ISA Server 2006 provides security for corporate applications accessed over the Internet by pre-authenticating users before they gain access to published servers, inspecting even encrypted traffic at the application layer in a stateful manner, and providing automated publishing tools. In addition, by providing HTTP compression, caching of content including software updates, and site-to-site VPN capabilities integrated with application-layer filtering, it enables you to securely expand corporate networks. It also enables you to manage and protect your network with a hybrid proxy-firewall architecture, deep content inspection, granular policies, and comprehensive alerting and monitoring capabilities.

The new features focus on configuration change management and enhanced troubleshooting designed to help you identify and resolve ISA Server configuration issues within the ISA Server Management console.