Today, we are thrilled to introduce two long-awaited Sophos Firewall releases.
Presently Accessible:
Our latest XGS Series desktop units unlock exceptional performance, energy efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, providing unparalleled value for SMB and branch office settings.
Currently in Early Access Program – Anticipated General Availability on October 17:
The release of Sophos Firewall OS v21 brings support for external threat feeds to enhance Active Threat Response, includes several scalability and high availability upgrades for distributed edge networks, and offers highly requested features like Let’s Encrypt certificate support.
Updates
Second Generation XGS Series Desktop Devices
Today, we unveil nine new desktop firewalls featuring an incredibly efficient architecture for leading performance and energy efficiency.
Superior Performance and Efficiency
All newly launched models offer up to a 2x enhancement in overall performance.
By leveraging the improved acceleration capabilities of the virtual FastPath in SFOS v21 and the streamlined design in eight of the nine new units, Sophos achieves up to a 3x growth in IPsec VPN throughput compared to the prior generation.
This superior performance ensures that your networks are shielded from the latest encrypted threats and zero-day vulnerabilities.
For better total cost of ownership (TCO), these new firewalls provide increased performance and protection while utilizing half the power of our earlier models – which were already highly efficient. Moreover, an enhanced thermal setup and the introduction of four fanless editions enable near-silent operation in noise-sensitive environments.
Enhanced Threat Protection by up to 4X
In addition to the performance upgrades for our new hardware models, all Sophos XGS Series firewalls have undergone comprehensive testing using the latest industry-standard evaluation techniques, ensuring a 2.7x to 4x surge in threat protection throughput compared to our earlier metrics, solidifying our standing as a leader in the competitive arena.
High-speed Connectivity
Empowering customers to fully exploit multi-gig speeds over their wired and wireless networks, all models are equipped with a variety of high-speed interfaces and connection options, including:
- 2.5 GE interfaces on every model
- Wi-Fi 6 on all w-models supporting concurrent 2.4/5 GHz
- Dual 10G SFP+ fiber interfaces on the XGS 138*
- An optional 5G module* for units with a modular bay offers a cost-effective redundancy or failover solution for SD-WAN
For further details, visit our website.
Watch this brief video for an introduction to the new hardware:
Sophos Firewall OS v21
Sophos Firewall OS v21 is also live today and accessible to all partners and customers through our early access program before its general release later this month.
Sophos Firewall OS v21 brings:
- Active Threat Response with external threat feeds, expanding our automated response capabilities with threat intelligence from specialized external feeds for various sectors like healthcare, education, and operational technology
- Improved scalability, performance, and resilience for IPsec VPN, high-availability setups, authentication, and web security
- Effortless upgrade support from your existing XG or XGS Series device to the latest hardware with any-to-any backup and restore as well as port-mapping assistance
Enhanced management and usability upgrades in various aspects, including a revamped and more responsive management interface, network object management, and Let’s Encrypt certificate support
- Zero-touch deployment was added in v20 MR1 and now comes preinstalled on the new second-gen XGS Series desktop models. It simplifies setup in Sophos Central and the deployment of new firewalls to remote branch offices via drop-ship.
XG Series not Supported
Customers using SFOS on an XG or SG Series device must shift to the XGS Series to leverage this release. The new any-to-any backup/restore functionality eases the upgrade from XG to XGS through our port mapping assistant.
Refer to the What’s New Guide for a comprehensive overview of all the new features and explore our blog series for an in-depth look at the enhancements in Sophos Firewall OS v21, accompanied by demonstration videos showcasing many of the new functionalities.
Recap
Whether you are an existing Sophos client ready for your next firewall upgrade or currently using a competitive firewall and exploring renewal options, Sophos Firewall consistently earns top ratings in customer evaluations and continues to deliver value throughout its entire lifecycle.
For more details, contact your local Sophos partner or representative or visit Sophos.com/Firewall.
Footnotes:
* Unavailable in Japan
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