3Com® Firewall PC Card with 10/100 LAN, Type III
Distributed Mobile Protection, Central Control

The 3Com® Firewall PC Card with 10/100 LAN works with the 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server (sold separately), extending firewall filtering and auditing capabilities across your enterprise—including mobile users and notebook PCs located outside the network perimeter. (Firewall configuration and management require the purchase of 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server.)

This unique combination of firewall hardware and management software delivers superior protection and flexibility that software-only firewalls can't match. The critical advantage of our firewall card over software-only products is tamper resistance. Built into each firewall card is 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, user action, 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 notebook is invaded, the firewall card prevents a corrupted host from being used as a launching pad for further invasion into the network.

When combined with our policy server, the 3Com Firewall PC Card lets you easily 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 policy server to configure policies appropriate for the required access and protection and push those policies across the network to the firewall cards.

This firewall card for CardBus-compatible notebooks requires a Type III PC Card slot or can be plugged into two vertically stacked Type II slots and replaces the conventional Ethernet or Fast Ethernet LAN connection. The included 3Com Mobile Connection Manager software helps IT staff quickly give mobile users one-click secure network access from multiple locations. In Windows XP or 2000 environments, TCP and security tasks are offloaded to the card's security processor, helping boost system performance.

Features & Benefits

• Multipacks available from 3Com Partners; click the "Other Places to Buy" button
• Provides scalable, tamper-resistant protection for mobile notebooks and roaming users—independent of routers, traffic streams, or to what network they're connected
• Secures open Internet connections, such as VPN end points and broadband access gateways, located inside or outside the perimeter firewall
• The policy server lets you configure security policies that filter traffic at each machine, allowing only the communications needed for a system role or function
• The firewall card only accepts instructions from authenticated firewall policy servers and enforces them transparently to host applications and end users
• To protect notebooks wherever they are located, firewall cards can support multiple levels of protection—more open when connecting from behind your perimeter defenses and more restricted for roaming and remote access
• Outside the network perimeter, the firewall card automatically applies security policies that limit system-to-system communication—such as block unnecessary protocols and ports, deny "ping" requests, and disable 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
• Fully 802.3-compliant, our firewall cards complement and enhance 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
• 3Com Mobile Connection Manager lets IT staff create and send one-click mobile configuration profiles to traveling employees
• IPSec offloads include 3DES and DES encryption, SHA-1 and MD5 algorithms, and RFC 2402 authentication
• In addition to IPSec, cycle-intensive TCP segmentation, and TCP/IP checksum functions are offloaded, helping reduce CPU workloads and accelerate system response
• Patented Parallel Tasking® and Parallel Tasking II performance boost network throughput and application performance, while lowering CPU utilization
• 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® Firewall PC Card with 10/100 LAN, Type III Data Sheet (PDF 352KB)