A Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance is designed to combine multiple security functions like firewall, antivirus, content filtering, and intrusion prevention into one device to provide comprehensive protection against different types of network threats. This helps to simplify management and improve security posture by dealing with numerous security features through a single pane of glass. Firewalls primarily monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules, while access points are devices allowing wireless devices to connect to a wired network, and a router connects multiple networks together and directs traffic.