SonicWALL unveils Project SuperMassive: Next-Generation Firewall Technology provides Application Control & Full Malware Protection at up to 40 Gigabits/Sec

Sydney – 28 April 2010 – Marking one of the most significant milestones in the company’s 19-year history, SonicWALL today unveiled Project SuperMassive, the industry’s first next-generation security platform and technology capable of detecting and controlling applications, preventing intrusions, and blocking malware at up to 40 Gbps without introducing latency to the network.

Project SuperMassive comprises key elements, including: SonicWALL’s massively scalable Next-Generation Network Security Platform architecture, SonicWALL’s Next-Generation Firewall technology, and SonicWALL’s patented Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection (RF-DPI) engine. 

At more than 10 times the speed of today’s fastest technologies, Project SuperMassive revolutionises application visualisation and control, and is capable of protecting the world’s highest performance networks from malware of all kinds. Today, companies are being forced to choose between performance and security, since existing security architectures have not been able to keep up with the volume of network traffic, especially with the explosion of rich media and the rise in malware-ridden social media applications.

Designed for enterprise organisations with high-performance networks that are currently struggling to deploy the latest technologies such as converged communications, data centre consolidation, and Web 2.0, Project SuperMassive is designed to allow organisations to embrace these technologies in order to enhance workforce productivity, business collaboration and effectiveness without compromising performance or security.

Traditionally, security has been viewed as a barrier to business innovation with available security technologies lagging behind and threatening the success of next-generation IT projects. For the first time, the availability of 40 Gbps technology, coupled with application control and threat protection, turns security into an enabler of business innovation and makes the deployment of new technologies, as well as custom-built IT applications, possible.

Project SuperMassive

Project SuperMassive features a large scale multi-core, Cavium Networks’ (NASDAQ: CAVM) OCTEON-based architecture, running on SonicWALL’s multi-blade chassis.  Prototype implementations featuring 96 and 384 cores will be demonstrated at Interop in Las Vegas (SonicWALL Booth #815) as well as the roadmap that scales to 1024 cores.

“Three years ago we set out to design the fastest, most effective, next-generation security platform on the planet and we called this Project SuperMassive,” said John Gmuender, Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technical Officer of SonicWALL. 

“Given the increasing bandwidth speeds and the escalating volume, frequency, and sophistication of Internet threats, we knew this technology platform needed to be massively scalable. I’m very happy to say that with Project SuperMassive we have achieved this goal.  By leveraging Cavium Networks’ superior silicon technology the platform scales to 1024 cores, and the platform’s performance has been validated to beyond 40 Gbps by Ixia, the leader in network security and vulnerability testing.”  

Next-Generation Firewall Technology

SonicWALL’s RF-DPI engine provides organisations with increased insight into inbound and outbound network content without compromising security or performance. This is particularly important as Web 2.0 applications continue to push their way into the business environment introducing new threats and taxing organisations' network bandwidth.

Using the RF-DPI engine's speed and intelligent inspection capabilities, Project SuperMassive allows administrators to inspect network traffic against malware, viruses and other threats to provide uncompromised security, without sacrificing bandwidth – no longer an either/or situation.

Application Intelligence and Control

SonicWALL’s Application Intelligence and Control provides protection, management, and control over application-layer traffic.  Continuously leveraging and updating over 2,700+ unique application signatures, SonicWALL Application Intelligence can identify and control traffic based on application identification, user/group identification and content identification, and manage the traffic by establishing policies for both ingress and egress bandwidth management instead of only a simplistic “Block/Allow” approach.

And unlike other application control-only approaches, Project SuperMassive seamlessly integrates Application Intelligence with Intrusion Prevention and malware blocking in an industry-leading Next-Generation Firewall to form a unified and comprehensive network security platform.

Superior Malware Protection

Project SuperMassive leverages SonicWALL’s powerful malware protection engine and offers the same superior effectiveness in blocking threats as SonicWALL’s existing enterprise product line with malware catch rates well ahead of other firewall vendors. Unlike other technology approaches, SonicWALL’s RF-DPI technology can scan, identify and control applications while simultaneously protecting against intrusions, viruses, spyware and Trojans. In addition, the RF-DPI technology leverages SonicWALL’s GRID Network reputation databases providing extra-firewall intelligence.

“We are delighted to power SonicWALL’s Project SuperMassive with our OCTEON processors,” said Raghib Hussain, CTO and Corporate VP Software at Cavium Networks.

“SonicWALL’s overall system design which linearly scales multi-core performance for comprehensive, feature-rich security functionality to over 40 Gbps is truly impressive and is an excellent showcase of OCTEON’s market leading performance, scalability and multi-core programmability.”

“Social networking and rich multimedia applications are dominating next generation networks.  It is critical to enable real-time prevention of malware and security attacks while providing high bandwidth quality of service” said Victor Alston, Senior VP of Product Development at Ixia.

“Using Ixia’s IxYukon-NP load module and IxLoad to generate 40Gbps of real world application services fully injected with malware, the SuperMassive platform was able to enable secure and consistently high throughput.” 

Ixia, a leader in providing highly scalable solutions that validate and test security platforms, is working with SonicWALL on the performance testing of Project SuperMassive.

Dynamic Security for the Global Network

Project SuperMassive is a major step towards fulfilling the company’s vision of Dynamic Security for the Global Network, where security solutions are intelligent enough to adapt as organisations evolve and as threats evolve – dynamically and globally.

Stay Tuned

To find out more information about Project SuperMassive and to receive regular updates, please visit www.projectsupermassive.com   

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About SonicWALL, Inc.

SonicWALL, Inc., the leader in network security, focuses on developing solutions that remove the cost and complexity out of managing a secure network environment. With over one million award-winning appliances shipped through its global network of ten thousand channel partners, SonicWALL provides end-to-end solutions including firewalls, SSL VPNs, e-mail security and continuous data protection that collectively ensure robust, secure network protection. For more information, visit the company web site at http://