Juniper Networks has unveiled an update to its vGW Virtual Gateway product line to target service providers looking for better security on a larger scale.
The vGW series works at the hypervisor level, putting firewall, antivirus and intrusion detection layers between virtual machines and the outside world.
Juniper Networks' upgraded vGW Virtual Gateway adds the capability to protect against issues in both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic for those still using both protocols. It offers what Juniper calls more granular and customisable security systems for service providers and large enterprises, ensuring policies are met to their exact requirements.
Juniper Networks has also created a new cloud application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK). Both sets of customers can create their own self-service modules for creating virtual machines and adding the necessary security through automation.
John Grady, senior research analyst for security products at IDC, said heading after the service provider and large enterprise was the right move.
"The vGW gateway technology is pretty well established in the market and, with Juniper, the largest potential did always seem to be service providers, which these scalability enhancements target," he told Computer Weekly.
"Cloud security continues to be a concern and this solution helps further enable the safe migration to cloud."
Grady also praised the automation additions, adding: "One of the issues with virtualisation from a security perspective is the dynamic nature of the environment. So, the ability to automate certain policy management functions and scale quickly and easily help alleviate these issues."
Juniper Networks' upgraded vGW Virtual Gateway security tool will go on sale in September 2012.
