All-in-one security appliances that combine firewall/VPN capabilities with intrusion prevention and virus protection seem all the rage these days, particularly among midsize companies.
Just watch out when you add VoIP to your traffic mix. It turns out that VoIP can experience a 10 - 50 percent performance hit when the traffic is forced through one of these appliances.
Not only are the voice packets being examined more closely, but the box is forced to work harder as it attempts to process lots of smaller voice packets. As you know, delay is the arch enemy of voice, so you don't want to add to this problem.
I'm encouraged by the development of acceleration technology that speeds VoIP processing to ensure the best possible voice quality, despite deeper packet inspection to ferret out viruses. Vendors are also adding QoS to their appliances so that voice gets priority treatment.
Look for these capabilities so you don't have to sacrifice performance for security. The aggravation saved is priceless!
