Sophos has announced a major refresh of its network Security Gateway hardware with the availability of the new Sophos SG Series appliances. These high-performance hardware appliances – based on the fourth-generation Intel Core processors – deliver up to four times the speed of the previous UTM generation appliances and leapfrog competitive offerings, as proven in recent independent testing.

"The new SG Series appliances are the fastest UTM and Next-Gen Firewall devices Sophos has ever produced," says Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos distributor, NetXactics. "They run the latest operating system, version 9.2, and are optimised to get the most out of latest performance innovations from Intel to ensure customers get an unrivalled performance and protection combination."

The new SG Series includes models to meet the requirements from small offices to large, distributed enterprises. These 1U appliances are available in the mid-range 200, 300 and 400 models. They all deliver over 10 Gbit/sec firewall throughput to easily handle the demands of multi-layered protection. The SG Series is the 6th generation of Sophos security gateways built on an Intel architecture, to enable Sophos customers to quickly benefit from the frequent performance and protection enhancements. They make use of Intel technologies such as high-speed LAN interfaces, high volume Solid State Drives and AES-NI acceleration.

"By using Intel Architecture, Sophos has been able to use the performance gains we've been able to deliver with the 4th Generation Intel Core processors which delivers improved software processing architecture," says Bob Ghaffari, Director, Communications and Storage Infrastructure Division, Intel. "Sophos has been able to see dramatic performance improvements by unlocking Intel's core processor capabilities to make fast, intelligent decisions."

The SG Series run the latest Sophos UTM 9.2 operating system which features over 150 enhancements including new Advanced Threat Protection and SPX Email Encryption functionality. Designed to run on an Intel architecture, version 9.2 can also be deployed on Intel compatible servers as virtual appliances and in the cloud using Amazon Web Services.