End of Sale – Sophos XG Firewall Hardware

At the moment, there are XGS and XG firewalls that run SFOS. For anyone who prefers the UTM operating system, the SG series is still available. However, sales of XG Firewalls will soon be discontinued, which makes it a bit easier again when choosing a new firewall.

The history of XG hardware

The first version of the XG Firewall was launched in November 2015 together with Sophos Firewall OS (SFOS). The new operating system had a difficult start and was barely usable at the beginning. The hardware was identical to the SG hardware; the only difference was the preinstalled operating system. We have described the journey from the UTM operating system to SFOS in the article Sophos UTM: End of support at the end of 2021.

In September 2017, revision 2 of the rack models followed, for both the XG and SG series. New desktop models were not long in coming and in April 2018 the new 3rd-generation XG/SG models were released. For the first time, there were at least visual differences between the SG and XG series.

Because the XG 85(w) and XG 105(w) did not offer enough performance to support SFOS version 18, Sophos introduced the XG 86 and 106 with more RAM as successors in April 2019.

With the launch of the new XGS firewall series in April 2021, the era of the XG Firewall is now coming to an end.

For all UTM users: The SG models from 2017 (rack models) and 2018 (desktop models) are still current and, as far as we know, no new appliances are planned.

XG series going end-of-sale

XG Firewalls will continue to be sold until 30 September 2021. After that, only remaining stock will be available. This step is not surprising, as the new XGS hardware has already been on sale for more than three months.

Sophos is allowing a little more time for accessories. If you might later need a new power supply, rackmount kit, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G or FleXi port module for your XG Firewall, you can order these from us until the end of 2022.

❗ Caution: Accessories for XG are no longer compatible with XGS hardware.

XG end-of-life already at the beginning of 2025 🪦

For customers running an XG Firewall, the end-of-life date is critical. On that day, Sophos discontinues support for the product and RMAs are no longer processed. Sophos has set the end-of-life date for the XG series to 31/03/2025. This results in a last possible renewal on 31/03/2024.

The end-of-life date particularly affects customers who have only recently purchased an XG Firewall. The 100% Sophos promo, which is still being offered, has increased the number of new customers. Even so, there is no need to panic. There is still plenty of time until the end of 2024, and it would not be surprising if Sophos were to come up with an attractive XG-to-XGS promotion at that point in time. 😎

End-of-life for software versions as well

Sophos recently announced that from the end of July 2021 older software versions will no longer be supported. When a new version is released, its predecessor automatically reaches end-of-life.

This decision has a direct impact on the revision of an XG Firewall. Even today, SFOS v18 can no longer be installed on an XG 85(w) or XG 105(w). For all other XG models with revision 1 or 2, v18.5+ is the final stop.

We already published a blog post some time ago that explains which hardware will soon be excluded from new features: For which firewall hardware SFOS v18 or v18.5 is the final version.

Security made simple 😜

Until around 2019, Sophos’ slogan was always Security made simple.

Bit by bit, this phrase disappeared from data sheets and from the website. It can now be found on the Cisco Meraki website instead. 😂

Compared with other manufacturers, Sophos security may still be very user-friendly, but the changes in recent months have been demanding for existing customers. Even for us, who spend 100% of our time working with Sophos every day, it is not always easy. Sophos is not exactly a communications champion and sometimes announces changes with only a few days’ notice.

As radical as Sophos’ recent decisions may seem, they make sense for two reasons:

1. Even a larger company like Sophos has only limited resources and cannot maintain multiple generations of hardware and software.
2. The platform needs to be developed further and prepared for new threats, which requires up-to-date hardware and software.

The exception

Every rule has an exception, and at Sophos this exception is called “UTM”. UTM customers are sitting comfortably and, with all the changes around the SFOS platform, Sophos is giving them even more reasons to stay with UTM.

Anyone who has stuck with an SG appliance and the UTM operating system since November 2015 has so far been spared the stress that XG customers have had to endure. Nevertheless, it is no secret that Sophos’ future belongs 100% to SFOS.

So why does Sophos keep this platform running? Sophos is a business that ultimately needs to make money. At the moment, the UTM community is still too large and valuable to upset. It is therefore only a matter of time before an end-of-life date is also set for UTM.