Layer 7 Technologies Launches New Line of XML Appliances

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006; 02:07 AM

Layer 7 Technologies, the leader in XML security and networking, announced the launch of four new SecureSpan XML appliances. Layer 7 Technologies is the first XML security and networking vendor to introduce a suite of XML appliances and gateway software for Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Web Oriented Architectures (WOA) including SOAP, POX, AJAX and REST. The new XML acceleration, security and networking appliances will help businesses address a progressive set of security, complexity, scalability and networking issues.

“The requirement for parsing, transformation, acceleration, security and management means that the network really strains under the weight of XML,” said Frank Kenney, Research Director for Gartner. “Specialized appliances represent a compelling solution to supplying an effective SOA infrastructure.”

The use of XML data in the enterprise is increasing exponentially. SOA deployments often use XML or Web services but Web applications built on AJAX, RSS and POX are often more ubiquitous, adding to the pervasive use of XML. Depending on the application, various combinations of XML processing may be required, including parsing, transformation, acceleration, security, cryptography, signing, federation and support for implementing specific SOA standards or specifications. These operations place a tremendous burden on the network infrastructure, middleware and application platforms. The strategic use of XML appliances simplifies the deployment and management of applications while ensuring tight control over the flow of data.

“Layer 7’s approach is a pragmatic and flexible way to address the range of problems that customers have around SOA and Web 2.0,” said Ron Schmelzer, Senior Analyst at ZapThink. “The new family of XML appliances helps address the key pain points we see.”

“The SecureSpan family of XML appliances was created in response to feedback from our customers about the broadening spectrum of XML deployment,” said Philip Walston, VP Product Management for Layer 7. “We’re seeing more and more organizations building XML and Web services into their infrastructures and our new SecureSpan products are designed to address problems across the entire range of deployment patterns.”

The SecureSpan family of XML appliances includes:

• SecureSpan XML Accelerator - High-throughput document parsing, validation and transformation in a datacenter or with an ESB
• SecureSpan XML Data Screen – High-speed XML threat protection, content filtering and traffic control
• SecureSpan XML Firewall and VPN - Advanced identity and message level SOA security for cross-domain, B2B and portal SOA initiatives
• SecureSpan XML Networking Gateway – Complex, policy based message routing, mediation, virtualization, SLA and SOA governance enforcement

To simplify migration planning and ensure future-proofing, each successive SecureSpan XML appliance includes the capabilities of the legacy device and can be quickly upgraded through additional software licenses. The SecureSpan XML Firewall and VPN and the SecureSpan Networking Gateway are also available as server software for Linux and Windows Server 2003. Pricing for the range of SecureSpan appliances begins at $30,000 USD, depending on the model.

All SecureSpan XML appliances are based on a high performance 64-bit multi-processor, multi-core AMD architecture with onboard XML acceleration from ASIC vendor Tarari and hardware based crypto acceleration. All SecureSpan appliances offer full clustered redundancy and linear scalability.

Layer 7 will be demonstrating its new line of XML Appliances from October 8th to 13th at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Florida at booth 130.

Layer 7 Technologies is a leading provider of XML security and networking infrastructure for next generation service oriented and Web oriented integrations. The SecureSpan family of XML appliances and gateway software address the security, complexity, performance and networking issues associated with deploying and maintaining production Web services.