Juniper Firefly offers a suite of virtualized security tools
Connecting state and local government leaders
The Firefly suite gives organizations a way to deliver benefits of cloud and virtualization technologies without undermining security.
Government IT and security managers face the challenge of delivering the benefits of cloud and virtualization technologies without compromising security. This requires providing robust and granular security for virtual machines across different workloads, and as quickly as a VM instance can be created.
Juniper Networks recently unveiled a set of software tools to address these often competing requirements. The company says its Firefly Suite protects virtual workloads and applications in real-time using security intelligence, automation and unified control over virtual firewalls.
The Firefly suite includes:
- Firefly Perimeter, a virtual version of the Juniper Networks SRX Series Services Gateway that delivers granular security between zones, organizations, lines of business and applications, as well as Network Address Translation, routing and VPN. Firefly Perimeter can be managed as a security VM for each department, application or tenant, according to Juniper.
- Junos Space Virtual Director, an application that automates the management and deployment of Firefly Perimeter. It includes a user interface with task-oriented workflows, pre-tested configuration and open APIs for integration with third-party management platforms.
- Firefly Host, formerly named vGW Virtual Gateway, is a firewall for virtualization designed to protect intra-VM traffic. It provides a hypervisor-based firewall for traffic between virtual machines, including integrated intrusion detection, and virtualization-specific antivirus protection and compliance tools.
According to the company, the Firefly Suite can be embedded throughout a virtual environment, including the hypervisor itself or as VMs connected to the various virtual networks.
The suite allows organizations to “create and manage security policy across physical and virtual firewalls with a high level of flexibility,” said Michael Callahan, vice president global product marketing for Juniper.
“We provide complete protection for the cloud and from the cloud," Callahan said. Firefly Perimeter and Junos Space Virtual Director will be released in the first quarter of 2014.