Nortel, Symantec Secure Enterprise Networks Against Intrusions, Vulnerabilities


TORONTO, May 22/PRNewswire/ -- Proactive Network Protection Addresses Threats Deep in the Network

www.nortel.com

Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) today introduced the Nortel Application Switch with Symantec Intelligent Network Protection. The collaborative effort between Nortel and Symantec aims to ensure critical threats are identified and stopped before they can penetrate a company's network infrastructure and impact business.

Vulnerabilities, and the hackers who exploit them, are steadily increasing around the world, leaving IT organizations open to attack during the gap between discovery of a threat and deployment of a patch to protect against the new threat. Nortel's Application Switch with Symantec Intelligent Network Protection is designed to close that gap protecting against critical network-based threats. The new solution is expected to be available to customers in June.

Symantec Intelligent Network Protection incorporates Symantec's network intrusion prevention technologies into Nortel's Application Switch and complements existing network intrusion prevention and detection systems on the network. The Symantec technologies include an intelligent security inspection engine, automatic real-time threat protection updates and security content updates backed by Symantec.

"In today's world of increasingly sophisticated network attacks, security threats are top of mind with network administrators," said Bruce Meyer, senior network engineer, ProMedica Health System. "Nortel is making network security simple for us by integrating an additional layer of security into its Application Switch, giving us confidence that critical threats are being stopped at the edge of the ProMedica network."

To ensure the most up-to-date protection, Nortel customers can download the current security updates through Symantec LiveUpdate, providing customers real-time protection against the latest threats. Threat prevention updates provide proactive protection during critical threat outbreaks and secure unpatched systems against vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications.

"Coupling Nortel's ability to optimize and inspect network traffic with Symantec's intrusion prevention and security update technologies addresses the needs of both network and security administrators in an increasingly converged network environment," said Jeremy Burton, senior vice president, Security and Data Management Group, Symantec. "It builds on the defense-in- depth strategy so critical to the protection of today's networks."

"Enterprises require comprehensive network solutions that protect their infrastructure from end-users who may inadvertently compromise security from remote-access based threats as well as threats deep in the network that require immediate isolation and containment," said Cindy Borovick, director, IDC. "Continually monitoring the network for malicious activity is key to ensuring that if an attack slips through other layers of security , the datacenter network will detect it and take appropriate actions to block the attack and prevent interruption to critical business communications."

Nortel's Application Switch is uniquely positioned to increase network security by leveraging highly specialized deep packet inspection capabilities. The Application Switch increases the availability, performance and security of applications by providing layer 4-7 inspection at layer 2 speeds.

Nortel's Application Switch with Symantec Intelligent Network Protection solution is a key component of Nortel's layered defense approach to network security. Nortel has made secure connectivity available to more than 100 million government, business and individual users worldwide. More information on Nortel security solutions can be found at nortel.com/enterprisesecurity.

About Symantec

Symantec is the world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and enterprises assure the security, availability, and integrity of their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical information. Our next- generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information.
Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit nortel.com/news.

Source: Nortel

For further information: Christie Blake, +1-(978)-288-8439, christbl@nortel.com; Cory Edwards, +1-(415)-738-2637, cory_Edwards@symantec.com

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