IP-based security and unified threat management (UTM) specialist, Clavister, has dominated a benchmark test of UTM solutions. In tests carried out by Real-World Labs on behalf of the German magazine Network Computing, Clavister’s SG3200 and SG50 consistently out performed the competition with its well thought-out combination of broadband management, data prioritization and VPN capabilities.

Real-World Labs, based at the Stralsund University of Applied Sciences, simulated an environment of three branch offices with approximately 20 workstations, all of which were connected to the company headquarters and the Internet. The UTM appliances were tested on their ability to protect the individual workstations by means of their firewall whilst ensuring continuous protected communications between them over a VPN.

Each appliance was also evaluated on its capacity to provide suitable prioritization mechanisms for the implementation of traditional data interfaces and simultaneous usage for real time applications such as Voice and Video over IP.

Andreas Åsander, VP Product Management, Clavister, said: "In the current economic climate, organizations are finding IT security budgets are being reduced and job cuts enforced. Cutting corners in this way inevitably leaves the company network vulnerable to malicious attacks from both internal and external sources.

"UTM solutions provide the ability to perform multiple security functions in a single appliance, saving time, resource and money, making them the ideal network security solution, especially during a recession.

"UTM appliances are gaining in popularity and this review demonstrates that when put to the test, Clavister solutions perform well above average, achieving high performance rates in broadband management, data prioritization and firewall applications."

Notes to editor

*How the SG3200 and SG50 performed

Performance as firewall applications
The performance of the appliances as firewall applications was initially tested with bi-directional data traffic between LAN and WAN. When compared with the competition, the Clavister SG50 models came in well ahead of the pack, achieving maximum performance rates of between 134 and 136 MBit/s.

VPN broadband limits
For the next test, VPN broadband bandwidth was limited to 4 MBit/s per workstation, and a limit of 12 MBit/s was set for the headquarters office. Even with this setup, Clavister appliances performed well above average, with data traffic flowing from headquarters to all three branch offices. Network performance amounted to 12 MBit/s, as configured. Communications from headquarters with a branch office applied a rate of 4 MBit/s, as planned.

COS data prioritization in VPN
To test VPN data service prioritization, a load generator was set to generate a data stream with four different priorities. These flowed from the headquarters’ LAN via the VPN to the WAN. After sample loading, the data stream transmission should then occur loss-free. Compared with the other appliances under test, the Clavister units stood out for their complete accuracy, even in this discipline, and evidenced no loss of highest-priority data.

About Clavister’s SG3200 and SG50
During the test rig set-up, it was found that the major "bottleneck" lay not in the appliances under test, but in the WAN itself. In terms of pure performance, the appliances were more than able to achieve the design objectives. A more complex scenario however developed with a meaningful combination of broadband management, data prioritisation and VPN. Even where small limitations in data prioritisation occurred at higher loadings, Clavister’s SG3200 and SG50 security gateways were well able to handle this convergence of challenges.

*For the complete review please refer to issue 4/2009 of Network Computing.


For more information, please contact:
Maggie Warbrick, Vice President Marketing
+46 8 545 298 10
[email protected]

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