Business Services Industry

Burton Group Releases Research On Virtual Enterprise Network Security; TeleBriefing Scheduled for May 15, 2002

Business Wire, May 14, 2002

Business Editors

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2002

"Securing the Virtual Enterprise Network," Report Defines New

Security Model to Support E-Business and Protect IT Infrastructure

Burton Group, a technology-industry pioneer of network research and consulting, has released a report that defines a new security model that supports e-business, while offering greater protection for network and applications infrastructure across the enterprise.

Written by Burton security expert Dan Blum, "Securing the Virtual Enterprise Network" outlines technology requirements and best practices spanning four layers of security. The report illustrates how a layered security architecture offers the best protection to virtual enterprise networks and also accommodates past technology investments, manages change and provides for the future.

The company will also hold a TeleBriefing on Virtual Enterprise Network (VEN) security on May 15, 2002.

Recognizing the widespread interest in Virtual Enterprise Networks, Burton Group is dedicating its ninth annual Catalyst Conference entirely to VEN topics.

Held on July 15-17 in San Francisco, Catalyst will feature more than 60 presentations and discussions spanning security, Virtual Private Networks, Web services, VoIP, directories, wireless networking, and identity and access management topics. Information about the Catalyst Conference is located at www.burtongroup.com/catalyst.> Burton is recognized as a champion for end users and a leading advisor to enterprise organizations as they plan and manage their network evolution. The company has long conducted workshops and training on network security planning and strategy, and routinely consults with some of the world's largest corporations on strategy and implementation.

"E-business is no longer just a buzzword. It's an integral part of doing business for most corporate enterprises, yet the complexities of protecting the network continue to rise as companies expand their e-business ventures with third-party external access, remote telecommuter access and wireless access by both employees and visitors," said report author Dan Blum, Burton senior vice president and research director.

"This report defines a new VEN security model that will help IT network architects implement sound security measures with the flexibility to accommodate the various business relationships companies build to conduct business over the Internet and intranets."

Enterprises face a competitive imperative to deploy architecturally flexible VEN security infrastructure. VENs are companies or organizations whose perimeters have grown porous due to their ever-increasing support of external access by third-party partners and customers, telecommuters and wireless access.

In this environment, firewall-filtered access to the Demilitarized Zone segments lacks the necessary granularity and flexibility to accommodate the development of various business relationships.

Enterprise network planners face complex issues when developing a Virtual Enterprise Network security strategy. Within the VEN infrastructure, new relationships demand a new set of dynamic and logical boundaries around internal systems and data. Physical boundaries alone cannot address the changing relationships within and between e-business enabled organizations.

Security is also becoming more complex as companies move toward a multi-client world of desktop and mobile clients, and as Internet and e-business technologies fall under regulations worldwide. These trends are driving new infrastructure designs, which in turn require a variety of access privileges and layered security architecture.

"Securing the Virtual Enterprise Network" presents Burton Group's security model, which defines a four-layer architecture.

These are the Resource Layer, where internal workstations, servers, applications, databases and data reside; the Perimeter Layer, which enforces boundaries between Internet and intranet, or between other security compartments; the new, but critical Control Layer, which provides identity and access management services as well as security management and policy management across layers; and the Extended Perimeter Layer, an emerging layer that provides new technical and non-technical controls to secure organizational assets outside the perimeter.

The "Securing the Virtual Enterprise Network" report is available with a license to Burton's Network Strategy Service. Details about Burton's products and services are on www.burtongroup.com or e-mail information requests to info@burtongroup.com.

VEN TeleBriefing: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at noon ET.

Burton Group will hold a TeleBriefing on Securing the Virtual Enterprise Network on May 15 at noon Eastern Time.

Burton senior vice president and research director and VEN report author Dan Blum will conduct a 90-minute session to discuss how enterprises can combine authentication, authorization, confidentiality and integrity into a cohesive, manageable architecture to secure e-business and virtual enterprise network environments.