The small and medium business firewall market continues to evolve as organizations balance cloud security services against on-premises appliance deployments.
SASE solutions promise simplified management and reduced hardware footprints, but many SMBs still need local network protection for IoT devices, medical equipment and other network-attached resources that cloud-only approaches cannot effectively secure. That’s where tabletop firewall hardware fits into the market, providing a small form factor network security appliance.
Network security vendor WatchGuard is now updating its Firebox Tabletop series of firewalls with new components and specifications to deal with modern and emerging threats.
“We’re kind of in a hybrid mindset when it comes to protecting our customers,” Ryan Poutre, director of product management, network security, at WatchGuard told Network World. “There’s a lot of things that cloud can’t protect. So, if you have a lot of IoT, or you have medical equipment in your office, like a dentist or a chiropractor, the need to protect the IoT and the local network resources is still better done by an appliance on the network.”
T-Series models target different deployment scenarios
WatchGuard is rolling out four new Firebox Tabletop series (T-Series) models to address specific use cases across the SMB market:
- T115-W: Entry-level wireless model with Wi-Fi 7 and 4GB of RAM, designed for solo professionals and micro-offices
- T125: Traditional top-selling model with faster UTM (Unified Threat Management) and data transfer, ideal for small businesses and retail stores, supports Wi-Fi 7.
- T145: Features high-speed 10G network port, fanless operation with ultra-low-power CPU, and optional Wi-Fi 7.
- T185: The most powerful model offering 250% faster branch office VPN performance compared to legacy T85, with ultra-quiet fan operation.
WatchGuard made strategic processor choices across the lineup. Most models use MediaTek processors, which Poutre explained provide the optimal balance of performance, reliability, and cost. “We found these to be very reliable, very fast, and they’re the right cost to keep these appliances in the price range that customers need to purchase them,” he said.
The T185 represents an exception with its Intel processor, reflecting its role as the highest-performance model approaching rack-mount capabilities. WatchGuard designed all models with optimized heat distribution through new enclosures, enabling fanless operation on several models for improved reliability and reduced noise.
The wireless-capable models introduce Wi-Fi 7 support across the board. The T115-W’s inclusion of 4GB RAM stands out as an unusual specification for entry-level devices, specifically chosen to reduce performance bottlenecks at higher bandwidths.
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WatchGuard
Cloud management platform integrates XDR capabilities
The appliances run Fireware 12.x, WatchGuard’s hardened Linux-based operating system with custom security layers.
The most significant software development involves migrating from local web-based management to WatchGuard Cloud, a centralized platform that manages firewalls alongside the company’s endpoint and Wi-Fi products.
The cloud platform integrates directly with WatchGuard’s XDR (Extended Detection and Response) system, which uses AI models and machine learning for cross-product event correlation. When the firewall’s APT Blocker sandboxing identifies zero-day malware, the XDR platform can automatically instruct endpoint protection software to quarantine affected systems or clean infected files.
“It provides this layer of automation and correlation that you don’t get alone with a firewall, and that’s done through AI models and machine learning and some other mechanisms built that WatchGuard maintains,” Poutre said.
Compliance requirements drive small business adoption
Among the reasons why tabletop firewalls are a business need is compliance.
Compliance requirements cascade down to very small businesses through supply chain relationships that have created an unexpected driver for hardware deployments. Poutre described meeting with tiny contractors who suddenly face cybersecurity mandates from larger clients.
“I feel like I’ve had a lot of meetings with smaller organizations that are saying, ‘Look, I have to be compliant to this new standard, because I’m doing the HVAC system for this company,’ and this little, you know, five-guy shop is just doing air conditioning and heating, but now they’re thrown into this cybersecurity world that they know nothing about,” he said.
Primary compliance frameworks include PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) for retail deployments, NIST and CIS cybersecurity frameworks and FIPS certification requirements for government contractors.
Hardware refresh continues through 2026
WatchGuard’s approach directly addresses the ongoing hardware versus cloud security debate by advocating for hybrid deployments rather than wholesale migration to SASE architectures. The company offers both physical appliances and a cloud-native SASE solution called Fire Cloud.
The tabletop refresh represents the first phase of a broader hardware modernization initiative. WatchGuard plans to release updated rack-mount appliances later in 2025 and into 2026, featuring similar interface upgrades and performance improvements.
“We’re really excited about getting kind of a full top-to-bottom refresh from our hardware done here over the next six months to wrap that up, and then a lot of work in kind of the SASE space here at WatchGuard,” Poutre said.
Source:: Network World