Firewall Appliance

Computer firewalls act as a barrier between computers on a network. For companies with a computer network or for individuals with a permanent connection to the internet (such as through DSL or cable), a firewall is critical. Without a firewall, intruders on the network would likely be able to destroy, tamper with or gain access to the files on your computer.

Firewalls can come in the form of hardware or software. Without getting into the complex details of how firewalls work, suffice it to say that function with a set of filters that are constantly monitoring traffic on the network. Whenever a packet of information triggers one of the filters, the firewall prevents it from passing through in the attempt to prevent damage. Of course, firewalls sometimes block wanted traffic, and through a continual process of refinement, the filters can be customized to improve their efficacy.
Many computer users, who access the internet via a broadband router, may already be benefiting from a basic firewall. The router itself may be configured to serve as a basic firewall; any nefarious attacks from the network are halted at the router thereby sparing any ill effects to the computer. Such a hardware firewall can be further bolstered with a secondary line of defense in the form of a software firewall; you can never be too safe when using the internet!

Firewall Evolution: As gradually its implementation gained there were ways devices to bypass a firewall the easiest being attack scripts and file embed in the valid packets this lead to the Evolution of firewall as an Application intelligent device.

Such devices would not only check the incoming and outgoing traffic as per the access rules but would truly probe further deep in to any packets to understand the content and validate if its an valid data or mere an attack script. Since the kind of attack evolved in terms of Viruses, Trojans, Application embed attack scripts, Worms, Phising and various other means of attack.

This lead to a new breed of Firewall known as Unified Threat Management unit. This had the functionality of an Firewall, IDS/IPS, Gateway Antivirus, Anti-Spam, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Phising etc. Thus it was one Appliance at any given instant taking care of all activity at the source itself.  Further Evolution of such Appliance to take care of the ever evolving Future Threats.
The only solution available is SMART UNIFIED THREAT MANAGEMENT
An unit having the same Hardware as the base but can scale up on its Application and intelligence to assess and eliminate the ever evolving threat.
Thus leading to an Appliance that can be updated at any given moment on the fly.