WatchGuard Firebox M695 review: Powerful enterprise network security at a sensible price

"Targeting large environments with around 1,250 users, the M695 moves to Intel power as this 1U rack appliance replaces the elderly NXP LX2160A SoC (system on chip) in the M690 with a more modern Gen14 8-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-14701E CPU. System memory sees a doubling to 32GB of DDR4 while internal storage is handled by a 128GB M.2 SSD."

"The new hardware delivers an impressive performance, boasting a high raw firewall throughput of 45Gbps and 10.2Gbps with antivirus (AV), the intrusion prevention service (IPS), and application controls all activated. Compared with the M690, these numbers represent increases of 51.5% and 122% respectively."

"A quick glance at the front of the M695 shows that WatchGuard has removed the port expansion slot from the previous series. Instead, you get a much wider range of fixed ports that should cover most connection requirements. Across the front, you have banks of eight and four 2.5GbE multi-Gig ports, four Gigabit SFP fibre, four 10GbE SFP+ fibre, and two 10GbE RJ-45 copper ports. One feature absent is PoE support, as the M690 accepted WatchGuard's optional four-port with PoE+ expansion module. Although we always thought this was a bit of a kludge, as it requires an extra 54V power brick plugged into a dedicated port at the rear to enable power delivery."

WatchGuard Firebox M695 is a 1U rack security appliance aimed at large environments of about 1,250 users. It replaces the M690's NXP LX2160A SoC with an Intel Gen14 8-core 2.6GHz Core i7-14701E, doubles RAM to 32GB DDR4 and uses a 128GB M.2 SSD. Measured raw firewall throughput reaches 45Gbps and 10.2Gbps when AV, IPS and application control are enabled, representing 51.5% and 122% improvements over the M690. The front panel provides banks of 2.5GbE multi‑Gig, Gigabit SFP, 10GbE SFP+ and 10GbE RJ‑45 ports, and PoE is not supported. Power uses a single rear PSU with an optional proprietary redundant 250W module.

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