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INDUSTRY NEWS


22 May 2008

Centralised UTM 'delivers security and green business value'


Enterprises with complex distributed computing networks and remote workers could benefit from greater security control, simplified administration and reduced costs if they deploy a centralised Unified Threat Management (UTM) system.

That is according to Wick Hill, a specialist provider of secure infrastructure solutions for online businesses, which explained that UTM systems can also help improve the energy efficiency of IT and support green technology initiatives.

Wick Hill Group chairman Ian Kilpatrick said that UTM has evolved beyond firewals and intrusion prevention systems to include capabilities such as spam blocking, spyware protection and centralised management, independent IT security firm Security Watch reports.

He explained that these additional capabilities allow UTM to replace as many as six separate security systems, thus reducing space, power consumption and cooling costs.

Mr Kilpatrick warned, however, that UTM solutions without strong centralised control can run into problems, such as lack of clear visibility into the goings on across the network, failure of branches to carry out security updates, and difficulty in providing audit logs.

According to IT website PC Pro, UTM appliances are beginning to filter down to smaller and medium sized enterprises with networks of as few as eight to 25 users.

© 2006 Adfero Ltd.

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