News Release

Cisco Raises the Bar on Price/Performance with Release of New High-End PIX Firewall

SAN JOSE, Calif, Sept. 6, 2000 - Delivering strong
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Sep 06, 2000

SAN JOSE, Calif, Sept. 6, 2000 - Delivering strong price/performance for securing corporate networks, Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced a powerful new addition to its Cisco Secure PIX. Firewall family.

The Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 525 is a robust security appliance delivering a 25 to 30 percent boost in performance for the PIX product line. This increased performance makes the PIX 525 an ideal solution for the demanding firewalling and VPN requirements of e-Business environments.

Specifically targeted at large enterprise customers, the PIX 525 offers high levels of security, reliability and throughput (370 Megabits per second) > for a fraction of what it would cost to implement and maintain competing high-end firewalls.

Cisco estimates price/performance for the new PIX 525 at $64.86 per Mbps of throughput. That's about 60 percent less than the nearest competing product, which costs $163.79 per Mbps of throughput, depending on hardware configuration. Cisco can deliver this savings because the PIX firewall is an integrated security appliance with its own, hardened operating system, which makes it easier and less costly to manage than software-based firewall solutions.

"Cisco's PIX firewall offers the best total package: scalability, price, flexibility, and performance. It's got it all," said Dwight Gibbs, Chief Technology Officer for The Motley Fool, which uses PIX firewalls to secure its popular financial Web site, Fool.com. "One of the things we really like about the PIX is that it enabled us to quickly and inexpensively roll out a VPN linking our offices in the US, UK, and Germany. We can now collaborate securely thanks to the PIX."

In addition to the PIX 525, Cisco is extending its PIX firewall family with several new, high-end enterprise solutions. The company announced:

  • Cisco Secure PIX 5.2 software, delivering significant feature improvements, including expanded interface support for up to eight fast-Ethernet ports, intrusion detection capabilities, Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) client and server support, voice over IP (VoIP) protocol enhancements, and support for terminating the new Cisco VPN 3000 Client.

  • A price reduction for its Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 520, offering Cisco customers greater value and increased flexibility to build upon existing PIX 520 deployments. The PIX 520 with an unrestricted license will list for $19,000 USD. The PIX 520 with a license restriction of 1,000 users will list for $13,000 USD. The PIX 520 with a license restriction of 128 users will remain priced at $9,000.

  • Cisco Secure Policy Manager LITE, a new low-cost version of Cisco Secure Policy Manager that is designed for initial security management implementations and cost-sensitive environments. The LITE version provides security policy management for up to three Cisco Secure devices, including PIX firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems and VPN products. CSPM LITE is available immediately at a list price of $2,000 USD.

  • Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 506 is now shipping. Targeted at remote offices and branch offices, the PIX 506 delivers enterprise-class security, performance and VPN capabilities for less than $2,000.

"Security is a fundamental element of networking, which is why we think it's so important to offer customers an array of solutions for protecting the network," said Dennis Vogel , product line manager for the Cisco PIX firewall family. "If you're going to survive in the Internet Economy, you're going to have to consider a range of security steps. You're going to want to fortify your business by building an intelligent, self-defending network."

The PIX 525 is now the best performing integrated firewall in the Cisco Secure PIX Firewall family, handling throughput of up to 370 Mbps. It contains a 600 MHz Intel Pentium III processor, up to 256 MB RAM, and two integrated fast-Ethernet ports.

Pricing and Availability

The Cisco Secure PIX Firewall 525 is now available at a starting price of $16,000 USD. PIX 5.2 software is free to customers with current Cisco SmartNet support contracts. A one-time software upgrade can also be purchased for $1,200.