Version History
The VPN-1 version naming can be rather confusing because Check Point have changed the version numbering scheme several times through the product's history. Initially, the product used a traditional decimal version number such as 3.0, 4.0 and 4.1 (although 4.1 was also called Check Point 2000 on the packaging). Then the version changed to NG meaning Next Generation and minor revisions became known as Feature Packs. Then the name changed to NG AI which meant NG with Application Intelligence, and the minor revisions became known as Rxx e.g. NG AI R54. Most recently, the version name has changed to NGX.
The product is licensed in several variants. In the decimal releases, the license determined what encryption strength was available for the VPN (DES or "Strong"). Since NG, the license always includes strong cryptographic capabilities and was instead split into VPN-1 Pro or VPN-1 Express. VPN-1 Express was intended for simplified deployment while VPN-1 Pro provided more configurability. In NGX R62, the branding was changed to VPN-1 Power (instead of Pro) and VPN-1 UTM (instead of Express). VPN-1 UTM includes certain content inspection features such as antivirus and more recently, web filtering.
Version 3.0 was also sold by Sun Microsystems as Solstice FireWall-1. This was essentially the same product, but with slightly different packaging and file system layout.
The table below shows the version history. The Platforms column shows the operating systems that are supported by the firewall product:
| Version | Release date | Platforms | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | April 1994 | SunOS 4.1.3, Solaris 2.3 | |
| 2.0 | Sep 1995 | SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX | |
| 2.1 | Jun 1996 | ||
| 3.0 | Oct 1996 | ||
| 3.0a | |||
| 3.0b | 1997 | Windows NT 3.5 and 4.0; Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1 and 2.6; HP-UX 10.x; AIX 4.1.5, 4.2.1 | |
| 4.0 | 1998 | Windows NT 4.0, Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6 and 7 (32-bit); HP-UX 10.x; AIX 4.2.1 and 4.3.0 | |
| 4.1 | 2000 | Windows NT 4.0 and 2000; Solaris 2.6, 7 and 8 (32-bit); HP-UX 10.20 and 11; Red Hat Linux 6.2 and 7.0 (2.2 kernel); IPSO 3.4.1 and 3.5; AIX 4.2.1, 4.3.2 and 4.3.3 | Also known as Check Point 2000 |
| NG | Jun 2001 | Windows NT 4.0 and 2000; Solaris 7 (32-bit) and 8 (32 or 64-bit); Red Hat Linux 6.2 and 7.0 (2.2 kernel) | NG stands for Next Generation |
| NG FP1 | Nov 2001 | Windows NT 4.0 and 2000; Solaris 7 (32-bit) and 8 (32 or 64-bit); Red Hat Linux 6.2, 7.0 (2.2 kernel) and 7.2 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.4.2 | |
| NG FP2 | Apr 2002 | Windows NT 4.0 and 2000; Solaris 7 (32-bit) and 8 (32 or 64-bit); Red Hat Linux 6.2, 7.0 (2.2 kernel) and 7.2 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.5 and 3.6, SecurePlatform NG FP2 | |
| NG FP3 | Aug 2002 | Windows NT 4.0 and 2000; Solaris 8 (32 or 64-bit) and 9 (64-bit); Red Hat Linux 7.0 (2.2 kernel), 7.2 and 7.3 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.5, 3.5.1 and 3.6, SecurePlatform NG FP3 | |
| NG AI R54 | Jun 2003 | Windows NT 4.0 and 2000; Solaris 8 (32 or 64-bit) and 9 (64-bit); Red Hat Linux 7.0 (2.2 kernel), 7.2 and 7.3 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.7, SecurePlatform NG AI, AIX 5.2 | The full name is NG with Application Intelligence |
| NG AI R55 | Nov 2003 | Windows NT 4.0, 2000 and 2003; Solaris 8 (32 or 64-bit) and 9 (64-bit); Red Hat Linux 7.0 (2.2 kernel), 7.2 and 7.3 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.7 and 3.7.1, SecurePlatform NG AI | Version branches: NG AI R55P (for IPSO 3.8), NG AI R55W (contains web intelligence) |
| NG AI R57 | April 2005 | SecurePlatform NG AI R57 | For product Check Point Express CI (Content Inspection), later VPN-1 UTM (Unified Threat Management) |
| NGX R60 | Aug 2005 | Windows 2000 and 2003; Solaris 8 and 9 (64-bit); RHEL 3.0 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.9 and 4.0, SecurePlatform NGX | Version branches: NGX R60A |
| NGX R61 | Mar 2006 | Windows 2000 and 2003; Solaris 8, 9 and 10; RHEL 3.0 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.9, 4.0 and 4.0.1, SecurePlatform NGX | |
| NGX R62 | Nov 2006 | Windows 2000 and 2003; Solaris 8, 9 and 10; RHEL 3.0 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 3.9 and 4.1, SecurePlatform NGX | |
| NGX R65 | Mar 2007 | Windows 2000 and 2003; Solaris 8, 9 and 10 (Ultra-SPARC architecture); RHEL 3.0 (2.4 kernel), IPSO 4.1 and 4.2, SecurePlatform, SecurePlatform 2.6 | Version branches: NGX R65 with Messaging Security (Dec 2007), R65.4 (Feb 2009) |
| R70 | Feb 2009 | Windows 2003 and 2008; IPSO 6.0.7 and 6.2; SecurePlatform; XOS | Minor versions: R70.1, R70.20 (2009), R70.30 (March 2010), R70.40 (Dec 2010), R70.50 (Oct 2011) |
| R71 | April 2010 | Windows 2003 and 2008; IPSO 6.2; SecurePlatform; XOS | Minor versions: R71.10, R71.20, R71.30, R71.40 |
| R75 | January 2011 | Windows 2003 and 2008; IPSO 6.2; SecurePlatform; Crossbeam XOS 9.5 or later; Gaia (since R75.40) | Installation files were publicly available in December 2010.
Minor versions: R75.10 (May 2011), R75.20 (Sep 2011), R75.30 (Jan 2012), R75.40 (April 2012) |
Read more about this topic: Check Point VPN-1
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