F5 Combines Application Acceleration With Traffic Management

F5 Networks is bringing together application acceleration and traffic management capabilities onto one platform with its BIG-IP Application Acceleration Manager (AAM), which is designed to help enterprises reduce first-visit page load times for SaaS applications and improve throughput on mobile devices that use the company's BIG-IP Edge Client. It also optimizes legacy protocols such as FTP and UDP as well as emerging protocols such as SPDY.

BIG-IP AAM employs a number of acceleration technologies, including delivery optimization for HTTP Live Streaming, forward error correction and symmetric optimization. It also incorporates features found in F5's BIG-IP WebAccelerator and BIG-IP WAN Optimization Manager. In addition, starting with version 11.4, the company's BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager will incorporate support for TCP optimization, compression, bandwidth control, iSessions and SPDY as core capabilities.

F5 has also made available its Application Speed Tester so IT administrators can perform online benchmarking for free and see what level of performance improvement they can expect by deploying AAM.

Hitachi Provides Enterprise Sync And Share

Hitachi Data Systems unveiled a portfolio of cloud services to support enterprise adoption of cloud services and mobile workers, starting with its Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) Anywhere, an extension of its HCP that enables users to share and sync files on any device while allowing IT managers to maintain control, security and compliance practices.

HCP Anywhere includes a self-service portal. Mobile users can download an iOS app from iTunes and, by saving files to their HCP Anywhere folder, have access to their files regardless of location or device. HCP Anywhere integrates with Active Directory to streamline management of a large number of users. It also lets users send links instead of attachments to reduce email storage and network traffic. The HCP has been updated to take advantage of new cloud apps built for Amazon S3, and customers can now use the server platform of their choice, along with VMware, to run HCP.

HDS also launched Cloud Services, which provides hosted cloud storage options to provide enterprise-to-cloud storage and management using a REST API to interoperate with enterprise applications.

Sourcefire Boosts Malware Protection With New Features

Sourcefire has beefed up its Advanced Malware Protection portfolio with Network File Trajectory and Device Trajectory capabilities that give customers more information about malware attack activity. The new features are designed to help enterprises better detect, remediate and control malware outbreaks and provide continuous malware protection.

Network File Trajectory tracks malware across the network, identifying its point of entry, how it propagates, what protocols it used, and which users and endpoints are involved. This latest feature is available as part of Sourcefire's Advanced Malware Protection for FirePOWER software license, a subscription that can be added to the company's Next-Generation IPS or Next-Generation Firewall, or as a dedicated appliance.

Sourcefire's new Device Trajectory is part of FireAMP and makes use of endpoint File Trajectory capabilities to analyze system-level activities, file origination and file relationships for root cause and forensic analysis. The goal is to pinpoint behaviors that indicate a possible breach.

Lantronix Upgrades Remote IT Management For Branch Offices

Lantronix recently launched its latest Secure Lantronix Branch (SLB) office manager. This upgrade, available now in North America and Japan, improves on the company's secure console server with remote power management to allow IT administrators to securely manage remote servers and IT infrastructure at branch offices via the Internet.

SLB is a hybrid device that combines the capabilities of Lantronix's SLC Console Manager and remote power management into a 1U rack-mountable appliance, which is IPv6-compliant and compatible with the company's existing central management appliance. Console management features include eight serial ports for console connectivity, browser-based data logging, monitoring and secure access control. Systems administrators can remotely manage Linux, Unix and Windows servers, as well as routers, switches, telecom and building access equipment. For power management and redundancy, the SLB supports NEMA 5-15P or NEMA 5-20P power plugs, features dual AC inlets with automatic failover, and provides the ability to control power individually to all attached equipment, including power switching.

The Lantronix SLB is available now; pricing starts at $1,649.