Unified Threat Management, a concept proposed by IDC in Sep. 2004, refers to a set of integrative security devices, which includes multiple functions of firewall, VPN, Gateway anti-virus, IPS, Access control, Intranet monitor etc. Though UTM has been a top concerned network security product, it seems that there are still some obstacles hindered its proceeding.

 

An investigation conducted by CCW Research showed that user cognition of UTM was very low. Only 5.9% subjects ever heard of it. People who absolutely had no idea about it took up 72%. UTM, which is considered to be more suitable to be applied in SMEs, even has less influence among SMEs. Moreover, user attitudes towards UTM were diversified. Though there were 12.2% subjects believed its high performance and simple maintenance, 20.1% people had doubt of its maturity, and 24.9% users claimed its bad performance in fact. Study found that maturity and reliability were two major considerations when people applied security products. Though UTM was good at cutting down input costs and management costs, some of its products still didn’t perform well. Analysts suggested that continuous improving of UTM techniques was important, while high user cognition was also critical.