Clusters boost Check Point VPN performance

Check Point Software soon will release ClusterXL that is aimed at boosting the speed and reliability of its firewall and VPN products, the company said Wednesday.

ClusterXL allows administrators to group VPN gateways or firewalls together to share their performance and create redundancies in case one of the devices fails, said Mike Lee, product marketing manager at Check Point. If one device fails, the other devices in the cluster can seamlessly resume service to users, thereby improving reliability, he said. ClusterXL can be used with either Check Point software or appliances, he added.

The company touts VPN performance of up to 1.2G bits/sec using the product.

The product, which requires the use of Check Point's Next Generation system, is targeted at large enterprises and service providers with large data centers.

ClusterXL will be available worldwide in the first week of December. Pricing terms were not immediately available.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.