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Sonicwall SOHO TZW Reviewed

10:43 - Tuesday 6 May 2003 by THG Reporting Team

Sonicwall SOHO TZW

Sonicwall SOHO TZW
Summary	Feature-rich firewall appliance with Sonicwall's usual high quality. Built-in IPsec VPN endpoint and bundled VPN client for IPsec-secured wireless connections.
Update	None
Pros	• Simultaneous support of IPsec VPN and normal wireless traffic • Can control wireless and wired bridging and wireless client-to-client communication • Bandwidth • Consistent wireless performance vs. range
Cons	• 33% wireless throughput reduction with IPsec-based encryption • Low throughput with draft-11g clients • Support contract ($) required for firmware updates, and email / phone support

Sonicwall is well known and regarded for their powerful, yet easy-to-use line of security appliances aimed at the small to medium business buyer, who can presumably afford the premium that Sonicwall commands for its products.

With their first foray into wireless security appliances, it appears that Sonicwall decided to bypass all the LEAP, PEAP, and other WLAN security alphabet soup and base the TZW on tried and true IPsec VPN technology. What they hoped to produce was something as easy to use, robust, and secure as their wired products, but with 802.11b wireless users now brought under their security umbrella. Did they succeed? That's what I set out to discover...