UPDATED 08:00 EDT / APRIL 25 2016

NEWS

The start of a trend? Juniper unveils Docker-powered firewall for defending the corporate network

Docker was deemed too insecure for serious production use by Gartner Inc. as recently as last January, but 15 months is a long time in the open-source ecosystem. Since the assessment was published, the engine has evolved to the point where it’s now trusted by some vendors to power their breach prevention software. Juniper Networks Inc. became the newest name on the list this morning after introducing a containerized edition of its popular firewall.

Dubbed cSRX, the software exploits Docker’s efficiently to streamline the deployment process and cut the time it takes to launch a new instance to under a second. More importantly, the low hardware requirements of containers also reduces the amount of infrastructure necessary to support an implementation, which in turn lowers capital expenses. Juniper says that its firewall needs so little equipment to run that it can even be set up in remote branch offices and other parts of the corporate network where it was previously uneconomic to maintain a firewall.

Besides the fact that it’s packaged into a Docker instance, however, cSRX works the same way as the standard virtualized version of the software, which also received a big update today. The firewall can now provide up to 100 Gbps of throughput in a large environment, or five times more than the previous iteration and ten times more than the nearest competitor, according to Juniper. The speed hike is the result of a heightened cap on the maximum number of vCPUs in a deployment and the incorporation of Intel Corp.’s open-source DPDK packet processing libraries into the software.

Juniper is showing off its new offerings at this week’s OpenStack Summit in Texas, which SiliconANGLE is covering live from the show floor. Check out our official channel for more developments from the event and exclusive insider interviews.

Image via Geralt

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