U.S. Robotics adds content filtering services to firewall/VPN device

U.S. Robotics is adding URL filtering to its low-end firewall/VPN appliance.

The USR8200 appliance is now being offered with a subscription to SurfControl’s content filtering services. For $48 per year, the service screens the Web sites users are trying to access and can block categories such as gambling, sports, pornography and retail sites according to company policies or personal preference.

Existing customers are able to buy the SurfControl service via the Internet using the firmware upgrade features of the device’s management interface. A free 30-day trial of the service is also available.

The devices themselves are suited for personal use or SOHO offices that need firewall protection and to make IPSec VPN connections to larger corporate offices.

The device can now act as a print server so a single printer can serve multiple PCs on a LAN via a USR8200 USB port. The box has two USB ports and a four-port switch, an Ethernet WAN port to connect to a broadband router and a Firewire port for connecting external hard drives for storage. 

While it’s unlikely a small office would need this many, the box supports up to 253 users.

List price is $350.

This is a possible choice for businesses with a few workers that telecommute, but for large groups of telecommuters, businesses would probably want to invest in devices that can be managed by an overarching security management platform. Without such software, maintenance and upgrades become too time consuming for IT staff.