Barracuda Networks announced the immediate availability of Barracuda Firewall version 6.5, the latest release of its next-generation firewall designed for the mid-market.
According to Barracuda, the new version packages enterprise-grade next-generation firewall technology, including advanced application control, with a simple, customizable user interface.
Attractively priced for organizations that may not have huge security budgets, the Barracuda Firewall also provides features QoS, link aggregation, IPS and VPN.
• Enterprise-Grade Application Control – The new release provides enhanced application control over more than 1200 browser and non-browser-based applications. Administrators can define dynamic application polices to establish acceptable use policies for users and groups by application, application category, location or time of day. These policies can be set to block unwanted applications for certain users or groups; control and throttle acceptable traffic; preserve bandwidth and speed up business critical applications; enable or disable specific sub-applications (e.g., Facebook Chat, Skype Video); and inspect SSL-encrypted application traffic.
• Easy to Use, Easy to Manage – The new release includes a redesigned User Interface (UI), making it even easier to navigate. The updated UI maintains consistency with other Barracuda security products to minimize the learning curve for existing Barracuda customers looking to deploy affordable, easy-to-use and manage next-generation firewall functionality.
• Customizable Dashboards – Delivers increased flexibility in monitoring network traffic and firewall status. The dashboards provide a granular view of user activity such as application usage and bandwidth utilization, which can be used to determine performance bottlenecks and tune policy accordingly.
• Enhanced Reporting – Supports detailed reports around network traffic, Web requests and application usage. Reports can be generated via the Barracuda Report Creator and can be filtered for specific users and groups for additional granularity.
“Our customers work in all types of organizations, from mid-market businesses, to government agencies and educational institutions, to departments or divisions within Fortune 2000 enterprises. They face the same challenges that larger enterprises face, but they face them often with limited time, limited budgets and limited resources,” said Stephen Pao, GM Security at Barracuda.
Barracuda Firewall version 6.5 is immediately available at no additional charge to existing customers with an active Energize Update subscription. The list price starts at US $999.00 for the hardware appliance and $179.00 for a one-year subscription of Energize Updates.
The company also offers an optional Instant Replacement service featuring priority replacement of failed hardware and complimentary refresh of four-year old hardware units is available starting at list price of US $199 per year.