Where to go for that all-in-one VPN/security device
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
"We have customers telling us, 'My network is collapsing under the weight of the security gear I have to put on it'," says Scott Pope, security marketing manager for Cisco Systems. Now the vendor of networking solutions for the Internet says it has an answer to that problem: the ASA 5500 series of security appliances.
A first of its kind, according to Cisco, ASA 5500 combines security and virtual private network (VPN) services in the same appliance. Built on the company's AIM (Adaptive Identification and Mitigation) services architecture, ASA 5500 performs firewall and intrusion protection, anti-threat detection and defense, network containment and control, secure connectivity, and remote-access and site-to-site VPNs to simplify management, administration, and troubleshooting.
The network security market is hot, having grown 30 percent in 2004 to more than $3.7 billion, and projected to grow to $5.5 billion in 2008, according to Infonetics Research, San Jose, Calif. Cisco leads the market with more than 30 percent of total network security appliances and software revenue in 2004. Check Point Software and Juniper Networks command second and third place, respectively.
Pope says companies used to make trade-offs between cost and complexity in network security. "A lot of companies would only put in a firewall at their remote offices because it was too expensive or complex to do more," he says. "Then the remote offices become the weak link in the security chain. The ASA 5500 series gives you a firewall, plus threat mitigation and access control for roughly the same price."
Other plant operations vendors not listed in the Global 100
| Activplant | activplant.com | Enterprise manufacturing intelligence solutions |
| Apriso | apriso.com | Real-time visibility and execution |
| Camstar Systems | camstar.com | Enterprise manufacturing systems |
| CIMNET | cimnetinc.com | Collaborative manufacturing for the intelligent enterprise |
| Citect | citect.com | SCADA, industrial automation, industrial information management |
| Cybershift Inc. | cybershift.com | Time & attendance, labor management |
| Datasweep | datasweep.com | MES and quality management together |
| eBots | ebotsinc.com | Collaborative electronic kanban |
| Entivity | entivity.com | Supervisory control software |
| Eyelit | eyelit.com | Collaborative production management solutions |
| Factory Logic | factorylogic.com | Lean manufacturing & supply chain management solutions |
| Gensym | gensym.com | Rule engine software & services |
| HMS Software | hmssoftware.com | Manufacturing execution systems |
| iBASEt | ibaset.com | High-tech software solutions and services |
| nMetric | nmetric.com | Lean production management systems |
| Online Development Inc. | oldi.com | Real-time plant and enterprise data solutions |
| Pelion Systems | pelionsystems.com | Manufacturing process optimization software |
| Pilgrim Software | pilgrimsoftware.com | Enterprise quality and compliance management solutions |
| PipeChain | pipechain.com | Vendor-managed inventory solutions |
| SigmaQuest | sigmaquest.com | Product performance intelligence |
| Visiprise | visiprise.com | Manage global operations to improve quality & compliance |
