Bronze: OmniPeek
WildPackets
www.wildpackets.com
Why it won: WildPackets’ impressive
OmniPeek family of products gives you
real-time visibility into every part of your
network—from a single interface. Also,
WildPackets recognizes the benefit of
statistical and packet monitoring working
together.
Scripting Winners
Gold: Admin Script Editor
iTripoli
www.adminscripteditor.com
Why it won: Busy Windows systems
administrators can use scripts to save time,
but trying to write them can be frustrating
when you’re new to scripting. Admin
Script Editor helps turn that frustration
into success.
In today’s fast-paced business
world, employees are often
asked to take on more responsibilities.
To make time for
those new jobs, administrators
can use scripts to automate the
repetitive, time-consuming tasks they currently
perform. However, writing scripts is
new to many administrators, and having
the right tool for the job can be the difference between frustration and success.
One extremely helpful tool is iTripoli’s Admin Script Editor (ASE).
Designed for Windows administrators,
ASE supports the scripting languages
they’re likely to use, including batch,
VBScript, KiXtart, and Windows Power-
Shell. Point-and-click code-generation
tools—such as the WMI Wizard, ADSI
Wizard, Logon Script Builder, and Database
Wizard—make it easy for novice script
writers to create scripts. More experienced
users will find such features as ScriptBits
(a repository for reusable code snippets),
Advanced Query Builder (which helps
build complex database queries), and
Script Packager (which turns scripts into
executable packages) useful.
Script Packager is a feature that Chang
Lu, a senior systems administrator of Windows
platforms, has found very helpful. “I
like Admin Script Editor because it lets me
package VBScript, JScript, batch, Windows
Script file (.wsf), AutoIt, KiXtart, and other
scripts,” notes Chang. “In fact, I even packaged
several HTAs and distributed them as
programs. In the executable file, you can
include such information as the version,
description, company, and comments, just
like you find in other types of programs.”
—Karen Bemowski
See associated figure
Silver: PrimalScript 2007
SAPIEN Technologies
www.sapien.com
Why it won: Although SAPIEN Technologies’
PrimalScript has been around for two
decades, the company isn’t resting on its
laurels. PrimalScript 2007’s new customizable
UI and an ActiveX Data Objects
wizard are among the improvements in
the newest version.
Bronze: UltraEdit
IDM Computer Solutions
www.ultraedit.com
Why it won: Administrators who are jacksof-
all-trades will find UltraEdit’s environments
as versatile as they are. UltraEdit
offers preconfigured and customizable
environments for automating a systems
administration task with a VBScript script, editing a Web page, creating a Visual Basic
project, or performing some other task.
Security Winners
Gold: Astaro Security Gateway
Astaro
www.astaro.com
Why it won: Web filtering has taken on increased
importance as attacks on business
networks have expanded from viruses in
email attachments to phishing attempts
embedded in Web sites. Astaro Security
Gateway addresses these and other Internet
threats and is easy to configure and
reasonably priced.
The appeal of a Unified Threat
Management appliance is
obvious. What could be more
attractive to a security administrator
than comprehensive
protection from multiple Internet-
borne threats in one easy-to-manage
box? These days, users who happen to
visit the wrong Web site at the wrong time
can easily have their identity stolen or can
unknowingly download a virus just as if they
had opened an infected email attachment.
To the standard core gateway features of firewall,
VPN, and intrusion prevention, Astaro
Security Gateway adds Web URL filtering
and malware detection; email antispam,
antivirus, and antiphishing capabilities; and
email encryption.
Astaro Security Gateway impressed
one of our product reviewers. In his
review “Astaro Security Gateway 220”
(December 2007, InstantDoc ID 97266),
John Green summarized the product’s
strong points as follows: “Broad feature
set includes email encryption and signing,
VPN, firewall, and antivirus; setup is
easy, with many configuration options; Web-based administrative interface is
very responsive; product is available both
as an appliance and as software; licensing
is favorable, including free use for as
many as 10 IP addresses in home environment.”
The most recent version of the Astaro
Security Gateway software, released in
December 2007, features a new HTTP
proxy engine that boosts performance
and provides other improvements. The
product can also be deployed as a virtual
appliance running on VMware ESX
Server. The feature set, flexibility, and
configurability of this perimeter security
appliance make it our pick for security
product of the year.
—Renee Munshi
See associated figure
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