Firewalls have long been an essential part of any WAN, hosting and/or infrastructure design. But against a rapidly changing digital threat landscape, there have been changes in recent years, one of the most significant being the trend for SMEs to shift the responsibility of managing the firewall and other network security systems to specialised 3rd parties. As a result, managed firewall services have seen massive growth and consolidation of providers.
Where we are at today is managed firewall services from providers like Redcentric helping keep perimeter protection evergreen, cost-efficient and stress-free – an added layer of security on top of your security equipment to ensure your business is safe and won’t suffer a potential catastrophic setback.
An added layer – and added benefits too, as with every advance in firewall technology itself, comes the opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs) to share it with customers. Virtual firewalls have been designed for use in cloud environments and wherever traditional hardware firewalls are proving costly and complex; and at a time when businesses are increasingly operating at the edge due to the growth in hybrid working, the latter issue is only going to get worse.
The good news is that with the emergence of the virtual firewall has come the companion development of managed virtual firewall services – and with it six significant advantages.
Convenience
Virtual firewalls are software firewalls running on large, shared appliance(s). It’s the same concept as VMware guest machines sharing common server hardware. They have the same functionality as hardware firewalls, but they are more flexible, much faster to deploy, easier to support and patch – and no longer require physical appliances that need to be installed on-site.
Cost efficiency
Forget multiple site visits and physical installs. The faster, zero-touch provisioning and centralised control makes for a highly streamlined, competitive solution, with cost visibility and certainty as well as cost efficiency. And there’s the traditional managed service savings on overheads too – there’s no need to recruit and retain expensive security expertise in-house.
Compliance
Proper protection isn’t just a necessity from a cyber security perspective; all organisations have regulatory responsibilities to safeguard their networks and data with swingeing penalties for non-compliance. Deploying high-end, proactively managed and continuously monitored virtual firewalls is a big tick in the compliance box.
Control
Expectations of cyber security solutions have increased over time and customers increasingly want access to the security platforms protecting them, and with it a lens on configurations, performance and log data and the option to self-serve changes. This is difficult to deliver unless you are working with a virtual firewall environment.
Carbon footprint
Every organisation is sensitive to its carbon footprint and sustainability credentials. Going virtual means a huge reduction in space and power requirements, and less equipment wastage – so greener and leaner, with yet more cost savings on offer.
Capability
Last but not least, managed virtual firewalls give you what every organisation needs – the ability and capacity to secure optimal protection. It’s technology that can be deployed quickly, managed closely, changed easily, with customers empowered with access while MSPs assume the burden of overall control.
Find out more around our managed virtual firewall service here.
