you want to make sure it’s authentic as possible and secure. Using the vTPS you can test different deployment scenarios and protect all of them.
Do you have a unique way you are using, or would like to use a virtualized IPS? Did one of these scenarios peak your interest and get you thinking about your network. Please share your thoughts.
