The N-Platform, equipped with a revamped software system labeled the Threat Suppression Engine, is designed to handle multi-threading more effectively, which enables Tipping Point to handle higher-speed traffic, apply more filters by default, and build other functions into the intrusion prevention device, according to James Collinge, director of security product strategy.
"We're trying to increase our flexibility in terms of in-line deployments, by maintaining high performance in terms of not impacting application performance or network latency", Collinge said. "We want to maintain the fastest time to coverage and the broadest coverage, and we're trying to reduce the deployment costs in terms of deploying multiple security appliances."
The prevention intrusion device will serve as a platform for a range of virtual appliances that Tipping Point hopes will replace some of other vendors' competitive offerings. Customers have told Collinge that if they could implement 60-70% of the functionality of another system, then they could eliminate another vendor.
Tipping Point is shipping the first of a set of additional security services that will run on the intrusion prevention system, which Collinge said would be available on an a la carte, subscription basis. The first service is a reputation monitoring system, which checks DNS and IP addresses against a database of reputation score, locale, and other criteria.
The device features a combination of off-the-shelf multi-core network processors and field programable gate arrays (FPGAs), the latter of which can pre-process traffic as it enters the system, Collinge said.