WILMINGTON, MA – Astaro, a leading Unified Threat Management vendor, today announced the release of the Astaro Security Gateway Version 8. This major release comes with several new features and general improvements, providing SMB as well as enterprises with comprehensive protection. Although Unified Threat Management has been the option of choice for the SMB sector for some time, Astaro’s partners have observed an increasing demand from enterprises for integrated security solutions.

The latest version of Astaro’s flagship solution comes with a host of new features, including:

• Multi-role Administration – Specify access permissions for different administrators
• Configuration Change Auditing – See what settings were altered in the configuration and by whom
• IPv6 Support – Accommodates the next iteration in IP addressing
• Printable Configuration – Save a copy of configurations for auditing or compliance reasons
• VPN Activity Reporting – Displays the status and historical activity of your remote workers
• Country Blocking – Disallow all communications with specified countries or regions.

The security challenges for organizations are evolving rapidly. As companies grow and add new offices at remote locations, creating a greater need for multifunction firewalls, both in the SMBs and enterprises.

"Like SMBs, enterprises search for a security solution that saves time and money and they like the idea of integrated functionality," said Gert Hansen, Vice President Product Management at Astaro. "But most UTM solutions lack functionality that is essential for the enterprise segment, like in the areas of revision and compliance. The new version 8 of the Astaro Security Gateway addresses these needs."

The new features of the Astaro Security Gateway V8 appeal to both the enterprise and SMBs. For example, companies can now track all network activities from users logged in from remote locations and completely block Internet traffic from selected countries. Additionally, the user interface of the Astaro Security Gateway has been revised in order to further simplify management tasks. These changes include the introduction of a search function which automatically brings up all menu items related to the administrator’s query.

"Version 8 of the Astaro Security Gateway is the new platform that lays the foundation for further innovations made by Astaro," Hansen continues. "It is a major step for us and our customers, offering the basis for many new developments that are yet to come. The next big news will be the release of a new subscription called ‘Astaro Web Application Security’ later this month."