Symantec is bundling five security apps into one box.
The idea is to make it easier for small businesses and branch offices to manage security risks more efficiently by using a single appliance. And save money.

Symantec Gateway Security appliance combines firewall, gateway antivirus software, intrusion detection, content filtering and VPN (virtual private networking) capabilities. It will become available next month.

Symantec reckons the one stop shop approach delivers a cheaper total cost of ownership and tighter integration than a best-of-breed assembly of products from different vendors. The company also argues tighter integration is a must to combat today's blended security threats, such as Code Red and Nimda.

Symantec is offering three models of the appliance: the 5110, which supports up to 50 nodes; the 5200, which handles up to 250 nodes; and the 5300, which is designed to scale up to 1,000 nodes. These appliances are priced at $11,790, $23,590 and $51,990, respectively, Infoworld reports.

Appliances which combine multiple functions are becoming fashionable among networking vendors. This week, ArrayNetworks launched version 3.0 of its ArrayOS software for its hardware appliances, Array 500 and Array 1000 Web Traffic Managers, which combine load balancers, content switches, caches, and SSL accelerators in a single device. ®