Dell launches next-gen firewall appliances

Dell is launching a new series of SonicWall appliances aimed at the mid-market, claiming that they can provide the same level of security and capabilities found in its enterprise class hardware.

It says the SonicWALL Network Security Appliance (NSA) Series Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) combine an integrated firewall and an intrusion prevention system (IPS), removing the need for two separate boxes.

They include features usually reserved for large enterprises, including 10GbE connectivity for businesses using heavy bandwidth, high availability failover and secure sockets layer decryption security.

The appliances range from six to 24 cores, which Dell says provides sufficient processing power to inspect all network traffic for intrusions.

The company claims the appliances can help SMBs to consolidate infrastructure management by providing easy access to controls for network security, remote access and wireless configurations.

Patrick Sweeney, Dell Executive Director, made it clear that it is aiming to compete with Cisco in the mid-market, claiming that the NSA Series appliances are "game changers".