Review: SonicWall Appliance Introduces WWAN Support

Deployment flexibility is becoming more and more important for today's security products. VARs are seeking products that can bring security to most any environment, while still creating new opportunities and offering advanced capabilities. SonicWall has listened to the demands of the channel with the creation of the SonicWall TZ190 appliance.

Before you exclaim, "Oh great, yet another appliance," SonicWall does bring something new to the tablesecure broadband networking without a wired broadband connection.

The company achieves this feat by incorporating support for Wireless WAN PC Cardsin other words, the TZ190 can achieve broadband connectivity via the high-speed wireless networks of vendors such as Verizon, Cingular and Sprint. That capability is offered in addition to traditional wired connectivity and can serve as a failover or primary link.

The WWAN option opens up a world of opportunities for VARs as the unit can readily be deployed where wired broadband connections are not practical, available or feasible. For example, the TZ190 could be used to bring a temporary site online, such as at a construction trailer or a demonstration network at an event. Furthermore, WWAN connectivity is basically instantaneous with no need for cable runs or technician visits and in many cases, wireless broadband proves to be much less expensive than wired business solutions. If set up properly and if the appropriate bandwidth is available, integrators can use the TZ190 to deploy VoIP phone services, along with Internet connectivity, eliminating the need for any wiring to a remote site (except, of course, for electricity).

The TZ190 offers all of the expected features beyond the WWAN connectivity. Integrators will find a deep packet inspection SPI firewall, along with optional content filtering and gateway antivirus capabilities. The unit offers eight 10/100 Ethernet connections for internal LAN connections, a 10/100 Ethernet connection for a wired WAN connection and an optional 10/100 Ethernet connection for DMZ or failover use. A nice addition to the unit would be a gigabit switch, which would increase the local bandwidth to gigabit speedssomething that is becoming more important for sites using D2D backup or large data files.