Typically the compelling events that drive a migration to UTM are that the existing security infrastructure is becoming too costly and too complex to support and enhance.
Secondly, governance is always driving security solutions but at present the new UK RoHS (Restriction of the use of Hazardous Substances) directive that came into force on July 1st 2006, is eliminating some of the traditional choices in the Security market and fuelling demand for UTM products.
But the question is where do you actually start with UTM? Is it really feasible to swap out traditional security applications and base them on UTM instead? Of course this “big bang” approach may be desirable for a green field site but for the vast majority, a phased approach is best.
Many people will start with the UTM platform and just run one application initially, probably the firewall. Later they add more applications as the business dictates or the licenses on older security applications expire.
Traditional Approaches
Using the older security architectures a complete security system might easily be made up from six to ten different applications from different vendors.
Scaling this kind of installation upwards to protect a large enterprise network can be extremely complex and the multiple security applications will almost certainly impact upon network performance, introducing a need for formal load-balancing.
Traditional layered security
Consolidated UTM security
The new UTM approach gives important business advantages and surprisingly significant cost savings. For example, if we consider the capital expenses and the operating costs of a typical traditional architecture and compare this to the operational costs of UTM solution, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is clearly lower; a payback in as little as eighteen months is perfectly possible.
If the ease of adding in future upgrades, improved availability and efficiency gains are added into the calculation, the payback will be nearer to twelve months.
As well as showing good returns at large sites, UTM is ideal for
small-to-medium users and large sites linked to branch offices and
smaller satellite sites.
