[Updated Aug. 20, 2004] — CyberGuard has added to the top of its range of enterprise security appliances powered by SnapGear Linux. The CyberGuard SG710 provides firewall, VPN, and IDS capabilities, and targets mid-market enterprises with 50 to 1,000 employees and branch offices of larger companies.

CyberGuard acquired uClinux maintainer and security products specialist SnapGear in November of 2003, subsequently updating and rebranding SnapGear's security product line as the CyberGuard “SG” series. The new SG710 represents the most powerful SnapGear Linux powered device so far, according to CyberGuard, and the first available in a rack-mounted case.

The SG710 is the first rack-mounted CyberGuard SG-series security appliance
(Click to enlarge)
“We always wanted to produce a rack-mountable device,” said Rick Stevenson, GM of CyberGuard's SG division.

The SG710 is based on an Intel IXP425 security processor, a chip that SnapGear Linux first supported in August of last year. The IXP425 has built-in encryption engines, which the SG710 makes use of in achieving “multi-megabit” throughputs, according to CyberGuard.

The SG710 boots from 32MB of RAM, and runs a version of SGLinux based on a 2.4.26 kernel. The device comes with 128MB of RAM, which can be upgraded. I/O ports include:

• dual WAN ports
• integrated 4-port 10/100 DMZ/WAN switch
• an integrated 4-port 10/100 LAN switch
• one serial port.

The SG710+ model additionally offers two 10/100/1000 (Gigabit Ethernet) WAN ports.

According to CyberGuard, the SG710 offers multi-layer security capabilities that include an ICSA-approved stateful inspection firewall, VPNC-conformant virtual private network (VPN) access though IPsec, L2TP and PPTP, and an intrusion detection system based on Snort, a popular open source application.

CyberGuard says SG710 product was developed to meet demand for enterprise-class edge security products in the sub-$5,000 mid-market enterprise security device sector. It says the device offers security capabilities previously available only in devices that cost too much for many mid-market enterprise companies.

CyberGuard VP of Marketing Bryan Bain said, “CyberGuard can now service mid-market enterprises much more effectively. The SG710 [offers] enterprise-class features and performance with a small-to-medium business price tag.”

The SG710 is shipping at an MSRP of $2,499 for the standard model and $3,499 for the SG710+ equipped with Gigabit Ethernet. A list of the devices' many sophisticated security features is available online.

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