Perimeter Internetworking Takes Security Off-Site

By theWHIR.com , June 09, 2005
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Verio Attracts Resellers with Free Month of VPS Hosting: Companies looking to boost revenues are finding Verio's Free VPS promotion the right fit for getting started as Hosting Reseller.

By Philbert Shih, theWHIR.com

June 9, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Internet service and Web hosting providers have a bevy of solutions to choose from when building security into their networks, and typically deploy multiple appliances for the various security contingencies they face.

But with security issues arising as fast as vendors can come up with ways to solve them, service providers face a constant uphill battle, and they simply can't keep adding hardware to solve each new security threat.

With this in mind, Perimeter Internetworking (perimeterusa.com) has developed a "security utility" solution that integrates industry-leading security technologies into a single architecture it bills as "Security-in-the-Cloud." The company recently released version 4.0 of its flagship service called Gateway.

Perimeter's approach to security is different from more traditional managed security approaches, through which service providers buy a device and install it on their premises, with the vendor remotely monitoring and managing it. What Perimeter does with security, says Miller, is similar in a way to Web hosting.

"We offer a hosted service as opposed to a remotely managed service, so our clients do not connect directly to the Internet, they connect to us," says Brad Miller, CEO of Connecticut-based Perimeter Internetworking. "They go out to the Internet through us, so effectively, we control the gateway to the Internet for them."

It's like a gated community, says Miller. Perimeter acts as the gate and there is only one way in and one way out, which Perimeter controls.

Through this gateway, service providers literally just "plug in" to Perimeter, gaining access to the over 50 security services it offers. And this integrated model enables Perimeter to easily add other security capabilities, which Miller says the company does at a rate of about 5 to 10 services a year. The architecture is constructed to be a single complete security source. "It's a more significant layer of protection," says Miller.

Perimeter creates connectivity between its data center and the customer such as an ISP or Web host. The ISP's end user then connects to it, but before reaching the ISP the traffic travels through Perimeter's network, going through spam, virus and content filters, to name a few.

"They just do a little loop through our infrastructure, and then go back to the ISP, we take dirty bits and turn them into clean bits."

Because of the way Perimeter's service is set up, the security is robust and its customers are very hard to find.

"We're just not the easiest target out there ... our clients are hidden behind us. Typically people when they have Internet access have a published IP address. We have a published IP address. Our clients get sub-assigned a private IP address behind us, but that's not published to the outside world, so our clients are in effect hidden behind us, so you couldn't really find our clients if you tried."There are many advantages. For example, time to deployment is extremely short. Adoption is just a phone call away and nobody has to come on-site, no equipment needs to be installed. "It's really just run your traffic through," he says.

Using Perimeter also enables service providers to access technology they could otherwise not afford to buy.

"We get to add on, like Lego blocks, every new technology that comes out there, to solve the most recent problem," says Miller.

Ultimately, Perimeter's value proposition is to take capital expenditure out of the equation, since it has already purchased and built everything that a service provider needs to deliver security. Not only is deployment cheap, integration, maintenance and monitoring costs are eliminated as well.

But most importantly, by using Security-in-the-Cloud, Internet service providers and Web hosts can make their security offerings more compelling and affordable, Miller says.

Perimeter began selling its service to large financial institutions and only recently began targeting ISPs. Miller believes there is no reason why hosts cannot make use of the service as well.

In the final analysis, Miller explains, Perimeter overcomes the conundrum of today's security challenge, where security problems emerges, engendering the development of new technologies, only to see more security issues arise in what can only be described as a never-ending cycle. Security-in the-Cloud, being an integrated, centralized service, is designed to alleviate this exact dilemma.

"The only way to really offer a service that allows you to adapt to all those new threats and all those new technologies is to have a centralized service where we only make the change and add the technology once."