Introduction

Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance is suitable for small scale industries that are in the process of expanding their infrastructure, or branch offices with similar scalability prospects and have around 50-100 users working for them.  Barracuda NG Firewall F201 comes with integrated Wi-Fi access point and supports up to 70,000 concurrent sessions with the capability of handling up to 2500 new sessions per second. This security appliance can be a best device for small to medium size branch offices as it has VPN throughput of 160 Mbps.

Who Should Buy?

Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance is useful in:

• Expanding Small Scale Industries – Organizations that have 50-100 users who need to gain access to wireless or wired network resources can use Barracuda NG Firewall F201. Because of decent firewall throughput, Barracuda NG Firewall F201 firewall can provide security to the recommended number of network users on both wired and wireless devices.
• Expanding Branch Offices – Branch offices that are in a regular process of expanding their networks can use Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance to secure their wired and wireless network devices, shared resources, and information from internal and external threats. Because of VPN throughput of 160 Mbps, this security appliance is best for such branch offices as it can support decent number of secure VPN tunnels, hence allowing more concurrent VPN sessions for more business productivity.

What Purposes It Serves?

Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance allows security administrators to:

• Control Applications – Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance helps administrators to implement application layer security by allowing or denying access to layer 7 applications such as Skype, P2P clients, and Web 2.0 applications.
• Set up VoIP – Barracuda NG Firewall F201 allows administrators to set up VoIP which can be useful to reduce calling costs, in case the organization deals in extensive voice calling process.

Top Features and Benefits

• VPN Connections – Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance supports:
• ✓ 160 Mbps of VPN throughput
• ✓ IPsec VPN tunnel support
• Security – Since Barracuda NG Firewall F201 is a dedicated security device especially designed for expanding small scale industries and increasing branch offices, it supports:
• ✓ 350 Mbps firewall throughput
• ✓ Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)
• ✓ Proxy Firewall
• ✓ 84 Mbps Intrusion Prevention Services (IPS) throughput
• ✓ Spam Filtering
• Networking – Apart from other general networking features, Barracuda NG Firewall F201 also supports:
• ✓Network Address Translation (NAT)
• Voice over IP (VoIP) – Security administrators can also manage VoIP by:
• ✓ H.323
• ✓ SIP
• Role Based Access Control (RBAC) – This feature allows administrators to configure Barracuda NG Firewall F201 to link Active Directory users to IP addresses and grant or deny access to network shares and resources according to the defined rule-sets in the polices. Apart from Active Directory integration, Barracuda NG Firewall F201 also supports RADIUS, NTLM, MS CHAP, TACACS+, etc.
• WAN Optimization – Because of data deduplication (byte level caching) and other such optimization features, Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance is capable of compressing WAN data up to 95%, hence remarkably improving business productivity with fast data transmissions over VPN tunnels.

Hardware Specifications – Hardware specifications of a Barracuda NG Firewall F201 include:

• 4 x 10/100 copper interfaces
• 1 USB interfaces
• 3G USB Modem (Optional)
• Single external power supply
• 7.9 lbs (3.6 Kg) Weight
• 1.6 Amp power drawn

Paid Subscriptions

In order to enhance the security of the network, and make the Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance work even more efficiently, security administrators can purchase the following available additional subscriptions:

• Barracuda NG Energize Updates – This subscription keeps the Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance updated with latest updates on hourly basis. Energize Updates can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Instant Replacement – This subscription entitles Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance for instant replacement (within 24 hours), in case something goes wrong with the hardware of the device. Instant replacement program can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Web Filter - This subscription allows security administrators to block unwanted websites, hence restricting users from accessing inappropriate contents available on the Internet. Web Filter services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Malware Protection – This subscription keeps the internal network secure by blocking malware and other such suspicious elements at the Barracuda NG Firewall F201 gateway itself. Malware Protection services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.
• Barracuda NG Web Security – Web Security services are a combination set of Web Filter and Malware Protection services and can also be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis. Since Web Security is a bundle of Web Filter and Malware Protection services, organizations are not required to purchase the said two services individually in case Web Security services are purchased.
• Barracuda NG SSL VPN and NAC – This subscription enables Barracuda NG Firewall F201 security appliance to set up SSL VPN tunnels and Network Access Control (NAC) to secure the network and its sensitive information from threats. SSL VPN and NAC services can be purchased on 1 year, 3 years or 5 years subscription basis.

Other Similar Models

Barracuda NG Firewall F200 model has identical hardware specifications and features as those in Barracuda NG Firewall F201, with the exception that Barracuda NG Firewall F200 does not have integrated Wi-Fi access point to support wireless devices.