3com Firewall Desktop PCI Card with 10/100 LAN hardware firewall

Distributed Desktop Protection, Central Control

The 3Com® Firewall Desktop PCI Card with 10/100 LAN works with the 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server (sold separately), extending firewall filtering and auditing capabilities across your enterprise—including PCs located inside and outside the network perimeter. (Firewall configuration and management require the purchase of 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server.)

This unique combination of firewall hardware and management software delivers superior protection and flexibility that software-only firewalls can't match. The critical advantage of our firewall card over software-only products is tamper resistance. Built into each firewall card is an onboard RISC processor that enforces security transparently to end users, local applications, and operating systems. This embedded firewall hardware is practically impervious to Internet attacks, end user actions, or malicious code.

Equally important, each firewall card can be configured and managed only through an authenticated 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server. Even if a protected desktop is invaded, the firewall card prevents a corrupted host from being used as a launching pad for further invasion into the network.

When combined with our policy server, the 3Com Firewall Desktop PCI Card lets you easily and cost-effectively deploy network security when and where it's needed. You can distribute tamper-resistant security by installing firewall cards on a scalable system-by-system basis. Then, use the policy server to configure policies appropriate for the desired level of security and push those policies across the network to the firewall cards.

The firewall card plugs into a desktop PCI slot, replacing the conventional Ethernet or Fast Ethernet LAN connection. In Windows XP or 2000 environments, TCP and security tasks are offloaded to the card's security processor, helping boost system performance.
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Provides scalable, tamper-resistant protection for at-risk workstations, telecommuter desktops or ad-hoc subnets—independent of routers or traffic streams.

Secures open Internet connections, such as VPN end points and broadband access gateways, located inside or outside the perimeter firewall.

The policy server lets you configure security policies that filter traffic at each machine, allowing only the communications needed for a specific system role or function.

The firewall card only accepts instructions from authenticated firewall policy servers and enforces them transparently to host applications and end users.

To protect desktops wherever they are located, firewall cards can be configured to provide the appropriate protection for their location—more open when connecting from behind your perimeter defenses and more restricted for remote and Internet access.

For extra peace of mind, firewall cards can be configured to default to your highest level of security if they cannot communicate with the policy server.

Fully 802.3-compliant, our firewall cards complement and enhance the protection you're currently using—including perimeter firewalls, antivirus scanners, VPNs, and intrusion-detection systems (IDSs).

Firewall cards can lower IT administration costs by adding 24/7 intrusion resistance that helps eliminate false alarms generated by IDS monitoring.

IPSec offloads include 3DES and DES encryption, SHA-1 and MD5 algorithms, and RFC 2402 authentication.

In addition to IPSec, cycle-intensive TCP segmentation, and TCP/IP checksum functions are offloaded, helping reduce CPU workloads and accelerate system response.

Security is easily scalable by purchasing and installing additional firewall cards as needed; one policy server supports firewall-enabled desktops, servers, or notebooks in any combination of up to 1,000 firewall clients.