New Firewall Hardware - Sophos XG 86(w) and XG 106(w)

The sale of the two smallest XG models, the XG 85(w) and 105(w), will be discontinued in mid-year. Sophos is already introducing the successors with the XG 86(w) and XG 106(w), which can be pre-ordered from us starting today.

Which models are affected?

Before we get to the new features, let’s take a quick look at which models we are talking about here:

New: XG 86 Rev. 1 - Previously: XG 85 Rev. 3
New: XG 86w Rev. 1 - Previously: XG 85 Rev. 3
New: XG 106 Rev. 1 - Previously: XG 105 Rev. 3
New: XG 106w Rev. 1 - Previously: XG 105w Rev. 3

XG 86

The XG 85 was almost unusable until now. We could only approve the use of this hardware for a maximum of 3 users. But even then, we personally would have always advised the XG 105. The hardware of the XG 85 is simply too weak in terms of performance from our point of view. If you take a quick look at the Sophos forums, you’ll see that this is not just our opinion.

Sophos has now probably realized that a hardware update is urgently needed here and is responding with the XG 86 and XG 86w as successors. Visually, everything remains the same, but in terms of performance, the new firewalls now have twice as much RAM and storage:

RAM: Instead of 2 GB RAM, 4 GB are now installed.
eMMC Storage: Instead of 8 GB storage, 16 GB are now available.

XG 106

The XG 105 was not exactly a performance monster either, but it was quite usable as an entry-level model. The design of the XG 106 has also not changed. However, it receives a RAM update:

RAM: Instead of 2 GB RAM, 4 GB are now installed.

Availability and Prices

The new hardware is expected to be available from Sophos starting April 9, 2019. Based on experience, however, it could still take some time until these devices are shipped by Sophos and arrive in stock. We expect them no earlier than mid-May. However, you can still pre-order the new firewalls via our website. We will ship the new hardware models as soon as they have arrived with us!

Sophos XG 86
Sophos XG 86w
Sophos XG 106
Sophos XG 106w

Since we can now also send all products in our shop to customers in Germany, the pre-order naturally applies to Swiss, Liechtenstein, as well as German customers! Also read our blog post on this: Avanet Shop: Welcome Germany! 🇩🇪

The new hardware will be delivered with firmware version 17.5 MR3 and has become slightly more expensive compared to the previous models. Sophos cites the double memory and increased RAM as the reason for this.

End of sale of the XG 85(w) and XG 105(w)

The new models replace the current XG 85(w) and 105(w) appliances. The end-of-sale date is August 17, 2019. Depending on the remaining stock, perhaps even earlier.

SG with UTM

Just as there was no counterpart for the SG series for the XG 85, no SG 86 or SG 106 firewalls will appear. Malicious tongues would not miss the opportunity at this point to once again emphasize the strategic death of the SG series and the UTM operating system. 🤭