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Selecting the Right Security Appliance
The ongoing challenge of balancing security needs with resource limitations is daunting. On one hand security threats are ever more frequent, sophisticated, and unpredictable while budget constraints mean IT can't always implement their "perfect world" scenario.
To help you settle on the right solution for your business, consult the table below for some guidelines for selecting the right level of security appliance for your business. It is also useful to choose security devices that provide a reasonable amount of headroom to scale up.
Security Appliance Characteristics by Business Size
| Large Enterprise | Enterprise | Small & Medium Enterprise | Small & Medium Business | Small Office/ Home Office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of users | 5,000+ | 1,000-4,999 | 500-1,000 | 100-500 | 1-100 |
| Connection Firewall with VPN | |||||
| Firewall performance | 4 Gbps+ | 2 Gbp/s | 400 Mbps | 200 Mbps | <100 Mbps |
| Concurrent connections | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | 128,000-250,000 | 16,000 | 2,000 |
| Connection rate(per second) | 25,000 | 25,000 | 9,000-17,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 |
| Firewall rules | 40,000 | 40,000 | 4,000-20,000 | 1,000 | 100 |
| Bulk encryption rate | 4 Gbps | 2 Gbps | 200-300 Mbps | 100 Mbps | 20 Mbps |
| # Tunnels | 100,000 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 1000 | 100 |
| IKE sessions per second | 10,000 | 1000 | 500 | 200 | 50 |
| SSL | |||||
| Bulk encryption rate | 4 Gbps | 2 Gbps | 200-300 Mbps | 200 Mbps | 50 Mbps |
| 1024 bit RSA connects per second | 10,000 | 5,000 | 2,000-4,000 | 600 | 200 |
| Concurrent sessions | 100,000 | 75,000 | 64,000 | 16,000 | 5,000 |
| Unified Threat Management (UTM) at edge of network | |||||
| Basic throughput | 4 Gbps+ | 2 Gbps | 400 Mbps | 200 Mbps | <100 Mbps |
| Throughput with real traffic | 500 Mbps | 250 Mbps | 150 Mbps | 50 Mbps | 10 Mbps |
| Concurrent connections | 500000 | 250000 | 100000 | 16000 | 2000 |
| Connection rate | 25k | 15k | 10k | 5k | 1k |
Note: Specifications are for guidance only. Check with your security provider to select the proper security appliance for your business requirements.
Other things to keep in mind:
- Investigate the management software that comes with the solution, including its remote management capabilities and ability to interface with other security appliances (i.e. multiple firewalls). You should be able to easily configure, manage, and troubleshoot.
- Check on the availability of features like load balancing or failover.
- Look into interoperability. Implementing a VPN will do little good if it creates conflicts with your existing security infrastructure.