Awall provides many of the features of expensive commercial firewalls in a significantly more cost-effective package. For a technical summary read on, management summary - 'It does all you'll ever need'.

Management via serial console allowing password reset, restore factory defaults, set Lan IP address and reboot the system. A web interface provides day to day management with SSL support if required. Firmware upgrade is supported via the web interface.

The firewall is stateful inspection with block/pass rules and logging. The WAN interface supports DHCP client as well as PPPoE providing ADSL support for most Internet Service Providers via an appropriate DSL modem. DMZ is available on all models from the Enterprise II up.

Network Address Translation (NAT/PAT) is supported in all forms including Static, Dynamic and 1:1. Alias names are supported for full networks or individual hosts.

VPN supported on the WAN interface for both Road Warrior and LAN-LAN. Ipsec tunnels support DES/3DES/Blowfish/CAST128 encryption with SHA1/MD5 hashing.

Shared keys, certificates and ESP/AH authentication are also supported. PPTP is supported with or without encryption (mppe) using local user authentication or RADIUS Authentication and/or Accounting. The number of both Ipsec and PPTP tunnels is limited only by Internet bandwidth and Awall resource.

The LAN interface supports DHCP server/relay, caching DNS forwarder (proxy), SNMP and static routes. Traffic shaping is supported enabling bandwidth management for groups of users, groups of systems or traffic types.

The system can be backed up and restored via the web interface using an XML file.

Memory usage is around 5Mb on CD or Compact Flash for a basic system. Enterprise I has throughput of around 17Mbps while the top of the range models can achieve throughputs in excess of 50Mbps. A cold boot will complete in under 1 minute.

From £499+VAT installed and configured.