It used to be that small-to-medium sized businesses could get away with the built-in security features on a router; while cyber-attacks were always a threat, for most businesses they were a remote one, and only larger businesses handling sensitive customer data or managing mission-critical resources needed to devote much of their time and budget to mitigating those risks.
As online risk-management was primarily the concern of these Enterprise-level businesses, most secure gateways were pitched to that level; these gateways had customisable firewall rules, multi-WAN failover options, multi-Gigabit performance, power redundancy, and a whole host of other high-specification security features. They were also often prohibitively expensive, physically bulky, and required a significant amount of setup and integration into existing infrastructure - fine for larger organisations with on-premises IT teams, but expensive overkill for young businesses just picking up momentum.
Sadly, cyber-attacks are on the rise for businesses of all stripes and colours; phishing attacks, ransomware, data breaches, DDoS attacks and a whole host of other bad actors pose a threat to all businesses that maintain an online presence. To compound the issue, businesses are now holding more customer data than ever before - names, addresses, phone numbers, card details, and even scans of ID documents are now becoming more commonplace, and it’s critical that a network has the security to keep this data safe.
To support small businesses with Enterprise-grade network security, paired with simple setup and intuitive single-pane-of-glass management, HPE Networking Instant On have released two new secure gateways: the SG1004 and the SG2505P!
SG1004
The SG1004 is a compact, agile powerhouse of a gateway; the most budget friendly option currently available from HPE Instant On, the SG1004 incorporates all the features of a larger secure gateway in a slim, desk-mountable chassis. It features Gigabit speeds and a variety of ports - 1 x Gigabit WAN port, 2 x Gigabit LAN ports, and 1 x Gigabit port switchable between WAN and LAN, offering either an additional LAN uplink or an additional WAN interface for network redundancy and load-balancing. This means that, even for larger businesses with a relatively client-dense network to manage, the SG1004’s dual WAN capabilities prevent bottlenecking and keep traffic running smoothly for up to 100 concurrent users. Not only can it utilise multiple ISP connections simultaneously, but it’s capable of actively monitoring the quality of both connections, detecting any link degradation or failure, and rerouting traffic automatically.
Security-wise, despite its diminutive size and accessible price, the SG1004 is no slouch; it features a stateful firewall, with fully customisable rules and policies, and can monitor and filter all traffic across the network. The firewall creates a barrier between the trusted internal and untrusted external networks, adding a layer of security between potential hostile entities and ringfencing important data from external threats.
In addition to the intelligent firewall, the SG1004 also features IDS/IPS (Intrusion Detection / Prevention System), automatically and actively detecting threats, alerting administrators and actively mitigating security threats. IDS actively analyses traffic for known attack patterns or anomalies and instantaneously alerts admins; the IPS system can detect malicious activities and respond in real-time, able to automatically take such actions as blocking IP addresses or terminating damaging connections.
For remote workers or sites needing to securely access company resources, the SG1004 also features capacity for both a Site-to-Site VPN when both have an Instant On Secure Gateway installed, and a Client VPN; this enables remote workers to reach secure company resources without exposing the business network to a potentially insecure home connection.
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| SG1004 |
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SG2505P
The SG2505P is very much the SG1004’s bigger brother; it enjoys all of the security features included with the SG1004 - for example, IDS/IPS, firewalls, VPNs, event logging and more - but it’s got some key stand-out hardware differences that gear it more specifically for supporting mid-sized businesses.
For starters, it features a greater number of ports - five, instead of the SG1004’s four - and these ports are a mixture of 1G and 2.5G uplinks speeds: 1 x 2.5G WAN port, 2 x 1G LAN ports, and 2 x Switchable WAN/LAN ports - one of which is 2.5G, and the other of which is 1G. This mixture of port types and speeds makes it a great choice for businesses with a range of different requirements - for example, the 2.5G LAN ports can feed through to a network switch, whereas the 1G ports would be more suitable for IP surveillance cameras. A USB-A 2.0 port is also mounted on the front of the unit.
Most impressively, and unusually for a gateway, the SG2505P features PoE-Out capabilities - it’s capable of supplying up to 64W Class 4 PoE to compatible devices, meaning it’s able to support access points, VoIP phones, IP cameras and a huge range of other devices. This streamlines network installations, broadening the possibilities of device mounting beyond where a ready outlet exists.
Beyond hardware differences to the SG1004, the SG2505P boasts a wide swathe of general performance improvements: it includes twice the RAM of the SG1004 (4GB versus 2GB), meaning it’s generally both more responsible and more capable of handling greater processing strain. It’s also able to handle 300 concurrent users instead of 100, and sports significantly increased firewall, IDS/IPS and VPN performance.
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Conclusion
With their two new secure gateways, HPE are putting airtight network security back in the hands of growing businesses; the SG1004 and SG2505P are compact, easy to set up, straightforward to manage, and packed with features designed specifically to shield small and medium-sized businesses from external threats. As cyber threats continue to evolve, these gateways provide a vital foundation, ensuring that businesses of all sizes can protect their data and their future without needing a dedicated IT team.
