SonicWall improves GMS appliance management software

Version 4.0 of SonicWall's Global Management System makes life simpler for IT staff

Unified threat management (UTM) and firewall specialist SonicWall has announced a major refresh to its Global Management System (GMS) to make it easier for IT staff to manage large numbers of the firm's appliances and UTM services.

GMS 4 includes a simpler, more intuitive user interface, sends alerts to PDAs in the event of system failures, and has tools to manage SonicWall SSL VPN appliances and IPSec VPN firewalls.

"We've made it more professional-looking and nice to use with a simple dashboard," said the firm's UK technical account manager, Andrew Brown. "If an IT director logs on he'll get an immediate overview of graphs and alerts to see the state of the network."

The software also provides scheduled reports in a range of formats, which can be tailored to meet the requirements of individual firms, he added.