Netgear: Simplifying Unified Threat Management?

Generally speaking, numerous unified threat management (UTM) solutions are designed for big enterprises with big IT budgets. But Netgear wants VARs to push UTM solutions into smaller businesses. How? The answer potentially involves the ProSecure UTM 5 appliance. Here are some details.

The ProSecure UTM 5 claims to offer all the tools a small business would need: Enterprise level security, but with none of the complex subscription options or per-user licensing.

Netgear‘s goal here is to be the nice guy. The UTM5 seeks to protect against threats using firewall, SSL and IPSec VPN, URL filtering, network antivirus, and antispam. It’s all crammed in a small package, too. Added bonus: Netgear says that the UTM5 to can be used in homes  of telecommuters, to secure endpoints that might not be as secure as a corporate laptop.

UTM 5 evolved from Netgear’s existing ProSecure UTM10 and UTM25 offerings, which compete against SonicWALL, Watchguard and Fortinet and other security rivals. Inside the box, Netgear leverages technology from companies like Sophos, Mailshell and Commtouch, coupled with NETGEAR’s patent-pending Stream Scanning technology.

Jason Leung, Netgear’s senior product line manager for SMB Security, says some small businesses “can’t keep up with sophisticated attacks…[but now, with the UTM5, protection is available at ] an acceptable price point.” Over the phone, he noted that small businesses are often at a disadvantage because they’re often forced to couple together multiple pieces of consumer network technology.

But now, instead of wasting cash on the ‘not quite right solution’, $275 gets you the shiny new box, on top of  the option of bundling a one-year subscriptions for web security, email security, support and maintenance for a mere $399. Leung said Netgear wanted to make the ProSecure UTM5 as easy a sell as possible for partners and VARs alike.

We’ll be watching and listening to learn if Netgear fulfills those goals.