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Kerio WinRoute Firewall 6.4

The Kerio WinRoute Firewall is an interesting product for this category. The product is not just an SSL VPN, but a full-on firewall package designed for Microsoft Windows. Features include a stateful packet inspection firewall, gateway anti-virus and web content filtering. The VPN can be accessed either by using a client application or clientless via a web browser.

This tool can be installed directly onto a machine running Windows 2000 or later that has two NICs. One NIC is connected to the network and the other to the internet. WinRoute will become the gateway after installation.
Installation takes just a few minutes and is guided by a simple installation wizard. After installation, all configuration is done via the administration console on the local machine. We found this console to be easy to use and intuitive to navigate.

The WinRoute Firewall is designed to plug directly into the Windows environment. This product can interface with Active Directory and seamlessly integrate into the existing infrastructure. The VPN itself can be configured as a site-to-site server-to-server VPN to tie branch offices to headquarter resources, or it can be used as a client-to-server VPN so that remote users can access resources remotely.

There are several PDF guides and manuals available via the website. Documentation includes an administrator's guide, configuration guide, administration console guide and VPN client guide. All these guides are well organized with clear step-by-step configuration instructions, examples and screen shots.

Kerio offers both phone and email support, as well as patches, updates and upgrades to customers, through a subscription basis. Customers also have access to an extensive support area on the website, which includes a knowledge base, product downloads, technical documentation and a FAQs section.

With a price of about $400 for the standard edition and $500 for integrated McAfee Anti-Virus for virus filtering of all web, FTP and SMTP traffic at the gateway, we find this product to be an average value for the money. While it does offer a lot in the way of a firewall and gateway, the VPN functionality is very limited.
Product title
Kerio WinRoute Firewall 6.4
Product info
Name: WinRoute Firewall Description: Price: $399
Strength
Very nice software firewall with anti-virus and web filtering.
Weakness
VPN functionality is quite limited.
Verdict
If you’re looking for a good low-end firewall/gateway with some VPN capabilities, this one should get your attention.

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