Tech Guides: Using Your Hosted Firewall Solution

Posted October 2, 2018

In Managed IT Service Providers, Managed IT Services, Managed Network Services, Managed Service Provider, Managed Services

In this week’s tech guide, we’re going to take a peek at what makes a hosted firewall solution such a valuable asset to the security of your business network. It constantly works to protect your business from unwanted access and keeps your network online without fear of threats affecting your productivity.

What Is a Hosted Firewall Solution?

We recently shared a little bit about what a hosted firewall is and how it functions in your company. You can recap on that blog post here. For a little background information, you should know that hosted firewall solutions are constantly monitored security protocol, hosted and watched by an outside company.

Working with an external firewall manager majorly reduces the time between detection of the problem and troubleshooting. Because the network is being monitored 24/7, problems often appear to the technicians before they begin affecting your work. That means less downtime and more efficiency.

Choosing the Right Package for Your Business

In most cases, hosted firewall solutions take 1 of 2 forms: premises-based or cloud-based. Some companies, like Verus Corp, even offer hybrid options that fit your needs perfectly, depending on the kind of service that you’re looking for.

Premises-based firewalls allow for truly secure, end-to-end VPN protection. With cloud-based security service, data has to pass through your host’s “cloud” before traveling back into the VPN tunnel. While true that the information remains encrypted during this time, it’s not a true “VPN experience” when using cloud-based security.

Cloud does have its benefits, though. For example, it is highly scalable, and the total cost of ownership is typically much lower than a premises-based solution. Generally, there is little to no need to upgrade or add new hardware to enjoy the benefits of cloud-hosted security. Instead, you can pick a bandwidth plan that is appropriate for your business and upgrade as needed.

Many existing network monitoring solutions are cobbled-together point solutions designed to address particular problems without regard to related issues. They often lack integration and are hard to support. VerusGuard, our hosted network monitoring, and management solution, solves these problems and gives you the entire picture of how your network is running in one central view—from network traffic to application performance to device events.

Kyle Vinar

Kyle Vinar is Partner / President of Verus Corporation. He oversees all business operations and coaches Verus teams to continually improve on their solutions from client experience to product development and overall solution implementation. He works with all Verus resources to increase efficiencies and excellence in every aspect of their organizational roles. Kyle believes that people are the last real competitive edge that a company can have and constructing a rich culture is a vital step in running a world-class organization. Therefore he strives to create a culture within Verus that allows everyone to show up authentically and grow both personally and professionally, which in turn allows Verus Corp team members to provide clients with top-of-the-line service. Kyle helps balance strategy, capacity, and culture in such a way that has allowed Verus Corp to achieve exponential growth since he joined the company in 2013. One of Kyle’s greatest professional achievements has been in helping lay the foundation upon which Verus Corporation could be named the 2nd Best Place to Work by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Kyle holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from St. Cloud State University. He lives in Champlin with his wife and 3 children. He has enjoyed volunteering as a soccer coach for over 6 years and was the former Director of Coaching for Rebels Soccer Club. If Kyle isn’t on the sidelines of one of his children’s soccer games or in the audience of his eldest’s musicals, he can often be found cruising scenic routes on his Harley, in a deer stand, or on the golf course.