3Com Pitches Enterprise Security

3Com has rolled out a new chassis switch that extends enterprise network security into the core, making even virtual infrastructures more secure. The move could attract interest from Hewlett-Packard solutions providers, amid HP’s pending buyout of 3Com.

The H3C S9500E is designed to extend 3Com’s Secure Network Fabric to help companies migrate to a more virtualized data center environment yet keep their data safe. When combined with 3Com’s TippingPoint security technology – namely its Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) – 3Com is offering a level of security for virtualized environments that is otherwise hard to come by.

Part of the magic is 3Com’s approach: Because it has designed the chassis with virtualized environments in mind and because TippingPoint’s offerings complement the new switch, the technology effectively fills any security holes that might crop up.

Indeed, that was the idea behind 3Com’s Secure Network Fabric, which it announced last fall. The initiative utilizes technology from both 3Com and TippingPoint, and was designed to help businesses minimize their security risks while taking advantage of new data center technologies like virtualization. Two new TippingPoint products also were announced that fit nicely into the Secure Network Fabric – the TippingPoint Virtual Controller (vController), a software solution that extends the company’s network security into virtual environments; and its 1500S SSL Appliance, which takes encrypted traffic sent through the IPS, unencrypts the traffic and sends it through the IPS for inspection before forwarding it to an SSL server for re-encryption or to its final destination.

The combination of these technologies will be another effective weapon in HP’s arsenal as it goes toe to toe with Cisco in the battle for networking share. HP, with its pending acquisition of 3Com (and, by extension, TippingPoint), has a good start.

Either way, HP solution provider partners will definitely benefit from this influx of technology when the acquisition closes.