4th January 2012

Check Point and Amazon Web Services are teaming up to enable Check Point Security Gateway functionality to boost cloud security for business assets.

The arrangement has Amazon supplying the physical platform for a virtual version of Check Point’s security gateway appliance, which customers can configure and manage via their Check Point management platform.

Virtual Appliance for Amazon Web Services supports the security features of Check Point’s Security Gateway, which includes firewall, VPN, anti-virus and other applications that can be added to the platform via what the company calls software blades.

In order to use Virtual Appliance for Amazon Web Services, customers must have a valid Check Point license bought either specifically for use in the Amazon cloud or that they bought for use in their private network. Once Amazon is presented with the license, it provides the virtual appliance to the customer.

Installing the appliance requires the cooperation of Amazon because the Check Point software needs bare metal installation of the Check Point operating system that the security gateway runs on. Amazon had to create an Amazon machine image to accommodate the gateway appliance, Check Point says.

To the Check Point management platform, a virtual appliance in the cloud looks the same as an actual appliance deployed in customers’ networks. The platform can control configurations and enforce the same policies, Check Point says.

The company’s security blade architecture includes more than 30 software security applications including firewall, IPS, VPN, URL filtering and data loss prevention. Customers pay according to how may blades they license. Pricing for Virtual Appliance for Amazon Web Services starts at $2,000.

Barry Hesk