ISA Server 2004

Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, Microsoft’s firewall and caching product, will get a new release in 2004. The recent announcement clarifies the roadmap for a product which has had no major releases since 2001, but which could prove increasingly important to the company’s plans to promote shielding at the edge of the network to ward off viruses and worms.

According to Microsoft, ISA Server 2004 will incorporate and improve on the Web protocol scanning features of ISA Server Feature Pack 1, which block attacks by worms based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), such as Code Red. It will also provide new configuration tools, such as a wizard to help set up ISA Server to play a particular role (e.g., the inside firewall of a “demilitarized zone”), and a drag-and-drop user interface for building access control rules.

Companies interested in evaluating ISA Server 2004 can enroll in the beta program planned for early 2004. Information on beta enrollment is available at www.microsoft.com/isaserver/beta/.