Fortinet has announced availability of a new FortiGate unified threat management device that will eventually replace an older model for midsize businesses.

FortiGate-620B is part of a refresh of the hardware used in Fortinet's line of multi-function security platforms and will eventually replace FortiGate-1000A, the company says.

The new UTM has a faster firewall than the older box -- 16Gb vs. 4Gbps -- and faster antivirus screening at 250Mbps as opposed to 100Mbps for the older device. At US$16,000, the price of FortiGate-620B is $1,000 more than for FortiGate-1000A.

A feature of higher-end FortiGate boxes, network segmentation with unique policies, is included on the FortiGate 620-B

The devices can support antivirus, intrusion prevention (IPS), spyware prevention, antispam, Web content filtering, traffic shaping, VPN and firewall. They compete against products by Juniper, Cisco, SonicWall, Watchguard and others.

The new FortiGate device has 20 Gigabit Ethernet ports, with an AMC expansion slot for four SFP firewall ports. The slot can also be used for a supplemental hard-drive module.