Sophos announced the immediate availability of the first and only UTM appliances with 802.11ac integrated wireless. The new SG Series SG 125w and SG 135w models tightly integrate wireless access with firewall protection to allow small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) to achieve the performance gains offered by 802.11ac wireless, including smarter performance and better hotspot management. 

Sophos has also extended its Wi-Fi access point range by adding four new 802.11ac desktop and ceiling mount versions and the AP 100X, a new rugged 802.11ac outdoor model. Both the integrated wireless and separate access points can be managed directly from the Sophos SG Series appliances. 

Data published by IDC suggests that the new 802.11ac standard is driving growth in the enterprise WLAN market, and is seeing noticeably faster adoption rates compared to the transition to 802.11n. A recent survey, conducted by Sophos amongst IT professionals on SpiceWorks, reflects this trend with over a third of respondents (31%) having either already deployed 802.11ac hardware or are planning to deploy it in the next 12 months. The key drivers for those deploying hardware are the expectation of improved throughput performance (37%) and better wireless coverage (26%). 

“Many businesses are adopting  802.11ac  to extend their Wi-Fi capacity and keep up with the growing demands of users with multiple mobile devices, using increasingly bandwidth intensive applications,” says Bryan Barney, senior vice president & general manager of Network Security at Sophos. “With this new UTM, we enable network managers to offer a better Wi-Fi experience to their users, and at the same time eliminate drama from Wi-Fi configuration and security.” 

“Many of our customers have limited IT resources, and the integration of wireless protection with firewall protection frees our clients’ staff from managing an additional and often expensive enterprise wireless solution,” says, Sam Heard, President, Data Integrity Services. “We’ve tested the SG appliance in our own office and are thoroughly impressed. This is the wireless solution we’ve been waiting for. Now that Sophos has added integrated 802.11ac to the SG Series, we will be able to provide our customers highly secure Wi-Fi and the best available throughput. We look forward to offering this level of protection to our clients.” 

SG 125w/135w Desktop Firewalls with 802.11ac Wi-Fi 

These desktop firewall appliances are available with or without integrated wireless networking. The new SG Series integrated wireless models mean customers can now choose from sixteen models in the SG Series range including four with integrated Wi-Fi capabilities: 

• SG 105w and SG 115w with 802.11n integrated wireless 
• SG 125w and SG 135w with 802.11ac integrated wireless 

New Sophos Wi-Fi Access Points 

As with previous Sophos wireless access points, the new access point models can be managed directly from the Sophos SG Series appliances. All Sophos access points are built on enterprise-class 802.11n and 802.11ac chipsets, with custom designed antennas, extra CPU and memory resources. Our new AP 100 802.11ac access point offer three times the performance of its predecessors but at the same competitive price point. The new products are: 

• AP 55 series – 2 new models desktop and ceiling mount, 2×2 MIMO, 2 radios
• AP 100  – 3 new models are all 802.11ac enterprise-grade access points with 3×3 MIMO and 2 radios: AP 100 desktop/wall-mount and AP 100X, an IP67 certified outdoor 
• AP 100C, a smoke detector style ceiling-mount 

“Our customers are looking to make sure their environments are secure and easy to manage. Because the new Sophos access point models can be managed directly from the SG Series appliances, we believe this is the next logical step for our customers to integrate their security,” confirms Todd O’Bert, President & CEO, Productive Corporation. 

More information on the Sophos SG Series UTM/Firewall appliances including the built-in wireless controller and the full range of wireless access points can be found here.

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