Hoping to capture a bigger slice of the network security business from mid-size companies, Checkpoint Software Technologies has created a line of unified threat management appliances for buyers who want an all-in-one solution.
The company announced the UTM-1 family on Monday, saying the devices will enable medium-sized companies and departments to have the same level of security offered by its more expensive enterprise-sized VPN-1 models.
“We’ve been getting feedback for quite a while that our partners wanted a turnkey appliance focused on mid-sized businesses,” said Paul Kaspian, product marketing manger for the new line.
“It opens up a new opportunity for our partners,” he said, “giving them a lot broader solution set to service their customers.”
At least one of them agrees, Magnus Boll, an account manager at Access 2 Networks Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., said “the pricing model for it is very attractive for a certain type of customer.”
The three models in the UTM-1 line are differentiated by throughput – 400 Mbps, 1Gbps and 2Gps – not the number of users. Prices start at US$7,500.
That means a customer who has many users but low throughput needs can get a good deal, he said.
“It’s right in the sweet spot.”
The UTM-1 line comes with a stateful-inspection firewall, IPSec VPN, gateway antivirus and antispyware and intrusion prevention. There’s also an optional Web Application Firewall to protect Web servers, and security functions for voice over IP, instant messaging and peer-to-peer networks.
There’s wizard-driven installation which the company hopes will appeal to companies that don’t have security application experts.
Coming shortly is an optional Web filtering package to control employee surfing.
As with the bigger VPN-1, the UTM-1 is managed by Check Point’s SmartCentre management console, which also means organizations can mix the two appliances in the same environment.
Kaspian said the UTM-1 will appeal to many Check Point VARs who also assemble enterprise solutions with Nokia infrastructure hardware and Check Point software and whose customers want an easier to deploy product.
Check Point says competitors who make similar appliances may need additional hardware to make their solutions run or are as easy to configure a virtual private network.
“More and more, everything in the security industry is going towards appliances,” said Boll, “so I think it’s going to be a welcome addition in Check Point’s lineup.”
