Infonet's New Advanced Managed Firewall Service — MFS — Gives Multinationals 24 x 7 Internet Security - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, Oct 18, 1999

Infonet Services Corporation Tuesday announced a new version of its Managed Firewall Service (MFS) that meets multinationals' stringent requirements for Internet security and electronic commerce. Infonet's MFS-Advanced delivers a powerful firewall that is managed globally by Infonet, 24 x 7, along with a full range of intrusion detection, URL filtering, content security and screening, authentication, address translation and web-based reporting services. With MFS-Advanced, customers can achieve a comprehensive security solution without the associated burden of managing and monitoring that solution around the clock.

According to a survey by the FBI, network security violations cost multinational organizations hundreds of millions of dollars and increased at a 36% rate in 1998. With the wide range of tools available to computer hackers, the threat to corporate networks continues to grow more serious.

With Infonet's MFS-Advanced, security managers for these corporations can obtain a reliable firewall that is managed and monitored around the clock by a team of security experts. This 24 x 7 management ensures that security threats can be halted immediately whenever and wherever they occur. Infonet also provides cost savings by installing client firewalls in sophisticated regional firewall farms bundled with Internet access at up to T3 speeds.

"No matter how solid a customer's firewall product is, attaining complete security requires 'round the clock monitoring and management of that solution, as well as supervision by a team of Internet security professionals," said Doug Laurin, Director of Marketing for Infonet's recently-established info.net Business Unit. "With Infonet's MFS-Advanced, these customers can quickly and cost-effectively obtain a global security solution allowing them to conduct business via the Internet freely."

Added Laurin, "MFS-Advanced offers numerous benefits not found in traditional firewall solutions including significant cost savings, fast and easy implementation and the ability to maintain control of overall security policies, while outsourcing the administrative burden of monitoring and maintaining a firewall."

Infonet's MFS-Advanced combines Check Point Firewall-1 software on a Sun Ultra 5 platform. Its sophisticated design incorporates Cisco routers, Cisco Catalyst switches and high speed VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) connections. It also offers the following value-added solutions:

-- Advanced Intrusion Detection using Check Point's version of Internet Software Solutions' RealSecure software for immediate response to attacks

-- HTML Disabling to protect customers from malicious JAVA or ActiveX code that is sometimes embedded in downloaded web sites

-- Adaptive URL Filtering using WebSense Inc.'s Internet Access Management software to restrict web access and block inappropriate sites

-- Network Address Translation (NAT) to provide Internet access for sites with non-registered addresses -- Source Address Hiding to conceal internal network addresses from the Internet

-- Strong Authentication taking advantage of RADIUS or Security Dynamics' ACE Server

-- Web-based Reporting using WebTrends software to provide easy access to management reports on a corporation's firewall activity

Pricing and Availability

Infonet's standard MFS has been available since July, 1998 protecting over 100 customer locations worldwide. The new, enhanced MFS-Advanced is now shipping.

Pricing for a fully-configured MFS-Advanced starts at $3,500 U.S. list, per region, per month. For example, a client with five offices in Europe can secure its Internet access for about $700 per office. MFS-Advanced is available in more than 50 countries within three regions (North America, Europe and Asia Pacific).

Infonet Services Corporation is a world leader in providing global communications services to multinational enterprises. Infonet provides Internet, intranet, ATM, electronic commerce and integrated voice/data solutions plus a full suite of messaging and collaborative products and services. Infonet's services are supported locally in more than 70 countries and territories around the world. The World Network from Infonet is accessible terrestrially or via satellite worldwide. FMI: www.infonet.com.