Microsoft Delivers Enterprise-Class Firewall With Release of ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2005 — Today at RSA Conference 2005, Microsoft Corp. announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 Enterprise Edition, with general availability to customers expected in March 2005.

“Customers have told us they want to take advantage of ISA Servers ease of use and application-layer filtering capabilities in their enterprise environments, where the product plays a key role in a comprehensive ‘defense-in-depth’ approach to security,”
said Rich Kaplan, corporate vice president of the Security Business & Technology Unit at Microsoft.
“ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition provides unique protection for critical business scenarios, such as more-secure remote access to Microsoft Exchange servers through Outlook Web Access and Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 RPC over HTTP.”

In addition to improving protection for the sharing of critical business applications over the Internet, ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition offers customers enhanced manageability, scalability and availability features to better control the cost of network security.

“E-mail is the lifeblood of our business, so safeguarding the servers that keep Microsoft Exchange up and running is of paramount importance,”
said Jos A. Cordero, director of technology in the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
“We are impressed with how ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition satisfies our stringent security requirements by providing improved authentication, additional application-layer filtering options and enhanced data encryption over the Internet.”

For customers using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 for event and performance management of Windows Server System ™ , Microsoft also announced immediate availability of the Microsoft ISA Server Management Pack for MOM 2005. Designed to deliver enterprise-class management and to help drive down network security costs, the ISA Server Management Pack for MOM monitors ISA Server events and alerts; collects and analyzes performance trends and metrics; and ultimately enables customers to manage bottlenecks, identify capacity requirements, and proactively manage ISA Server configuration across the enterprise.

About ISA Server 2004

“Microsofts enterprise business customers are asking for a scalable and manageable solution to secure critical infrastructure,”
said Steve Brown, director of product management for ISA Server at Microsoft.
“In particular, customers need to protect key business scenarios.”
These include the following:

  • Remote access for employees to e-mail

  • Remote access for employees to internal applications

  • Remote access for partners to data on a corporate network

  • Connections for branch offices to corporate headquarters

  • Better control over Internet access and protections from malicious Internet traffic

  • Faster access for employees to the most frequently used Web content.

The core ISA Server capabilities — advanced protection, ease of use, and faster and more-secure access — that help enable these scenarios are further enhanced by the introduction of Enterprise Edition, which delivers improved manageability, scalability and availability. Enterprise Edition also will enable enterprise customers to do the following:

  • Centralize management. ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition enables users to manage all arrays and member servers from a single, centralized location.

  • Enforce consistent firewall policies across the enterprise. An enterprise administrator has granular control over policy throughout the enterprise, including the level of policy authority granted to array administrators.

  • Increase speed and availability of Web content. By using Cache Array Routing Protocol, a customer can efficiently share the cache database across multiple servers, which increases the scalability of the system and improves network performance for large deployments.

  • Balance network resources. By using the integrated Network Load Balancing (NLB) within ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition, a customer can increase uptime and optimize availability for application and Internet access.

  • Centralize monitoring and storage. With the proper credentials, administrators can monitor ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition computers from any location and access ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition configuration information stored in an Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) database.

  • Scalability through unlimited SMP and NLB. Customers can build out their ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition infrastructure by scaling their network load across multiple array members, or by taking advantage of the latest generation of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) servers with eight or more processors.

ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition is scheduled to be generally available in March 2005. Pricing has been set at US$5,999 per processor. The price listed is an estimated price; reseller pricing may vary. More information about ISA Server 2004 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver .

About Windows Server System

Microsoft Windows Server System is integrated server software providing the infrastructure for IT operations, application development, integration and information work. Built on the Windows Server operating system and designed with Common Engineering Criteria, Windows Server System is focused on making it easier for IT professionals to connect and manage their IT environments. Because Windows Server System products are integrated for enhanced manageability and security, they help organizations reduce complexity and lower costs. All Windows Server System products support open industry standards including those based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) to promote interoperability with other platforms. More information on Windows Server System can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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