Allot Releases SG-9500 Appliance with Powerful Features for Providers and Enterprises

Allot (News - Alert) has announced the Service Gateway 9500 (SG-9500) appliance for customers using large traffic networks like enterprises, cloud data centers, and service providers. It will allow such operations the scalability needed for increases in traffic, several powerful security features, and the ability to use analytics for personalization and improved productivity.

Hod-Hasharon, Israel-based Allot Communications Ltd. develops solutions that allow providers to monetize their networks through intelligence, improve performance, and provide better security all in an effort to accommodate the so-called ‘always-on’ digital lifestyle. They also allow networks in enterprise and cloud data center environments to perform at a high level, helping to ensure a great customer experience.

The SG-9500 can handle up to four million active subscribers and 48 million concurrent IP flows. It can also be rack mounted with other units to provide scalability.

The unit also allows providers to offer consumer and business-grade versions of its WebSafe security solution to customers. The consumer-grade version allows parents to control their children’s viewing and browsing and configure security settings to keep out spam, adware, and restrict access to inappropriate websites. It can also place time restrictions on children’s access to the web. The business grade version protects against malware, tactics that circumvent security policy like anonymizers, spam filtering, application control, and protection against cyberattacks from malware, bots, and DDoS attacks.

One of the more compelling features of the SG-9500 is its ability to collect detailed traffic data, which can be analyzed by examining the various dashboard tools used in Allot’s ClearSee analytics.

The application use dashboard lets admins know which programs get the most use and could be causing performance issues. Video, website, and any performance issues affecting customer experience can be examined and analyzed through the customer experience dashboard.

Another dashboard that provides valuable information, but will also likely upset privacy advocates is the customer behavior dashboard. Through this interface, admins can track usage behavior by customer, while this information could be used to address performance issues and possible inappropriate use, it could also be used to offer additional services. If you know a customer likes to stream video, it might be wise to offer them a promotional deal for a higher-bandwidth plan, for example.

The SG-9500 is typical of the hardware needed by any operation that supplies network access, either in a business environment or as a fee-based service. The reality is that cyberattacks aren’t letting up, admins need to know more about what’s going on with their networks, and network intelligence is too valuable to continue using dated hardware.