ICSA Labs, which provides one of the most important certifications firewall vendors strive for, said yesterday it has completed the first wave of tests of product against version 4.0 of its certification criteria, writes Kevin Murphy.

For the first time, ICSA has also split its certification into three categories and is awarding three different certification logos - for residential, small and medium business, and corporate firewall products.

"Firewall vendors didn't want a firewall that costs $100,000 to buy to have the same certification as one costing $200," said ICSA Labs program manager Brian Monkman. "The one-size-fits-all criteria doesn't work any more."

There will be a Baseline Firewall Module certification that all products will be required to pass. On top of that, vendors will submit their firewalls to a category depending on what market they are targeting. Each category has different functionality criteria.

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