All In One Box. Unified Thread Managment appliance

[dudutay]

Hi, I am comparing a few so called 'All in one' box or 'UTM' appliance for an office environment of 500 users. The usage for such box will be firewall base function plus content filtering, web content Anti X functionality. Please feel free to post your experience for the following products:-

1. Network-box RM300 & above
2. Fortigate 300A & above
3. Astaro 325 & above

Looking forward your post ya.

 

[segment]

Personally I would avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. The problem with taking this "all in one approach" is usually with the manufacturer not focusing on a specific with their product. A firewall should be a firewall. Maybe even an IDS if you're thinking to the tune of Cisco ASA devices, but most appliances are snake oil since they try to do so much and do nothing good.

perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(40*2),sqrt(7600),(unpack(c,Q)-3+1+3+3-7),oct(104),10,oct(101));'

 

[paintballer]

I agree somewhat with segment, but, as a consultant, I was required to support Fortinet gear when I was hired on. Since then I have seen a large amount of interest in these products. Good or bad idea, the desire is there.
I have only had experience with the Fortinet boxes, so I'm not really qualified to make a comparison with the others, however, it seems to work very well, and they have alot of features which is good if you really want UTM at a location that may only NEED one box. Also, it's not out yet, but they're putting out a switch that will provide UTM on every port. The also have out wireless routers that have UTM on the wireless portion.
So, to shorten this comment, I have found Fortinet to be easy to use and install. It seems to be a good product, and the company is very progressive about products and support. I have no input or comparison for the other companies.

P

 

[dput]

We have been investigating going this route, and we have had several recommendations to go with Fortinet. Mid-size networks need to have good protection, but can't afford the cost or the management effort to put in a whole bunch of different appliances and software solutions. The Fortinet product seems to provide the features we need at a modest price. It looks like we will be purchasing one.

Dan

 

[paintballer]

Nice to know Dan, I have had pretty good expiences with them.
You could probably get them to come in to your company and provide training, if you're big enough. Or you could go to their training that they hold. It's worth the time to get some hands on, if your company will pay for it.
Otherwise, it's not ALL that hard to figure out on your own if you're moderately proficient at networking...

P