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Forum Systems Previews Forum XWall 3.0

Forum Systems Inc, a leading provider of trust management and threat protection Web services security solutions, demonstrated its V3.0 of the Forum XWall at Network+Interflop. The roles and responsibilities of the IP network are changing from a packet world towards an intelligent data-level network. The next generation of data communications and internetworking is now about efficient switching, routing and exchanging of structured XML data elements instead of unstructured packets. The advent of the XML-Internet requires new solutions to secure, accelerate and manage the content flowing across local and global business networks. Today, this data moves freely across web ports -- FTP, HTTP and SSL to name a few -- without specifically designed safe guards.

Forum XWall V3.0 is the industry's first Web Services Firewall to address the essential elements of data-level networking:

• SSL with XML Intrusion Prevention (XIP): SSL is one of the most widely deployed network security mechanisms. However, SSL allows hidden data threats to penetrate into the enterprise -- undetected with no opportunity for inspection. Forum XWall peers deep into the data packet scanning for XML-related threats such as corrupt data, XML viruses and denial of Web service attacks -- before and after SSL encryption.

• Data Authentication: While user-based authentication is a standard approach for perimeter-based security, in the extended enterprise where sensitive XML data is shared, user-based authenticated needs to be complemented with data authentication. Forum XWall introduces granular data authentication to the firewall to permission data flows -- including Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messages. By understanding information within WSDL (Web Services Description Language) documents, security administrator can now control enterprise data movement over Web services.

• Interoperability Enforcement: Interoperability at the network layer is achieved through TCP/IP. As more structured data is exchanged using XML, a new set of standards around Web services ensure interoperability at the data layer. And as Web service standards (SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, WS-Security) continue to evolve, conformance becomes critical. The WS-I organization standardizes how XML data exchanges and Web services interoperate. Forum XWall introduces the first implementation of WS-I Basic Profile 1.0 conformance detection and enforcement for both design-time and real-time at the edge of the network, centralizing enforcement for efficient data-level networking.

"With the advent of the XML-Internet, the business value of network traffic is now in the data and not the packets. Forum XWall is a cut above today's network and applications firewalls -- it is a true evolution of the firewall, uniquely positioned to add data-level security and communications to the network layer without reworking your existing infrastructure. By deploying it at the edge of the network, XWall takes the burden off applications for a more scaleable Web services environment," said Wes Swenson, president and CEO of Forum Systems.