The aXsGUARD from Vasco takes the traditional UTM focus and adds strong authentication capabilities for improved security. This product not only features a firewall, IPS and malware protection, but it also provides strong authentication through VPNs, SSL VPNs, a web portal and reverse proxy. This appliance maintains secure channels for remote users to ensure the network is protected from threats, such as hackers and malware.
We found this product to be fairly easy to configure and manage. Once the appliance is connected to the network and an administrative user has been created, the administrative user can access the web-based management GUI. All configuration for this product is done manually with no help from setup wizards. However, we did find going through the web-based interface to be quite simple and intuitive.
The main focus of this appliance is policy. This product allows administrators to set very specific user-based, web surfing policies that can consist of time and content restrictions. On the email side of the appliance, multiple defense systems are in place, such as blacklists, graylists, two anti-virus engines, anti-phishing and anti-spyware engines. All this functionality is also paired with the Vasco strong authentication platform, which incorporates the use of Vasco tokens.
Documentation provided with this appliance included an installation guide, which provided the steps to get the appliance connected and running in the network with a basic configuration. Other documentation available is comprised of several PDF manuals that focus on various aspects of managing and configuring the product and its feature. All these guides are clear and well organized with many screen shots and step-by-step instructions.
Vasco includes the first year of technical support with the purchase of the product. Additional support may be purchased after the first year as part of a support contract. Support includes both email and eight-hours-a-day/five-days-a-week phone support. There is also a support area on the website that includes a knowledge base and product tutorials.
At a price just under $1,000, we find this product to be a good value for the money. While it focuses more on authentication and remote access rather than traditional UTM, we find it does have some solid features and definitely a place in the enterprise.
