BANGALORE, INDIA: UTMs used to be the domain of smaller companies. But today, UTMs are a serious contender for providing firewall protection and a whole lot more for enterprises and larger companies.
 
Unified threat management systems (UTMs) have been growing in popularity for the last few years. Traditionally, they have been widely adopted by SMEs, but larger companies and enterprises are now also deploying UTMs, appreciating the benefits they can offer.
 
UTMs are designed to provide a range of security solutions in a single appliance, reducing costs and simplifying the whole process of security systems management, reporting and installation.
 
The minimum requirement for a UTM, according to IDC, is a firewall, VPN, antivirus and intrusion detection/prevention. Super UTMs (sometimes called extended UTMs or XTMs) have, however, evolved from this to incorporate additional capabilities which can include URL filtering, spam blocking and spyware protection, as well as centralised management, monitoring, and logging capabilities.
 
There are many reasons for the growth in popularity of UTMs. Cost is a key issue, with common thought being that a UTM device can cost less than a quarter of the price of equivalent, individual point solutions. Simplified centralised management is a further reason for adopting UTMs. Having multiple security solutions in one appliance makes managing security overall much simpler, as well as enabling easier event consolidation.
 
Larger companies and enterprises are now also adopting UTMs because they have begun to appreciate the benefits of less expenditure and easier centralised administration. Large companies are typically using UTMs to centrally secure branch and remote offices; or alongside their existing gateway firewall for the additional UTM functionality. Additionally, many companies are using UTMs as their main gateway security appliance for all functions.