3Com® Embedded Firewall Policy Server
Central Control, Distributed Protection

3Com® Embedded Firewall Policy Server software works with our family of 3Com Firewall PCI and PC Cards (sold separately), extending firewall filtering and auditing capabilities across your enterprise—including PCs located inside and outside the network perimeter. Together, our policy server and firewall cards deliver tamper-resistant security for telecommuter systems, mobile notebooks, VPN gateways, shared servers, DMZ subnets, Web servers, onsite desktops, and "always-on" broadband connections. (The 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server is required to configure and manage 3Com firewall cards.)

This unique combination of distributed firewall hardware and central management software delivers superior protection and flexibility that software-only firewalls can't match. The critical advantage of our firewall cards over software-only products is tamper resistance. Each firewall card has an onboard RISC processor that enforces security transparently to end users, local applications, and operating systems. This embedded firewall hardware is practically impervious to Internet attacks, end user actions, or malicious code.

Equally important, each firewall card can be configured and managed only through an authenticated 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server. Even if a protected system is invaded, the firewall card prevents a corrupted host from being used as a launching pad for further invasion into the network.

Our policy server and firewall cards let you efficiently and cost-effectively deploy network security when and where it's needed. You can distribute tamper-resistant security by installing firewall cards on a scalable system-by-system basis. Then, use the 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server to configure policies appropriate for the desired level of security and push those policies across the network to the firewall cards.

Features & Benefits

• Our policy server and firewall cards let you easily assign security to a group role or function and respond quickly to detected network attacks
• Although managed centrally, security enforcement is embedded in firewall card hardware—making it extremely resistant to malicious code, hostile users, unauthorized access, and disabling
• Use the policy server to configure global policies that automate packet filtering and auditing chores, enforce no sniffing/no spoofing, block unnecessary ports, and deny "ping" requests
• Centrally deployed policies can be pushed to users or hosts independent of routers or traffic streams; firewall cards accept instructions only from authenticated policy servers
• Use firewall cards to secure open Internet connections, such as VPN end points and broadband access gateways, located inside or outside the perimeter firewall
• To protect users wherever they work, firewall cards can support multiple levels of protection—more relaxed for internal LAN connections and more restricted for shared and Internet-accessible systems
• Firewall cards let you harden Web and e-commerce servers, DMZ subnets, and customer databases against Internet attacks and unauthorized access
• Outside the network perimeter, the firewall card automatically applies security policies that limit system-to-system communication—such as blocking unnecessary protocols and ports, denying "ping" requests, and disabling packet sniffing and IP spoofing
• For extra peace of mind, firewall cards can be configured to default to your highest level of security if they cannot communicate with the policy server
• This fully 802.3-compliant solution complements and enhances the protection you're currently using—including perimeter firewalls, antivirus scanners, VPNs, and intrusion-detection systems (IDSs)
• Firewall cards can lower IT administration costs by adding 24/7 intrusion resistance that helps eliminate false alarms generated by IDS monitoring
• Security is easily scalable by purchasing and installing additional firewall cards as needed; one policy server supports firewall-enabled desktops, servers, or notebooks in any combination of up to 1,000 firewall clients

Additional Information

     3Com® Embedded Firewall Policy Server Data Sheet (PDF 352KB)