Astaro Security Gateway 220

Best Buy/Recommended The test was almost too close to call, but we felt that by the closest of margins, the Finjan Vital Security Appliance NG-5100 got the Best Buy because it had the slightly better management interface. We liked its novel clustering methods, too. Two products receive our Recommended awards: the Fortigate-800 for its simplicity and effectiveness; and the Blue Coat ProxySG 200. We were amazed that something so small and quiet could hold its own against much bigger (and noisier) rivals.

These appliances share common functions, but their device-specific characteristics and variations in scalability make like-for-like comparisons difficult. However, in terms of meeting this test’s key requirements – offering a single, easily deployed device to deliver multi-faceted security solutions for smaller and medium-sized firms, the winner of our Best Buy Award, by a small margin, is the Astaro Security Gateway 220. It augments a solid hardware platform with top-class security functionality and, crucially, class-winning ease-of-use. Three units warrant our Recommended award: Sonicwall’s PRO 2040 device combines impressive and comprehensive security functions with a truly suburb management interface; ZyXel’s Zywall 70 is a good, all-round security appliance with excellent documentation and a well-designed management interface; and Fortinet’s very capable FortiGate-500A boasts an excellent wizard-based setup procedure – we are aware of Fortinet’s ongoing patent problems, which it says should be resolved in the near future (see p52), and include this product due to its outstanding technical merits.