Ok, this is a completely shameless plug for my employer. But it's really big. And really small at the same time. And my take on it, which wasn't cleared with the marketing folks, and thus my, albeit biased, opinion.
The Check Point 600 Appliance, which was announced today at Interop, represents Check Point's refreshed entry into the SMB Security space. It provides the same security functionality you'd find in Check Point's larger appliances in something that fits into an SMB--both in terms of form factor and price. This includes Check Point's award-winning IPS, App Control, URL Filtering, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, VPN, oh and don't forget the firewall :)
If you're familiar with the SG80, which Check Point launched a couple years back, the new 600 Appliance looks a bit like that, though the internals are slightly different from the SG80. There are standard USB ports, Express Card and SD-card slots in the 600 as well as optional WiFi and ADSL ports. It also includes a revamped Web Interface that incorporates functionality from the UTM-1 EDGE and Safe@ appliances allowing full management of the security policy across all Software Blades.
Under the hood? It's nearly the same code that runs in the larger Check Point appliances--Check Point R75.20 running Embedded Gaia, to be exact. When you SSH or serial console into the appliance, you are presented with clish, which functions similar to how it does on one of the larger appliances. You can also drop into Expert mode for more advanced debugging, which again, works very similar to how its done on the larger gateways.
The main differences between the 600 and the Check Point 1100 Appliance, which was announced a few weeks ago are:
- Lower price: List price of a 600 is roughly $200 cheaper than the comparable 1100 model.
- Chassis color: Bright orange, like the old Safe@ boxes.
- Central Management: While the 1100 can be centrally managed with standard R75.46 or R76 management (standalone or Provider-1), the 600 can only be centrally managed by Check Point Cloud-Managed Security service.
In any case, I am truly excited about this as finally, SMBs can finally get the same Enterprise-grade security that the Fortune 100 relies on for a fraction of the cost--starting at $399.
Check Point's SMB Portal has information about the new appliances as well as how to acquire them.