Microsoft News Tracker

Press release:

Feb. 1, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the general availability of Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) 2007. IAG 2007 combines the secure sockets layer virtual private networking (SSL VPN) and Web application firewall product obtained in the acquisition of Whale Communications in July 2006, with the Microsoft® Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server), integrated to provide a single, consolidated appliance for network perimeter defense, remote access, endpoint security management and application-layer protection. More information about ISA Server and Whale Communications can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/edgesecurity.
…
IAG 2007 is now available in pre-installed and configured appliances manufactured by Celestix Networks Inc. and Network Engines Inc. and sold through a wide range of reseller partners. To meet the needs of security resellers and make SSL VPNs more affordable for all customers, Microsoft has simplified pricing and licensing for IAG 2007, which will now include all-in-one pricing for the gateway, and all Intelligent Application Optimizers, Network Connectors and security modules developed for business-critical applications to implement specific client-side and enhanced application-layer security policies. In addition, client access licenses will now be based on the number of authenticated users or devices connecting to IAG appliances rather than on concurrent users, providing customers with more flexible and scalable pricing and licensing.

IAG is the old Whale Communications brand name.

Note also that IAG 2007 is only available on hardware:

IAG 2007 is available only as an appliance, and Microsoft’s OEM partners will provide the hardware frontline services and support for the product, said Sloss. The Redmond, Wash.-based vendor has partnered with Network Engines and Celestix Networks and is looking for additional partners, he said.

“The OEMs will own that relationship with the customer and provide maintenance and front line support. There’s a real opportunity for additional revenue,” said Sloss.

Also in related Microsoft security news:

Microsoft also announced its has signed up more than 100 networking and security partners to support Network Access Protection, the vendor’s long awaited network access control product, which will be ready for widespread use when Longhorn Server launches later this year.

There is more in the NAP press release.

In July, Microsoft got around a particularly sticky problem with a variety of governments who insisted on OpenDocument Format (ODF) support from their office software products by creating the Open XML Translator project which would provide freely available plug-ins to translate from Office 2007’s Open XML format to ODF (and vice versa). Today, the project released the first plug-in for translating Microsoft Word documents:

The Open XML Translator is now available for download in version 1.0 from SourceForge.net, a site that acts as an online repository for open-source projects. The software also can be found on Microsoft’s Web site here and here.

Microsoft funded the work on the translator, but did not contribute any code to the project, said Jason Matusow, senior director of intellectual property and interoperability at Microsoft. The company provided architectural guidance and management to the project, he said.

A French company called CleverAge contributed the code and built most of the Open XML Translator, while Aztecsoft in India and Dialogika in Germany did the quality assurance and testing.

The Open XML Translator allows Microsoft Word documents based on Open XML to be translated into ODF and vice versa, Matusow said. Once downloaded, it can be used as a plug-in for Microsoft Office 2007, the documents of which are based on Open XML. Developers also can build it into software they are developing.

The Microsoft press release describes the next step:

The second phase of the translator project, including translators for Spreadsheet (Microsoft Office Excel) and Presentation (Microsoft Office PowerPoint), will begin in February. Regular customer technology previews will be posted to SourceForge.net beginning in May 2007, and the final versions are scheduled to be available for customers in November 2007.