Total cost of ownership, ease of management and low initial price are the most important issues for customers choosing UTM appliances

(20/06/2008)

Total cost of ownership, ease of management and low initial price are the three most important issues for customers choosing UTM appliances, according to new research by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

The results of Check Point's recent survey also showed the most desirable and popular functions of UTMs for users, and the relevance of other factors such as vendor brand on purchasing decisions.

Survey participants were asked to name their top priorities when buying a UTM appliance. Total cost of ownership (TCO) came out highest at 68%, closely followed by ease of management at 65%. Initial price was rated at 39%, with the lowest-rated answers being ease of purchase (22%) and single-vendor supplier (15%).

When asked to rate the three most important functions they wanted from UTMs, intrusion prevention scored highest at 64%, followed by anti-virus at 63%. Anti-spyware was rated the third most desirable function at 42%. Features such as web filtering (29%), remote access management (26%) and data encryption (21%) were also rated as important.

While a single-vendor supplier was rated as a low priority by respondents, 55% felt that having best-of-breed products on the appliance was important or very important. This highlights customers’ preference for trusted security brands when choosing UTM solutions.

“We wanted to confirm why customers are choosing to deploy UTMs, and many of the research findings support what we suspected: easy management and TCO are key factors in the decision to deploy UTMs” said Nick Lowe, Check Point's managing director for Northern Europe.

“The survey reinforces just how critical security management is for users: they want simplicity out of the box, and UTMs deliver just that. Users want the reassurance of best-of-breed solutions deployed on the appliance, which sends a clear signal to VARs: work with vendors that offer leading solutions, with single-console management and scalability.”

Respondents were also asked about their top 3 security spending priorities over the next calendar year. These mapped closely onto the most desirable UTM features mentioned by IT staff: highest on the list was intrusion prevention (49%). Anti-virus scored high, with 44% naming it as a priority. 38% plan to spend on VPN solutions (36%), with data encryption (32%) also on IT managers’ shopping lists.

In April Check Point announced three new UTM-1 Total Security appliances, giving enterprise sites of all sizes more choices to match the right solution with their security and performance needs. The latest additions to the UTM-1 Total Security family include a new model at $4,800 and higher performance levels.

Related topics:  Authentication and identity management   Encryption   Firewall   Hacking and intrusion prevention   Internet and Web security   Network Security   Virus, Worm, Email security, spyware and malware   VPN 

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