Altor Networks

<h2 id="background">Background</h2>
<p><a href="/facts/Virtualization_technology/6e2Bhhz2">Computer virtualization</a> has been in use on <a href="/facts/Mainframe_computer/nrBR6rWa">mainframe computers</a> since the <a href="/facts/VM_(operating_system)/Ymu9SRtX">IBM VM/370</a> platform <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> released in the early 1970s. VM technology became more widely available with the release of <a href="/facts/VMware/lKHGULx3">VMware</a> Workstation in 1999, and the VMware Server line in 2001.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> It was estimated that 50% of workloads would be running inside virtualized environments by 2012 <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p><p>Whenever virtualization technology includes a <a href="/facts/Hypervisor/3gX9fKlH">hypervisor</a>, then a <a href="/facts/Virtual_network/aWUs94EW">virtual network</a> can be created within the hypervisor layer to transparently network all the virtual machines operating under a single virtualized environment. This "<a href="/facts/Virtual_network/aWUs94EW">virtual network</a>" provides all the benefits and <a href="/facts/Network_management/w344Ubfp">administrative responsibilities</a> of a physical network, with the addition of some new challenges.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The founders of Altor Networks became aware early on that adoption of <a href="/facts/Virtualization_technology/6e2Bhhz2">virtualization technologies</a> in data centers had been accelerating for many years <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> and several problems in virtual network security in particular became apparent:
</p>
<ul><li>The virtual environment had some unique security characteristics and needs;</li>
<li>Those needs were not being addressed effectively by <a href="/facts/Information_technology/glMzunwe">IT</a> security vendors; and</li>
<li>Traditional security technologies were ill-equipped to protect virtualized IT resources.</li></ul>
<p>It was decided that the way to address these challenges was to provide a solution that operated entirely within the virtualized environment as a purpose-built appliance to provide firewalling and other security services directly inside the virtual network without recourse to external <a href="/facts/Network_firewall/Et2RkJaU">hardware firewalls</a> or <a href="/facts/Intrusion_detection/mAw24Fyo">intrusion detection</a> appliances, or any associated <a href="/facts/VLAN/QhdJNaWX">VLAN</a> rerouting out of the virtual network to the physical network and back again.
</p>
<h2 id="products">Products</h2>

<p>Altor released the Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) as a tool to monitor and analyze virtual network traffic in March 2008, followed by the Altor VF 1.0 (which included the VNSA as a module) in October 2008. Integrated <a href="/facts/Network_intrusion_detection_system/mAw24Fyo">signature-based network intrusion detection</a> was incorporated into the Altor VF 3.0 release in September 2009. The release of Altor VF 4.0 now leverages virtual machine introspection to bring visibility to internal virtual machine states for compliance assessment and automated security enforcement.
</p>
<ul><li>Altor VNSA <i>(Virtual Network Security Analyzer)</i>, released March 2008 (now part of Altor VF)</li>
<li>Altor VF 1.0 <i>(Altor Virtual Firewall)</i>, released October 2008</li>
<li>Altor VF 2.0, released March 2009</li>
<li>Altor VF 3.0, released September 2009</li>
<li>Altor v4.0, released June 2010</li></ul>
<p>Altor Networks offers a virtual security appliance for use within VMware ESX, with ongoing efforts to add support for <a href="/facts/Xen/U5fq6ESl">Xen/Citrix</a> and <a href="/facts/Hyperv/3Qm0yJsv">Microsoft HyperV/Viridian</a> platforms.
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Mocana/VJrumt9v">Mocana</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Lastline/zagedMIj">Lastline</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=1489">"40,000 Firewalls! Help Please!?"</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110717215246/http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=1489">Archived</a> 2011-07-17 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.sans.org/security-resources/idfaq/">SANS Intrusion Detection FAQs</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100113012953/http://www.sans.org/security-resources/idfaq/">Archived</a> 2010-01-13 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=2558">"Intrusion Protection and Detection within the Virtual Environment"</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110717215257/http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=2558">Archived</a> 2011-07-17 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.altornetworks.com">Official website</a> </li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Schwartz, Mathew (December 7, 2010). "Juniper Acquiring Altor Networks For $95 Million". Network Computing. Retrieved January 30, 2025.{{cite web}}:  CS1 maint: url-status (link) <a href="https://www.networkcomputing.com/network-monitoring/juniper-acquiring-altor-networks-for-95-million" target="_blank">https://www.networkcomputing.com/network-monitoring/juniper-acquiring-altor-networks-for-95-million</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Juniper Networks announces acquisition of Alto Networks". Archived from the original on 2011-01-26. Retrieved 2010-12-07. <a href="http://www.juniper.net/us/en/company/press-center/press-releases/2010/pr_2010_12_06-09_00.html" target="_blank">http://www.juniper.net/us/en/company/press-center/press-releases/2010/pr_2010_12_06-09_00.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Creasy, RJ, "The Origin of the VM/370 Time-sharing System" (PDF)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-05-07. Retrieved 2010-01-12. <a href="http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~stjones/proj/vm_reading/ibmrd2505M.pdf" target="_blank">http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~stjones/proj/vm_reading/ibmrd2505M.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"VMware Milestones". Archived from the original on 2013-05-13. Retrieved 2015-02-13. VMware company history <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130513034925/https://www.vmware.com/company/mediaresource/milestones.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20130513034925/https://www.vmware.com/company/mediaresource/milestones.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"Perilli, Allesandro "50% of workloads will run inside virtual machines by 2012 says Gartner", Virtualization.info". Archived from the original on 2009-12-16. Retrieved 2010-01-12. <a href="http://www.virtualization.info/2009/10/50-of-workloads-will-run-inside-virtual.html" target="_blank">http://www.virtualization.info/2009/10/50-of-workloads-will-run-inside-virtual.html</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>""The Low Down on Virtualization Security" Tek-Tools Software, June 2009". 15 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2010-01-12. <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217500431" target="_blank">http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217500431</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>""Virtual Machine Software Market Grew 67 percent in 2005, Says IDC" CIO Weblog, October 2006". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-01-12. <a href="http://software.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=7917" target="_blank">http://software.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=7917</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Altor Networks open-in-new

Altor Networks