Touting all-in-one security and simplified management for smaller enterprises, Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances unify and integrate multiple security features onto a single hardware platform. Recent survey results from Info-Tech demonstrate that uptake for UTMs is lacking in the small enterprise market.

UTM: Not Yet Ready for the Big Time

Qualification as a UTM appliance requires integrated network firewall capabilities, intrusion detection and prevention (IDP), and gateway anti-virus (AV) functionality. A recent study conducted by Info-Tech shows that UTM adoption rates fall well below vendor expectations in the SME space. For small shops with 1 to 10 IT employees, the interest in UTM is short of the hype behind these appliances.