StillSecure Builds On Momentum For Freeware IDS/IPS Solution

StillSecure, provider of an award- winning, integrated suite of enterprise network security solutions, today announced that StillSecure Strata Guard Free, the company's freeware IDS/IPS, is available as a VMware virtual appliance for Windows environments. Now, end users can access the pre-built, pre-configured and ready-to-run version of Strata Guard Free using either the Windows version of VMware player, or the Linux version.

"We're excited by the thousands of people who have downloaded Strata Guard Free in recent months, and its availability as a VMware virtual appliance has further excelled adoption rates by making it even easier to deploy," said Mitchell Ashley, CTO and VP of Customer Experience at StillSecure. "With the launch of Strata Guard Free as a VMware virtual appliance for Windows environments, we're further extending our reach to the massive number of mainstream Windows users who are interested in learning more about intrusion detection and prevention."

VMware virtual appliances are pre-installed application and operating system environments packaged in virtual machines, which are utilized by more than three million today. Virtual appliances eliminate the need for product installation and configuration, and can be easily deployed on x86 systems to get users and new services up and running immediately. Virtual appliances can be run using VMware virtual infrastructure products, including VMware Player and VMware Server, which are both available for free download at www.vmware.com/download.

"Overall installation and configuration of Strata Guard Free was extremely easy and self-explanatory," said Michael Shekman, Technology Projects Leader, Information Systems, Town of Manchester, Connecticut. "We're going to be in the market for an IDS/IPS solution this summer and I'm certain we'll choose the enterprise version of Strata Guard if my experience is as seamless as it has been with Strata Guard Free."

As previously announced, Strata Guard Free is also available as a software appliance. With multiple options for installing and running the software, end users can choose the method that works best for them depending on personal preferences and the network environment.

"For optimal results many security tools need to run as an appliance but I first downloaded Strata Guard Free as a VMware instance to ensure that I wanted to go through the installation and configuration process on a dedicated box," said Hany Ramzy, Head of IT at the Advanced Internet Center (AIC). "Strata Guard Free is a rate-limited version of a professional, enterprise-class IDS/IPS and I was immediately impressed by its ability to successfully detect and block all types of network attacks."

About Strata Guard Free
Strata Guard Free is a full-featured, easy-to-install and use IDS/IPS offered free of charge. Supported through its user community via online support forums, Strata Guard Free monitors network traffic streams of up to 5 Mbps and is ideally suited to small businesses, remote office connections, and home users. Users update Strata Guard Free with the latest attack rules, which are offered at no delay, from within the product configuration screens. All rules incorporated into Strata Guard Free are managed by StillSecure's Security Alert Team (SAT).

Pricing and availability
StillSecure Strata Guard Free is currently available and can be downloaded at www.stillsecure.org. Commercial versions of Strata Guard that offer expanded capabilities, increased performance, and live support are available on a subscription or a purchase-plus-maintenance basis. For more information, contact StillSecure sales at sales@stillsecure.com.

About StillSecure
StillSecure delivers network security solutions that protect IT business infrastructure. The integrated StillSecure suite provides preventative defense, enables compliance with regulatory information security policies, and actively blocks network attacks. StillSecure manages and reduces risk from network attack and noncompliance for some of the largest organizations in the healthcare, financial services, government, and education sectors. For more information please call (303) 381-3830, or visit www.stillsecure.com.