SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2000 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today unveiled the Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 506 for small businesses and small enterprise branch offices. Cisco also announced an update of its Cisco Secure Policy Manager software for the enterprise, providing integrated management of IPsec encryption for both Cisco Secure PIX firewalls and Cisco IOS. routers.

With the explosion of broadband access, organizations are increasingly demanding security and VPN services in remote locations. In addition, small businesses are increasingly tapping the power of the Internet for competitive advantage. Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 506 addresses these environments by delivering enterprise-class security, performance and virtual private network (VPN) capabilities at an entry level price.

"Any organization connected to the Internet should have a firewall on every Internet gateway. There is strong demand for firewall security with VPN capabilities from both small organizations and small sites within large enterprise networks," said Abner Germanow, research manager of Internet security at International Data Corp. "The Cisco PIX 506 extends Cisco's strength at the low end of the firewall appliance market to help bring much needed security to small sites and remote networks."

To manage large distributed deployments of its security solutions, Cisco also introduced Cisco Secure Policy Manager 2.0. This new version of the powerful security policy management system adds enhanced scalability and support for IPsec VPN configuration capabilities in Cisco routers and firewalls.

"As enterprises deploy VPNs to give employees access to the corporate network, they need a means to effectively manage security policies," said David King, senior manager of security solutions for Cisco. "Cisco Secure Policy Manager 2.0 provide a scalable and manageable solution for Cisco firewall- and router-based VPN implementations."

With Cisco Secure Policy Manager 2.0, customers can define, distribute, enforce and audit network-wide security policies from a central location, making the product particularly valuable for the enterprise market. Cisco Secure Policy Manager streamlines the tasks of managing complicated network security products and technologies, such as perimeter access control, Network Address Translation (NAT) and IPsec-based VPNs. It also simplifies the deployment of security services supported by the Cisco Secure PIX Firewall family and Cisco IOS based VPN routers.

The PIX 506 is the smallest integrated firewall in the Cisco Secure PIX Firewall family about the size of a hardback novel. It efficiently handles throughput of 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) and 3DES encryption at 4Mbps. The PIX 506 contains a 200 MHz Intel Pentium processor, 32 MB RAM, 8 MB flash memory and two integrated fast Ethernet ports.

In addition to the PIX 506, the market leading Cisco Secure PIX Firewall family includes the PIX 515 firewall, aimed at small-to-medium businesses, and the PIX 520 firewall, which is designed for the large enterprise.

Pricing and Availability

The Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 506 will be available in May at a starting price of $1,950 USD. Cisco Secure Policy Manager 2.0 will be available in late April at $7,500 USD.