After spending a couple of months nursing along a flaky router on one segment of eWEEK Labs test network, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade to something that offered a little more security and a lot more reliability. So I deployed WatchGuards $1,049 Firebox X50 small-business firewall.
All WatchGuards Firebox Edge products (including the X5, X15 and the top-of-the-line X50) are based on the same expandable hardware platform.
Within the product line, customers can upgrade to better throughput and connection performance simply by purchasing a license key.
A firmware rev for the Firebox X50 was released last month.
Although small-business firewalls are common nowadays, I must admit I liked the X50s flexibility. The X50 includes a seven-port switch, a WAN failover port to support multiple WAN connections and an optional port that can be used to protect a second network.
The X50 is individually manageable from the SSL-protected Web interface or can be centrally managed from WatchGuards overly complicated System Manager. I found the Web interface easier to use, and the device was up and protecting the network within minutes.
For more information, check out www.watchguard.com.
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