This test showed that UTM firewalls come in all speeds, shapes and sizes.

One of the appliances we received was simply an off-the-shelf server (IBM’s System x3650). Other devices ranged from very lightly customized (Secure Computing put an IPS accelerator board and a customized BIOS in a Dell box to yield its Sidewinder 2150D) to the heavily engineered chassis found in the Juniper ISG-1000 and the Fortinet FortiGate 3600A. 

In general, though, firewall vendors have taken advantage of the enormous boon that Intel has provided in low-cost, high-performance CPUs that are aimed at general-purpose computing. Much of the customization in the devices we received was aimed at increasing port density and value engineering by removing parts (such as graphics adapters) that add cost but not value.

Starting from the ground up, power options abound as the Crossbeam C25, FortiGate 3600A, IBM System x3650, IBM/ISS Proventia MX5010, and Secure Computing Sidewinder 2150D all sport two power supplies, either as an option or as part of the base configuration. Although two power supplies make a system less efficient in its use of electricity (see UTM power-consumption story), they do guard against one of the most common failures: accidentally unplugging the wrong system.