Astaro launches Astaro Red in India

Astaro Corporation announced the launch of Astaro RED (Remote Ethernet
Device) in India, which combines VPN functionality and complete IT security for
branch offices by automatically connecting with a central Astaro Security
Gateway. The devices can cut the cost of securing and administering a branch
office's security by up to 80 percent by eliminating the need for IT staff and
additional security products at the remote office.

Astaro RED is designed to secure remote offices of all sizes, because the
devices are managed through the central office using an Astaro Security Gateway,
no training, licensing or technical expertise is required at the remote location
in order to secure the branch office. Additionally, security policy and
configuration changes made at the central office can be pushed to the remote
sites without any technical involvement at the branch office. This means
organizations can affordably secure and manage the security for even the
smallest branch office.

"Astaro RED eliminates the need for having a technical person in all offices.
You just ship a device to the site, and it works," said Paul Smith, Senior
Network Engineer at Metafore Technologies, who participated in the BETA testing
of Astaro RED. "It saved me at least two hours per branch office, where I would
normally have to pre-configure a device and ship it, and then work with someone
on-site to get it online. This is a totally unique approach to branch office
connectivity," he added.

Upo n viewing Astaro RED during a security conference, security industry
expert Richard Stiennon stated, "Astaro's RED box is the single most innovative
product I saw. It leverages the investment in security at one location by
extending it to many, it is simple and inexpensive."

Setting up the Astaro RED is completed within minutes. Once the device is
connected to the Internet, it automatically registers with the central Astaro
Security Gateway and receives its IP address via Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol. The remote office is then connected with the headquarters via an
Astaro VPN tunnel and is immediately protected as the Web traffic and filtered
through the central gateway. Additional configurations and policy changes are
also done centrally, therefore, Astaro RED requires no GUI. With Astaro RED, it
is possible to connect approximately 100 branch offices in one day.

"We developed Astaro RED, as we saw an urgent demand on the market for a
solution to secure branch offices that is really easy and reasonably priced,"
said Gert Hansen, VP-Product Management, Astaro. "So far, organizations could
use low-cost Firewalls or VPN Gateways or even small UTM appliances, but then
had to cope with high acquisition costs, high installation and maintenance
effort or lacking security features. Astaro RED ends these dangerous and
resource devouring compromises," Hansen added.

Sunil Sapra, Country Manager, India and SAARC, said "Given the fact that
there is an enormous growth in SMEs, branch offices and remote offices in India,
Astaro RED poses to be huge potential to protect them from various external and
internal threats".