Check Point Software Technologies on Tuesday threw its considerable weight behind the nascent market for Web services security tools.

Check Point announced enhancements, dubbed Application Intelligence Technology, that will enable its VPN-1/FireWall-1 Next Generation line to address security for two protocols that provide the foundation for Web services: XML and the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). SOAP is the protocol used to enable communication among XML-based applications.

Application Intelligence Technology performs a number of functions, according to Neil Gehani, senior product marketing manager at Check Point. For one, it verifies that HTTP packets -- upon which SOAP connections ride -- are properly formed. That's something that he says competing Web services security products may not do.

"You see a lot of viruses and worms at the HTTP layer," Gehani says. "If you're not specifically familiar with HTTP, or looking at that protocol, you're not going to know what happened."

Check Point, by contrast, has always dealt with HTTP, he says. Now the company is extending its capabilities in that realm to the XML/SOAP world, and will check those protocols for proper packet structure and validity.

Check Point's technology also verifies that the originator of any given request is authorized to conduct the type of transaction in question. As with previous Check Point products, users can apply policies to grant varying degrees of authentication to different users and groups involved in XML/SOAP transactions.

"Adding a rule for Web services traffic is as simple as for any other type of resource," says April Fontana, product marketing manager at Check Point. "It's the same user interface, so there's no need to relearn how to use the management tool."

In addressing Web services security, Check Point joins an ever-growing field that includes startups such as Reactivity, Inc., Forum Systems and Quadrasis, all of which have announced products within the past several weeks.

The new Check Point features will be available in September in VPN-1/FireWall-1 Next Generation Feature Pack 3 at no additional cost for current customers.