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FaceTime Application Detection Raises Stakes in Network Security
Offers Patented Technology to Identify and Control 1,400 Real Time and Web 2.0 Applications and 50,000 Social Networking Apps
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BELMONT, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/08/08 -- FaceTime Communications, the leading providerof solutions that manage Web 2.0 and unified communications in theenterprise today announced its patented application inspection andclassification technology is now available for license to network securityequipment manufacturers who are interested in offering more applicationcontrol in their products. Dubbed ACE, for Application ControlEngine, the perimeter-based application filter identifies andcategorizes more than 1,400 Web 2.0 applications and more than 50,000additional application "widgets" distributed via social networking sitessuch as Facebook, MySpace and Orkut. Backed by FaceTime Security Labs'exclusive application analysis and categorization, ACE automaticallyupdates its database to stay current with new application detections.
At its core, ACE is the technology that sets FaceTime's award-winning Unified Security Gateway appliance apart from all other networksecurity appliances. The USG enables enterprises to control real-timecommunications integrating management, security and compliance of Webcommunications, consumer-driven applications such as public IM, Skype andP2P and enterprise-class unified communications suites such as Microsoft'sOfficeCommunications Server and IBM Lotus Sametime.
"The widespread adoption of email was a key driver for the anti-virusscanning industry, and the Web browser led to a standard requirement forURL filtering databases," said Frank Cabri, vice president of marketing forFaceTime Communications. "In the same way, the current explosion ofreal-time and Web 2.0 applications is prompting a need for applicationfiltering to examine, classify and control the evasive applications thatare running over corporate networks today."
"The competitive landscape in markets such as UTM and network firewalls hasescalated with increasing pressure from customers who require deepinspection of the application traffic entering the enterprise at thenetwork perimeter," said Brian Burke, program director for IDC's NetworkSecurity Service. "To remain competitive, incumbent vendors must providethis comprehensive application visibility and control -- and partneringwill provide the fastest and most efficient path."
Market Requirements for Application Identification and Control
As revealed in the research report The Collaborative Internet: UsageTrends, End User Attitudes and IT Impact commissioned by FaceTime and basedon an independent study by NewDiligence, 62 percent of IT respondentsreported eight or more Internet applications installed on their enterprisenetworks -- representing a 300 percent increase over the first studyconducted in 2005. Further, they noted that about one-third of end userscontinue to download the applications they want to use on their desktops,regardless of company policy -- and these applications are used aboutequally for business and personal reasons.
While many Web-based applications can be identified and blocked by a URLsignature, newer Internet applications are typically not browser-based andtherefore require specialized handling to effectively identify and classifytheir true nature. Identifying these applications presents a new challengefor enterprise IT. As more and more applications masquerade themselves asHTTP, FTP, SMTP and Telnet traffic, while exhibiting evasive techniques, itbecomes increasingly difficult for Unified Threat Management (UTM),Firewall, Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and IPS solutions that rely on simplesignature matching techniques to accurately identify, and therefore controlthem.
Application control is identified as one of the six key evaluation criteriafor the September 2008 Gartner report Magic Quadrant for Secure WebGateway. In the report, analysts Peter Firstbrook and Lawrence Oransconclude that "application control is the most immature SWG feature. IM,Skype and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications are the most commonly supported;however, few SWG solutions can do more than block or allow access on agroup or user level. Even fewer use application network signatures versusmore-easily evaded URL or Internet Protocol (IP) address blocking."
Likewise, application identification is one of four key areas noted asrecommended components of the Next Generation Firewall, by Gartner analystsGreg Young and John Pescatore in their November 2008 report Magic Quadrantfor Enterprise Network Firewalls. The report proclaims that "simplyenforcing proper protocol use on standard ports is no longer of sufficientvalue in this environment. If firewall vendors do not make these changes,enterprises will demand price concessions to reduce firewall costssubstantially."
About ACE
The Application Control Engine(TM) (ACE(TM)) enables security and networksolution providers to embed application filtering technology to accuratelyidentify and manage real-time applications on the network. ACE employspatented technology to enable high-performance detection and categorizationof more than 1,400 distinct applications -- regardless of port, protocol,or evasive technique used to traverse the network. Based on the sametechnology integral to FaceTime's Unified Security Gateway, the ACEsoftware developers kit (SDK) allows solution providers to easily extendtheir offerings to help customers manage instant messaging, peer-to-peerfile sharing, social networking, Web 2.0, voice-over-IP, anonymizers, IPTV,multimedia, games, virtual worlds, and unified communications.
FaceTime's U.S. patent for classifying and identifying network trafficflows forms the technology foundation for ACE. Available only fromFaceTime, this technology provides unparalleled accuracy and applicationcoverage through active monitoring and dynamic correlation of network,content, traffic and other session characteristics. ACE creates a profileof both the specific application in use along with the unique feature beingexecuted (e.g. a file attachment sent via instant messaging) allowing ACEProgram Partners to deliver granular policy and control over real-timeapplications within their products.
Purpose built for today's applications, the engine includes built-insupport for daily auto-updates of new applications provided by FaceTimeSecurity Labs. These updates occur through the ongoing collection, analysisand categorization of application information from hundreds of thousands ofend-points deployed throughout the world both in enterprise networks and onconsumer PCs. This data is analyzed and confirmed by FaceTime SecurityLabs' researchers to insure that its application database is current.
