Sophos Firewall Rev. 3 - SG/XG 85-135 completely revised

This news should reach as soon as possible all people who are thinking about buying a new XG/SG. Indeed, Sophos is expected to launch new desktop appliances (Rev. 3) between late February and early May 2018. We have compiled everything worth knowing for you and packed it into this article.

Which models are affected?

Before we get to the innovations, let’s take a quick look at which models we are talking about here in the first place:

New: XG 85 Rev. 3 – Previously: XG 85 Rev. 2
New: XG/SG 105 Rev. 3 – Previously: XG/SG 105 Rev. 2
New: XG/SG 115 Rev. 3 – Previously: XG/SG 115 Rev. 2
New: XG/SG 125 Rev. 3 – Previously: XG/SG 125 Rev. 2
New: XG/SG 135 Rev. 3 – Previously: XG/SG 135 Rev. 2

More performance, new look, additional ports

Following the hardware update of the SG/XG 210 – 450 appliances in September 2017, it is now the turn of the SG/XG 85 – 135 desktop appliances. While the large SG/XG 210 – 450 simply underwent a bit of product maintenance, Revision 3 of the SG/XG 85 – 135 brings completely new features with real added value. The new appliances are expected to deliver convincing connectivity, flexibility, reliability and performance, and will create a significant competitive advantage over other firewalls in this segment.

The performance improvements compared to revision 2 are impressively shown in the following table:

Revision 2 vs. revision 3 comparison table

Renewals for the XG 85 up to the SG/XG 135:

CPU upgrade (Intel Atom Apollo Lake) brings about 20% more performance
HDMI connection instead of VGA as before
all (w) models get the wireless standard 802.11ac
COM via Micro-USB
new case & packaging design
new rackmount kits (old ones don’t work anymore!)

Renewals for the SG/XG 105 – 135 Appliances

1x SPF port
Connection for a second power supply unit for fail-safe operation

The SG/XG 125 and 135 models additionally receive expansion slots for:

a 3G/4G module
a module for direct DSL insertion
a second Wifi module (only for SG/XG 135w)
an optional, second Wi-Fi transmitter module for the SG/XG 135w ensures better performance and range and enables simultaneous transmission at 2.4 and 5 GHz.