Sophos ships UTM firewall with 802.11ac WiFi integration

Sophos has announced the immediate availability of its UTM appliances with 802.11ac integrated wireless. The new SG Series SG 125w and SG 135w models tightly integrate wireless access with firewall protection to allow small and mid-sized businesses (SME) to achieve the performance gains offered by 802.11ac wireless, including smarter performance and better hotspot management.

Sophos has also extended its WiFi access point range by adding four new 802.11ac desktop and ceiling mount versions, as well as the AP 100X, a new rugged 802.11ac outdoor model.

Both the integrated wireless and separate access points can be managed directly from the Sophos SG Series appliances.

Data published by IDC suggests the new 802.11ac standard is driving growth in the enterprise WLAN market, and is seeing noticeably faster adoption rates compared to the transition to 802.11n. A recent survey, conducted by Sophos among IT professionals on SpiceWorks, reflects this trend, with over a third of respondents (31%) having either already deployed 802.11ac hardware or are planning to deploy it in the next 12 months. The key drivers for those deploying hardware are the expectation of improved throughput performance (37%) and better wireless coverage (26%).

"Many businesses are adopting 802.11ac to extend their WiFi capacity and keep up with the growing demands of users with multiple mobile devices, using increasingly bandwidth-intensive applications," says Brett Myroff, MD of Sophos distributor, NetXactics. "With this new UTM, Sophos is enabling network managers to offer a better WiFi experience to their users, and at the same time eliminate drama from WiFi configuration and security."

Desktop firewall appliances are available with or without integrated wireless networking. The new SG Series integrated wireless models mean customers can choose from 16 models in the SG Series range. Those with integrated WiFi capabilities include: the SG 105w and SG 115w, with 802.11n integrated wireless; the SG 125w and SG 135w, with 802.11ac integrated wireless as well as new Sophos WiFi access points.

As with previous Sophos wireless access points, the new access point models can be managed directly from the Sophos SG Series appliances. All Sophos access points are built on enterprise-class 802.11n and 802.11ac chipsets, with custom designed antennas, extra CPU and memory resources. The new AP 100 802.11ac access point offers three times the performance of its predecessors, but at the same competitive price point.

The new products are the AP 55 series, which includes desktop and ceiling mount models, 2x2 MIMO and two radios; the AP 100, which includes three three new models that are all 802.11ac enterprise-grade access points with 3x3 MIMO and two radios; the AP 100, which is desktop or wall-mount; the AP 100X, which is IP67 outdoor certified; and the AP 100C, a smoke detector style ceiling-mount version.