The Cat's Out Of The Bag: ISA Server will become ForeFront TMG

So, we all know that ISA 2006 doesn't work on Windows Server 2008. Massive architectural changes to the IP stack, blah blah, etc, etc.

People (uh, yeah, just "people") have been asking about what's to become of ISA Server for a while:

"There's no ISA 2008 announced!" they'd scream.

"This surely means the end of one of the best product lines Microsoft has produced!" might have also been heard (in a somewhat muffled way).

"Won't Tristan be out of a job?" one person wailed, unconvincingly.

Well, that's right - the plan at this point is that there is no ISA Server 2008.

(pause for effect, teeth-gnashing, gasping, horror to subside)

As of the next version, Internet Security and Acceleration Server is ForeFront Threat Management Gateway!

(Now you're going to tell me that ISA was a perfectly good name and not at all unwieldy...)

See our well-formed Press Release for details!

Microsoft also today announced the name of its next-generation network edge security product, Forefront Threat Management Gateway. Forefront Threat Management Gateway is the future version of Microsoft ISA Server and will extend the capabilities of ISA Server 2006 with new features and security technologies, designed to help provide multiple-threat protection, simplified management and secure connectivity, and will be built on Windows Server 2008. More details about Forefront Threat Management Gateway will be available later this year.

Excellent! So, key takeaway: we are working on a successor. The product isn't going away!

There's an early beta available from here, though it's downloading at a slow trickle for me right now (got excitement?).

So, go forth and, you know, Manage Threats! In the future!