SonicWall launches UTM security box

SonicWall is adding a branch-office box to its NSA family of unified threat management appliances  for sites where it might not otherwise be cost-effective to install one.

The Network Security Appliance (NSA) 240 is also intended for midsized businesses that have no large sites, the company says, and fills in the low end of the company's UTM line.

The company has an E-Class line of NSA high-end security gateways and a lower-capacity NSA line, with the NSA 240 filling in the bottom with a 600Mbps firewall, support for 25 VPN clients and 25 site-to-site VPN tunnels. Throughput with all UTM features turned on is 110Mbps.

The next smallest appliance is the NSA 2400, which has a 775Mbps firewall, support for 250 VPN clients and 50 site-to-site VPN tunnels. Throughput with all UTM features turned on is 150Mbps.

NSAs provide antivirus, IPS, VPN and application-layer filtering. SonicWall UTMs compete with gear from Check Point, Juniper, Watchguard and others.

In addition to imposing security policies, the device can give customers greater visibility into what traffic is going in and out of corporate sites and to some degree control it, says Michael Suby, an analyst with Stratecast.