We all know that the internet is a dangerous place, and you need protection when you connect your business network to it. But keeping up with the bad guys isn’t something that many small and midsize businesses want to deal with. This is a great place for security and Internet-access VARs to be, and a recent crop of all-but-the-kitchen-sink products will make it easier for VARs to sell into this segment.

The secret sauce is selling managed firewall/router appliances that come with a subscription service to keep these products current. My latest column for eWeek looks at the firewalls-in-a-managed services platform from CheckPoint, Sonic Wall and others.