best FW solution for <$2000

I work at a small software company (25 employees) and we have limited
IT support (other than ourselves). We have limped along with consumer
rated firewalls (Linksys), but now realize the importance of improving
security and stability. We frequently use our Internet connection to
move large files related to our business (some files ~500MB) every
day. Also use for VPN access, customer portal, etc. No sensitive data
like ecom.

I am looking at the Watchguard x55e. Any other suggestions?

Re: best FW solution for <$2000

On Feb 26, 3:25 pm, barn...@gmail.com wrote:
> I work at a small software company (25 employees) and we have limited
> IT support (other than ourselves). We have limped along with consumer
> rated firewalls (Linksys), but now realize the importance of improving
> security and stability. We frequently use our Internet connection to
> move large files related to our business (some files ~500MB) every
> day. Also use for VPN access, customer portal, etc. No sensitive data
> like ecom.
>
> I am looking at the Watchguard x55e. Any other suggestions?

I can speak from experience that the Watchguard series has been hit
and miss for several of my clients over the years. Their more recent
offering have been decent but recent we lost a pair after a system
outage (planned.) When we brought them back up our Firewall gurus
complained that both units lost all of their config data. I haven't
had an problems with Cisco products in general and quite frankly even
an IPTables driven linux derived firewall has worked quite well
(assuming you have staff that can manage it.) Based on my product
notes the Firebox Edge x55e scored a B based on our last round of
product evals. Not bad for the price.

The key question to answer is how much protection can you afford; and
from there get the best product for the price range. I'm sure many of
us could reccomend quite a few nice security products but reality
defines that you can only get what you can afford.

If the Watchguard x55e fits into you budget, it seems like a very
decent product for a small office solution but useability is the key.
If a firewall is difficult to configure, then it's useless no matter
what features it has. As a business you should purchase your products
from a vendor willing to give you a good 15-30 day return policy or,
depending on where you are, ask for an evaluation unit. This also
provides a good test to see if your configuration can be backed up and
restored to the unit you eventually purchase easily (don't send the
eval unit back until the production unit is up and running.) Any
decent vendor shouldn't have a problem with providing an evaluation
unit. If you cannot find a vendor that will do that, see if you can
contact Watchguard directly and ask if they have a demo unit they can
ship you to try (Expect a deposit or shipping fees). A business'
security is not to be glossed over nor should a firewall solution be
implemented without a proper evaluation.
Another option for a small business would be to see if you can find a
managed firewall vendor and see what products and service they offer.

Re: best FW solution for <$2000

On Feb 27, 2:43 pm, "Idgarad" wrote:
> On Feb 26, 3:25 pm, barn...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > I work at a small software company (25 employees) and we have limited
> > IT support (other than ourselves). We have limped along with consumer
> > rated firewalls (Linksys), but now realize the importance of improving
> > security and stability. We frequently use our Internet connection to
> > move large files related to our business (some files ~500MB) every
> > day. Also use for VPN access, customer portal, etc. No sensitive data
> > like ecom.
>
> > I am looking at the Watchguard x55e. Any other suggestions?
>
> I can speak from experience that the Watchguard series has been hit
> and miss for several of my clients over the years. Their more recent
> offering have been decent but recent we lost a pair after a system
> outage (planned.) When we brought them back up our Firewall gurus
> complained that both units lost all of their config data. I haven't
> had an problems with Cisco products in general and quite frankly even
> an IPTables driven linux derived firewall has worked quite well
> (assuming you have staff that can manage it.) Based on my product
> notes the Firebox Edge x55e scored a B based on our last round of
> product evals. Not bad for the price.
>
> The key question to answer is how much protection can you afford; and
> from there get the best product for the price range. I'm sure many of
> us could reccomend quite a few nice security products but reality
> defines that you can only get what you can afford.
>
> If the Watchguard x55e fits into you budget, it seems like a very
> decent product for a small office solution but useability is the key.
> If a firewall is difficult to configure, then it's useless no matter
> what features it has. As a business you should purchase your products
> from a vendor willing to give you a good 15-30 day return policy or,
> depending on where you are, ask for an evaluation unit. This also
> provides a good test to see if your configuration can be backed up and
> restored to the unit you eventually purchase easily (don't send the
> eval unit back until the production unit is up and running.) Any
> decent vendor shouldn't have a problem with providing an evaluation
> unit. If you cannot find a vendor that will do that, see if you can
> contact Watchguard directly and ask if they have a demo unit they can
> ship you to try (Expect a deposit or shipping fees). A business'
> security is not to be glossed over nor should a firewall solution be
> implemented without a proper evaluation.
> Another option for a small business would be to see if you can find a
> managed firewall vendor and see what products and service they offer.

Thanks for the direction. It was very helpful. Any chance you could
recommend specific alternatives to the Watchguard?

Re: best FW solution for <$2000

On Feb 26, 3:25 pm, barn...@gmail.com wrote:
> I work at a small software company (25 employees) and we have limited
> IT support (other than ourselves). We have limped along with consumer
> rated firewalls (Linksys), but now realize the importance of improving
> security and stability. We frequently use our Internet connection to
> move large files related to our business (some files ~500MB) every
> day. Also use for VPN access, customer portal, etc. No sensitive data
> like ecom.
>
> I am looking at the Watchguard x55e. Any other suggestions?

The company I work for uses SonicWall. We two different models,
SonicWall Pro 2040 and SonicWall TZ170. The Pro 2040 are quite
expensive (around $4000) the way we have them setup (enhanced OS,
premium filtering, gateway AV, etc.). But the TZ170 were less than a
grand (standard OS, premium filtering, gateway AV, etc.). CDW carries
them but we got a better deal from Dell.

Re: best FW solution for <$2000

On Feb 28, 11:57 am, "Hexalon" wrote:
> On Feb 26, 3:25 pm, barn...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > I work at a small software company (25 employees) and we have limited
> > IT support (other than ourselves). We have limped along with consumer
> > rated firewalls (Linksys), but now realize the importance of improving
> > security and stability. We frequently use our Internet connection to
> > move large files related to our business (some files ~500MB) every
> > day. Also use for VPN access, customer portal, etc. No sensitive data
> > like ecom.
>
> > I am looking at the Watchguard x55e. Any other suggestions?
>
> The company I work for uses SonicWall. We two different models,
> SonicWall Pro 2040 and SonicWall TZ170. The Pro 2040 are quite
> expensive (around $4000) the way we have them setup (enhanced OS,
> premium filtering, gateway AV, etc.). But the TZ170 were less than a
> grand (standard OS, premium filtering, gateway AV, etc.). CDW carries
> them but we got a better deal from Dell.

i forgot to mention that these devices also do VPN tunnels. The
TZ170's are capable of 5 concurrently connected tunnels. The Pro
2040's are capable of 25 concurrently connected tunnels.

Re: best FW solution for <$2000

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