UTMs Make Sense for SMBs and, Increasingly, for Enterprises

This PC Magazine piece looks at four products that are aimed at protecting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The fact that three of them are members of the unified threat management (UTM) family may or may not be a coincidence. The reality is that this sector is hot.

The writer looks at the Astaro Security Gateway 120 (verdict: potent features, confusing configuration, high price); the eSoft InstaGate 404e (easy to use, powerful, lets too much malware through, expensive); and the Sonic Wall TZ 180 Wireless TotalSecure 25 (great installation and configuration, good wired and wireless security, not too flexible, low price). Each capsule links to longer reviews. The non-UTM piece of equipment described is the Trend Micro InterScan Gateway Security Appliance 1.5.

Like network access control (NAC), UTM is attractive in its ability to cut complexity and cost by teaming discrete security products in a common framework. Th