Trend Report: Unified Threat Management

Visualize going through airport security. You step up to one guy who scrutinizes your boarding pass and license. Once he waves you by, you're immediately stopped by a rent-a-cop with a metal detector. Passing the scan without clicks or beeps, you're clear to walk 4 feet before a bag-check line halts your progress. Then you wait as guards search someone's grandmother for explosives.

That reality is similar to what happens to a packet when it enters a heavily secured network. With an increasing number of systems inspecting traffic for unauthorized access, malware, attacks, data leakage, spam, and more, there's a lot of credential checking and scrutinizing going on--and a lot of cash being spent on multiple security devices. Replace all those checks and searches with a multifunction entity empowered to move you directly from the curb to the plane, and you have the concept of unified threat management, or UTM.

UTM products are available for all sizes of networks. Though they're predominantly associated with small and midsize enterprises, sales range from very small networks to very large, dispersed organizations. Distributed enterprises will want to deploy multiple UTM products, and that means management issues. Fortunately, most vendors support platforms for administering a far-flung network of UTM devices and for integration into existing security suites. While it was no surprise that larger companies with an established security presence, including Check Point Software, Cisco Systems, IBM, and Juniper Networks, integrate UTM devices into their overall security portfolios, we were pleased to see some vendors without larger comprehensive security suites, including Astaro, Cyberoam, Fortinet, Secure Computing, SonicWall, and ZyXel, also making sure to address multiple device management and security technology integration. For a comprehensive rundown of UTM offerings, including price and capabilities, download the comparsion chart.Speaking of cost, one interesting facet of the UTM market is that a number of appliances integrate open source components under the hood. This approach has certainly benefited consumers by producing many lower-cost appliances that encourage competition. On the flip side, however, you need to watch for changes in GPL licensing.

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