Re: SCC buys Gauntlet

[firewalls () msg net <firewalls () msg net>]

> What's wrong with PC hardware? Things like Netra X1 are very close to PC's,
> i'd say those are PCs with sparc CPU - same stuff, pci, ide, ...

They make a nice desktop, but I would't deploy a Netra as a server,
much less as a enterprise firewall.

 We buy the 280R, a lower-end server grade system.


> Why does it make so big difference for you?

(I explain this further in my other message to the list today)

Things like the RSC and the full remote serial console support from initial
power-up through POST through power-down make a big difference.

Features like RAID, redundant power-supplies, serial management interfaces,
true 64-bit kernels, multiple-CPU support (2,4, or 12 CPUs) solid SCSI
hardware and software including hot swap, FC-AL drives, and support for
gig interfaces can be obtained in the PC market (at a price), but are
all standard on modern Sun servers.


What I would like to see is for Secure Computing to port the best features
of Sidewinder into Gauntlet, using Sparc hardware and trusted Solaris 8/9
for 'mandatory access control'.

What I fear is that in order to continue to have support for our firewalls 
two or four years down the road, we would be required to scrap the Sparc
hardware and migrate to a PC platform.

At that point we would need to seriously evaluate our options, including
switching to another firewall product that _will_ run on Sparc 64, or
developing our own in-house solution.

Kevin Kadow
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