SmoothWall Releases SmoothWall Express Version 2.0

SMOOTHWALL RELEASES SMOOTHWALL EXPRESS VERSION 2.0

Open Source firewall for home users



December 8th 2003 – Internet security specialist, SmoothWall Limited, today
announced the release of SmoothWall Express 2.0, the latest version of the
popular Open Source firewall.  This new product builds on the SmoothWall
tradition that has seen hundreds of thousands of SmoothWall firewalls
installed worldwide.  Like all SmoothWall products, Express is designed for
ease of use and requires absolutely no knowledge of Linux to install or
configure.



“This new version of SmoothWall Express, jointly developed by the SmoothWall
Open Source Project and SmoothWall Ltd. is a sign of our commitment to the
Open Source community,” said Lawrence Manning, development director of
SmoothWall Ltd.  “As a company that specialises in internet security and was
founded out of the Open Source movement, we are pleased to be able to give
back to the community and help make the internet a safer place for all.”



SmoothWall Express 2.0 has all the features of previous SmoothWall Open
Source versions, along with a host of new improvements.  Many of these are a
direct result of contributions, ideas and feedback from the thousands of
users who tested the beta versions of SmoothWall Express.  Several of the
new features were originally developed for SmoothWall Corporate Server and
have been re-licensed as Open Source.  The enhancements include:



·       Ease of Configuration – Improvements to the Graphical User Interface
(GUI) and the defaulting of many settings to aid novice users.

·       Documentation – Totally new documentation, including a Quick Start
Guide along with comprehensive Installation and Administration manuals.

·       Stateful inspection – The use of the Linux 2.4 kernel provides
stateful inspection which maximises security and facilitates the handling of
complex protocols.

·       Broadband – Support for many more DSL modems.

·       Networking – Additional IP networking diagnostics tools, DHCP static
address assignment, support for additional Dynamic DNS providers along with
defence mechanisms against Denial of Service attacks.

·       New IP block page – Create a list of public IP addresses that are to
be blocked from accessing any computers on the local networks protected by
SmoothWall Express.

·       Back up – Backup the SmoothWall Express configuration information to
a floppy disk.



SmoothWall Express turns a PC* with an Intel compatible processor into a
dedicated firewall and internet gateway, providing safe internet access for
the user computers on the local network.  SmoothWall Express defends users
against the myriad of crackers, hackers and script kiddies who are
constantly looking for vulnerable computers, often for the pure fun of
compromising a system but increasingly as a temporary home for their spam or
pornography distribution.



SmoothWall Express is licensed under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL).
It is available to download free of charge from the www.smoothwall.org
website and numerous mirror sites worldwide.



SmoothWall Ltd. financially supports the Open Source Project.



* Minimum hardware specification: i486SX (or compatible) processor, 32 MB
RAM and a 512 MB Hard Disk Drive.



- Ends -

About SmoothWall Limited
SmoothWall Ltd. is an internet security software provider founded in 2001 to
address the void in the security market between simple feature and user
limited "black boxes" and "big iron" solutions from the major security
vendors. With its specialist development team, SmoothWall has harnessed the
technical expertise of the Open Source arena to develop a suite of firewall,
virtual private network (VPN) and content filtering security solutions for
education, SME and large corporate organisations.



Based in the United Kingdom, with offices in Leeds and Southampton,
SmoothWall delivers global security solutions through a worldwide support
network, with representation in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, South
America, Malaysia, Australia, Germany and across Europe. With a user base
spanning home users, small business and non-profit organisations through
schools and universities to major corporations, hundreds of thousands of
networks rely upon SmoothWall protection.  For more information visit:
www.smoothwall.net.





About the SmoothWall Open Source Project

The SmoothWall Open Source Project was formed in the summer of 2000 to
create a simple to use firewall.  Based on GNU/Linux, the team created a
lightweight, hardened system that was quick to download and easy to install
and administer.  Almost immediately became extremely popular and the
SmoothWall Project grew to become one of the major Open Source projects.
For more information visit: www.smoothwall.org.





For further information please contact:

Craig Brophy or Debby Penton, Wildfire PR

Tel: 01932 783838

Email: craigb@wildfirepr.co.uk



Craig Brophy

PR Consultant
Wildfire PR
Blakesley Lodge
2 Green Street
Sunbury-on-Thames
Middlesex TW16 6RN

DDl:      01932 785453
Tel:       01932 783838
Fax:      01932 787474
Mobile:  0788 433 8072

www.wildfirepr.co.uk




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