About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instantmessaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. FaceTime'saward-winning solutions are used by more than 1,000 customers for security,management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports orhas strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise IMnetwork providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM andJabber.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more informationvisit http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE. The FaceForward blog,at http://blog.facetime.com, offers thoughts and opinions about thechanging nature of Internet.
FaceTime, FaceTime Communications, IMAuditor, FaceTime Unified SecurityGateway, FaceTime Security Labs, SpywareGuide.com and the FaceTime logo areregistered trademarks and trademarks of FaceTime Communications, Inc. Othertrademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respectiveowners.
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Media Contact:Joshua BarnesA&R Edelman650-762-2865Email Contact
"The widespread adoption of email was a key driver for the anti-virusscanning industry, and the Web browser led to a standard requirement forURL filtering databases," said Frank Cabri, vice president of marketing forFaceTime Communications. "In the same way, the current explosion ofreal-time and Web 2.0 applications is prompting a need for applicationfiltering to examine, classify and control the evasive applications thatare running over corporate networks today."
"The competitive landscape in markets such as UTM and network firewalls hasescalated with increasing pressure from customers who require deepinspection of the application traffic entering the enterprise at thenetwork perimeter," said Brian Burke, program director for IDC's NetworkSecurity Service. "To remain competitive, incumbent vendors must providethis comprehensive application visibility and control -- and partneringwill provide the fastest and most efficient path."
Market Requirements for Application Identification and Control
As revealed in the research report The Collaborative Internet: UsageTrends, End User Attitudes and IT Impact commissioned by FaceTime and basedon an independent study by NewDiligence, 62 percent of IT respondentsreported eight or more Internet applications installed on their enterprisenetworks -- representing a 300 percent increase over the first studyconducted in 2005. Further, they noted that about one-third of end userscontinue to download the applications they want to use on their desktops,regardless of company policy -- and these applications are used aboutequally for business and personal reasons.
While many Web-based applications can be identified and blocked by a URLsignature, newer Internet applications are typically not browser-based andtherefore require specialized handling to effectively identify and classifytheir true nature. Identifying these applications presents a new challengefor enterprise IT. As more and more applications masquerade themselves asHTTP, FTP, SMTP and Telnet traffic, while exhibiting evasive techniques, itbecomes increasingly difficult for Unified Threat Management (UTM),Firewall, Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and IPS solutions that rely on simplesignature matching techniques to accurately identify, and therefore controlthem.
Application control is identified as one of the six key evaluation criteriafor the September 2008 Gartner report Magic Quadrant for Secure WebGateway. In the report, analysts Peter Firstbrook and Lawrence Oransconclude that "application control is the most immature SWG feature. IM,Skype and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications are the most commonly supported;however, few SWG solutions can do more than block or allow access on agroup or user level. Even fewer use application network signatures versusmore-easily evaded URL or Internet Protocol (IP) address blocking."
Likewise, application identification is one of four key areas noted asrecommended components of the Next Generation Firewall, by Gartner analystsGreg Young and John Pescatore in their November 2008 report Magic Quadrantfor Enterprise Network Firewalls. The report proclaims that "simplyenforcing proper protocol use on standard ports is no longer of sufficientvalue in this environment. If firewall vendors do not make these changes,enterprises will demand price concessions to reduce firewall costssubstantially."
About ACE
The Application Control Engine(TM) (ACE(TM)) enables security and networksolution providers to embed application filtering technology to accuratelyidentify and manage real-time applications on the network. ACE employspatented technology to enable high-performance detection and categorizationof more than 1,400 distinct applications -- regardless of port, protocol,or evasive technique used to traverse the network. Based on the sametechnology integral to FaceTime's Unified Security Gateway, the ACEsoftware developers kit (SDK) allows solution providers to easily extendtheir offerings to help customers manage instant messaging, peer-to-peerfile sharing, social networking, Web 2.0, voice-over-IP, anonymizers, IPTV,multimedia, games, virtual worlds, and unified communications.
FaceTime's U.S. patent for classifying and identifying network trafficflows forms the technology foundation for ACE. Available only fromFaceTime, this technology provides unparalleled accuracy and applicationcoverage through active monitoring and dynamic correlation of network,content, traffic and other session characteristics. ACE creates a profileof both the specific application in use along with the unique feature beingexecuted (e.g. a file attachment sent via instant messaging) allowing ACEProgram Partners to deliver granular policy and control over real-timeapplications within their products.
Purpose built for today's applications, the engine includes built-insupport for daily auto-updates of new applications provided by FaceTimeSecurity Labs. These updates occur through the ongoing collection, analysisand categorization of application information from hundreds of thousands ofend-points deployed throughout the world both in enterprise networks and onconsumer PCs. This data is analyzed and confirmed by FaceTime SecurityLabs' researchers to insure that its application database is current.
About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instantmessaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. FaceTime'saward-winning solutions are used by more than 1,000 customers for security,management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports orhas strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise IMnetwork providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM andJabber.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more informationvisit http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE. The FaceForward blog,at http://blog.facetime.com, offers thoughts and opinions about thechanging nature of Internet.
FaceTime, FaceTime Communications, IMAuditor, FaceTime Unified SecurityGateway, FaceTime Security Labs, SpywareGuide.com and the FaceTime logo areregistered trademarks and trademarks of FaceTime Communications, Inc. Othertrademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respectiveowners.
Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine
Media Contact:Joshua BarnesA&R Edelman650-762-2865Email Contact
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