Responding to what it sees as the increasing use of consumer technology to handle security in business environments, Astaro is offering a version of its UTM firewall product that includes a variety of information security features.

The Security Gateway Essential Firewall comes with a standard internet router, DNS server supporting DynDNS, DHCP server & relay, NTP support, and automatic QoS. It logs activities such as network use and network security incidents, and provides a daily executive report.

The firewall also retains the full product's graphical user interfaces, including support for local languages, a setup wizard, and centralized management via the Astaro Command Center (which is also free). And users can access the firewall remotely via devices including the iPhone.

Astaro's firewall products operate within a virtualized environment, which the company says makes them more secure and flexible.

“Small and medium sized businesses are the backbone of the world economy. They act more cautious, they maintain a stable business and they are not subject to the high demands of investors,” said CEO Jan Hichert.

“But nevertheless, SMBs are affected by the current economic climate even more so than larger businesses. This is why we see more and more businesses fall back to consumer products to secure their IT environment – in order to reduce costs, they lower their level of security. This is a dangerous compromise. By launching the Essential Firewall edition we aim to provide those companies a professional alternative.”

Astaro updated the paid edition of its Security Gateway product in October, adding an upgraded Intrusion Protection Engine supporting multi-core CPUs, support for detecting Microsoft vulnerabilities released under the Microsoft Active Protection Program (MAPP) program, and a real-time bandwidth monitor.