Deployment snapshot: six Netgate 6100s for a multi-site UK training provider

October 2026 · Customer details anonymised at their request — the order, timeline and process below are real.

At a glance

The requirement

Multi-site organisations buying firewalls have a different problem from single offices: whatever they choose gets multiplied. A per-site security subscription doesn't just cost once — it costs per site, per year, forever, and the renewal paperwork multiplies with it. For a training provider with several locations and one finance team, six subscription firewalls means six renewals a year to track, budget and approve.

Standardising on one appliance across every site was the other half of the brief: identical hardware means one configuration pattern, one spares strategy, and any site's firewall can be swapped or rebuilt from a known template.

Why the Netgate 6100

The 6100 sits in the sweet spot for multi-site estates: 10GbE SFP+ uplinks for headroom the sites will grow into, serious VPN capacity for linking locations together, and pfSense® Plus licensed for the life of each device — intrusion detection, content and threat-feed blocking, and software updates all included, with no per-site, per-user or per-year security fees. Across six sites and three years, the difference against subscription-based alternatives typically runs to several thousand pounds — the arithmetic is in our 3-year TCO guide and it only gets more persuasive when you multiply it by sites.

How the purchase worked

The order came through our website as an order enquiry — no payment taken online. The customer raised a purchase order; we issued a pro forma invoice against it the same day; their finance team paid by BACS; a full VAT invoice followed on payment. The units were ordered from Netgate's European distribution hub immediately and arrived within the week, then went on to the customer tracked and signed-for, with delivery free of charge.

That quote-first flow isn't an accident — it's how we handle every order, because it suits how real organisations buy: POs, pro formas and VAT invoices rather than a card form, and a human confirming stock and delivery dates before any money moves.

Running firewalls across several sites?
Tell us how many locations and what's there today — we'll price a standardised Netgate estate with nothing to renew, bundle discounts included.
Price my estate → See the TCO maths

Multi-site buying — frequently asked questions

Can we buy Netgate firewalls against a purchase order?+
Yes — that's how most of our multi-unit orders work. You raise a PO, we issue a pro forma against it, and a full VAT invoice follows on payment. No online card payment is required at any point, which suits education, training and public-sector procurement.
How quickly can multiple units be delivered?+
Appliances are supplied to order from Netgate's European hub in Dublin. On recent multi-unit orders, units arrived with us within a week of payment, then went out to the customer tracked and signed-for. We confirm a firm date when the order is placed.
Is there a discount for buying several units?+
Yes — multi-unit bundle pricing is shown on each product page (4-packs and 5-packs on most models), and for larger or mixed orders we quote individually. Tell us what the estate looks like and we'll price it properly.
What does a multi-site Netgate estate cost to run each year?+
In mandatory fees: nothing. pfSense+ is licensed for the life of each device, with security features and software updates included. A comparable six-site estate on subscription firewalls typically costs several thousand pounds every year in security-service renewals — that difference is the main reason multi-site organisations standardise on Netgate.