WatchGuard Firebox security can now be deployed at individual sites or centrally across an SD-WAN network - without changing edge hardware.
Choice is only valuable if you can actually exercise it. If changing a firewall means replacing fifty edge devices, you were never really vendor agnostic.”
SYDNEY, NSW, AUSTRALIA, September 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Nepean Networks adds WatchGuard to Antares, giving MSPs Firewall choice without SD-WAN lock-in.— Jason Maude, Founder, Nepean Networks
WatchGuard Firebox security can now be deployed at individual customer sites or centrally across an SD-WAN network - without changing the underlying edge hardware.
Nepean Networks today announced the integration of WatchGuard firewall deployment into Antares, its multi-tenant SD-WAN and security management platform, extending the security choices available to managed service providers and their customers.
The addition is built around a structural difference in the Nepean Networks architecture: the SD-WAN and security planes are separate. Rather than accepting the firewall bundled with an SD-WAN platform, MSPs select the security technology that best fits each customer - and can change that decision later without replacing edge hardware or rebuilding the network beneath it.
WatchGuard Firebox protection can now be deployed through the push of a button:
• At the edge - dedicated firewall policy and security services for an individual customer location.
• In the network core - multiple sites across the same SD-WAN fabric served by centrally deployed security.
• Across a design that uses both - central enforcement where it suits, local policy where a site needs it.
For distributed customers, the core model changes the economics. Rather than deploying and managing a separate firewall at every branch, MSPs can centralise security where the customer architecture allows it, reducing the number of firewall instances, licences and policy sets that have to be operated. The security layer also evolves independently of the network underneath it.
“We don’t believe choosing an SD-WAN platform should also mean choosing your firewall for the next five or ten years,” said Jason Maude, founder of Nepean Networks. “Networking and security evolve at different speeds, so Antares separates those decisions. And choice is only valuable if you can actually exercise it - if changing a firewall means replacing fifty edge devices, you were never really vendor agnostic.”
The integration expands the mix of commercial and open-source security platforms deployable through the Nepean Networks architecture. It also brings together two technologies designed around the managed-service model: WatchGuard’s Unified Security Platform gives MSPs centrally managed network, endpoint and identity security with licensing structured for providers rather than single enterprises. Antares provides the multi-tenant network management, SD-WAN orchestration, traffic visibility and white-label operating environment underneath it.
“Antares gives us the flexibility to match the firewall to the customer while keeping the same underlying network platform,” said Brian Talbot, Managing Director of Healthy PC in Perth, Australia. “As a customer’s requirements evolve, we can introduce a more appropriate firewall solution with very little disruption. Because the change can be made remotely and without replacing the SD-WAN hardware, we can respond to what the customer needs without turning a security change into a network replacement project.”
Availability. WatchGuard firewall deployment through Antares is available now to Nepean Networks and Fusion Broadband partners across supported regions. Existing compatible SD-WAN deployments can adopt the capability without replacing edge hardware.
Nepean Networks will announce further additions to the Antares platform shortly, extending the intelligence and visibility available across managed customer networks.
About Nepean Networks Pte Ltd
Nepean Networks, which trades as Fusion Broadband in some markets, develops SD-WAN and network intelligence technology specifically for managed service providers. Its multi-tenant Antares platform gives MSPs a single environment for SD-WAN provisioning and management, vendor-agnostic security, deep traffic visibility, network intelligence and technician tooling - delivered under the MSP’s own brand. Nepean Networks has delivered white-label SD-WAN since 2011, with partners and deployments across more than 20 countries, and was awarded the 2020 IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Infrastructure Services Solution.
Media Contact
Nepean Networks press@nepeannetworks.com www.nepeannetworks.com
AU +61 1300 553 526
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Antares is a trademark of Nepean Networks used in relation to network orchestration and management software. WatchGuard, Firebox and Unified Security Platform are trademarks of WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. All other product and company names, logos and marks referenced or shown are the property of their respective owners and are used solely to describe platform compatibility. Their use does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by those owners. This announcement was authored and issued by Nepean Networks.
John Soden
NEPEAN NETWORKS PTE. LTD
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