SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA: McAfee, Inc. today announced the release of its line of McAfee unified threat management (UTM) firewalls.

The McAfee UTM Firewalls, formerly referred to as SnapGear, are multi-functional network security appliances that are attractive to small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) based on their competitive pricing, reliability and ease of use.

The appliances are available in seven different models for SMBs and come fully integrated with intrusion prevention, network firewall protection, and VPN services. Optional modules include enterprise-class technology such as TrustedSource reputation ratings for mail filtering, and Web filtering for protection against known and unknown threats, which can include anti-malware, anti-spyware, and anti-virus capabilities. They can be easily deployed in remote substations, such as large enterprise branch offices or retail locations, or at a vendor’s site to provide strong authentication of devices attempting to access critical assets.

The UTM Firewall family now includes key new features and functionality under the McAfee brand, including:

Centralized management and new dashboards - users can now securely manage any of the UTM appliances centrally via a new feature-rich browser based McAfee UTM Firewall Control Center, and gain an overall picture of their network and device status at a glance
Active intrusion detection and prevention - proactively monitors network events and alert network personnel when there is suspicious activity using an enterprise class signature set
3G Wireless support - Models with USB ports are able to support 3G wireless connectivity for a primary connection or backup/failover

“UTM devices continue to be in high demand and are the predominate security appliance that SMBs will be looking for in 2009,” said Chris Christiansen, IDC. “They help SMBs respond to cost-cutting initiatives, managing their risk, and meeting their compliance regulations programs. Devices that offer a wide range of security solutions in an integrated package with a platform for subscription-based security services will remain to be the most viable.”

As part of McAfee’s focus on its small and medium customers’ security needs, it recently conducted a survey with MSI International of McAfee SMB customers to better understand the UTM opportunity for SMBs. Findings suggested that the most-utilized features by customers on a UTM device are network firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention, and virtual private networking capabilities. McAfee has ensured these features are available on all devices without licensing restrictions, which is important for smaller, growing organizations.

“McAfee UTM Firewall is a complete office network-in-a-box Internet security appliance that can be deployed as a firewall, VPN gateway or UTM security appliance,” said Darrell Rodenbaugh, senior vice president of McAfee’s mid-market segment. “With its smart, simple and secure functionality, it also perfectly aligns with McAfee’s security management approach to help its smaller businesses maintain a very strong security posture in just 15 minutes a day.”