WatchGuard Technologies Fireware XTM firewall operating system upgrade

WatchGuard Technologies has released the Fireware XTM upgrade of its multifunction firewall appliance operating system, with improved security capabilities and management functions.

Users can block multiple instant messaging applications, as well as gain a myriad of management, reporting and logging features.

The release allows administrators to block Skype connections to and from protected hosts, adding to the ability to block IM and file-sharing applications, such as: AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Microsoft Messenger, BitTorrent, Kazaa and others.

For managed security service providers and remote administrators, it offers a customisable, browser-based interface for reporting, allowing generation of a variety of historic or on-demand reports.

WatchGuard System Manager comes with Fireware XTM, meaning PostGRE databases for logging and reporting can be hosted on a separate PC from the log and report servers, providing higher performance on the log/report servers as well as the database server, allowing easier backup or even clustering of the server host.

Management features allow for health monitoring of the WatchGuard System Manager Log, Report and Management servers.