Sophos launches security appliance

Plug-and-play suite is firms first move into hardware

Security software specialist Sophos last week moved into hardware, offering firms a software suite bundled on a plug-and-play appliance.

The ES-4000 appliance, available now, protects between 1,000 and 5,000 users, said the firm. The appliance has dual 146GB hard disks and dual power supplies, since these are the parts that fail most often, according to Sophos product management vice-president Chris Kraft. The new software suite incorporates Sophos’s anti-spam and antivirus engines and has a web-based dashboard to administer the system.

“Users can access the appliance through Firefox or Internet Explorer browsers for ad hoc queries and information such as capacity planning,” Kraft said. Firms can also sign up to have the system fully-managed by Sophos. The cost of one ES-4000 is £5,700 + VAT plus about £8 per user, per year for a 1,000-user licence for three years.