E-BUSINESS COMPANY SOLSOFT, in Mountain View, Calif., Thursday rolled out security software for Linux.

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Dubbed Solsoft NP-Lite, the software will be included with the Linux-Mandrake Power Pack or Deluxe 7.1 operating system, although it works with other Linux distributions.

The security of Linux has long been a concern for systems administrators. Chase Manhattan Bank, in New York, does not allow Linux on any of its servers.

"The feeling within management and backed by some industry analysts is that the security is too weak at the present time," says one vice president of IT. "Security [in Linux] is not as strong as Windows NT or Windows 2000." He adds that there are few Linux tools for required monitoring, auditing, modification tracking, and distribution of authority for assigning user rights.

Solsoft NP-Lite lets system administrators establish policies for Linux firewalls and filter as many as 130 protocols. It can be configured to work with as many as three filtering devices and also works with the commonly used Linux IP Firewall release 2.0.x and Linux IP Chains release 2.2.x. IP Chains is the default Linux firewall product.

NP-Lite is a subset of Solsoft NP software that lets the system administrator implement Access Control Lists (ACL) on network routers, firewalls and Layer 3 switches. ACLs list the addresses or people that have rights to the network or device. Solsoft NP integrates with OpenView and works with equipment from Cisco, Nortel and 3Com, among others. It supports Windows, Unix, AIX, and Linux. The software maps the network and allows it to be monitored. Administrators can roll-back policies after setting them and report on policies they have put in place.