Sophos has announced updates to its range of SG Series firewall/UTM appliances and Wi-Fi access points, as well as the availability of Sophos iView, a dedicated virtual reporting appliance.
These new models are geared towards small and medium enterprises, which often struggle with the complications of maintaining high levels of cyber-security, Sophos said.
The SG Series of firewall appliances has had six new models added to it, meaning there are now 12 different SG Series firewalls to choose from. Among these are four desktop models aimed at small office deployments. There are also two new 2U models that use the fastest Intel chips, delivering extensive redundancy and customisation features.
Sophos said that further desktop models would be available later in the year with integrated wireless connectivity, including two that will support the 802.11ac wireless standard.
 “With Sophos’s new entry-level SG 100 appliances and the enterprise-class SG 500 and 600 models we can be even more competitive across a broad range of SMB opportunities,” said Sam Heard, president of Data Integrity Services at Sophos.
The Sophos iView virtual reporting appliance addresses the findings of a recent Sophos survey, which said that insufficient reporting was the most significant frustration among SMB IT managers with their firewalls. The virtual appliance includes over 1,000 built-in reports, including regulatory compliance reports, Sophos said.
The vendor added that iView also allows users to build their own custom reports and dashboards, focusing on problem areas or users on the network. The solution, available in virtual form only, supports VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix and KVM virtual environments.
“Small and medium business have a diverse set of needs when it comes to the locations they need to secure, firewall performance requirements and reporting capabilities” said Bryan Barney, senior vice president and general manager of the Network Security Group at Sophos.
“By extending our portfolio with the new SG Series models and virtual reporting appliances, we’re making it simple for our customers and partners to simply secure their increasingly distributed environments.”
Finally, the new wireless access point, the AP 100, is the first in a new generation of Sophos-branded 802.11ac devices. The vendor also announced an entry-level access point, the AP-15. Both models can be managed directly from Sophos SG Series appliances, Sophos said.
