IBM System x3650

Score: 3.99

Editor’s note: This is a summary of our testing of this product, for a full rundown of how it fared in our testing across 10 UTM categories, please see our full coverage.

Check Point and IBM jointly submitted an IBM System x3650 to highlight the high performance available in VPN-1. We used the IBM System x3650 as a base to run Check Point’s Secure Platform operating system and VPN-1 UTM software. Because the System x3650 is a multicore system, we also got to be early adopters of Check Point’s new CoreXL acceleration technology, which brings parallel processing on multicore systems to Check Point’s VPN-1 software.

At this time, though, CoreXL doesn’t support antivirus scanning, so the System x3650 did not include antivirus capabilities that we could test.

For a discussion of the Check Point firewall software running on the System x3650 server, see story about Check Point VPN-1 UTM Gateway. This summary discusses only the aspects of Check Point’s software specific to the System x3650 and the server itself.

For raw speed, the IBM System x3650 did a great job on the tasks we cared about most: IPS and firewall, at the same time. The x3650 also has great expansion capabilities, with four expansion slots, and the ability to plug in any multiport Ethernet card you might want, turning the IBM System x3650 into a system with a lot of Ethernet ports.

However, the IBM System x3650 is still essentially a server, which means that it has a lot of parts and a lot of engineering that is not relevant to making a firewall run fast. Because the IBM System x3650 fits into a commodity spot, it is very cost-effective at around $7,000 a system — compared with a slower Crossbeam C25, for $24,000, for example. But it’s also large — 2U high and 30 inches deep — and noisy and hot. The System x3650 also looks like a server, so such things as Ethernet ports are all on the rear side of the system, right there next to the power supply plugs.

If you’re looking for fast, inexpensive, systems to run Check Point’s VPN-1, the System x3650 might fit your bill.