News Release

Cisco Expands ASA with FirePOWER Services Providing Threat Protection to Midsize Businesses, Branch Offices and Industrial Environments

Expanded models of the threat-focused next-generation firewall delivers optimized security offerings for companies and the partners that help protect them
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Apr 06, 2015

SAN JOSE, CA, April 7, 2015 – As organizations of all sizes face an increasing volume of cyber attacks that place sensitive data, company assets and intellectual property at risk, Cisco is announcing new models of Cisco® ASA with FirePOWER Services, the industry's first threat-focused next-generation firewall (NGFW) -- providing midsize companies, branch offices and industrial environments with the same advanced malware protection and threat detection capabilities deployed by large enterprise organizations.

According to a recent PwC study, security compromises at midsize organizations increased 64% in 2014.  They face the same challenges as enterprises when it comes to securing their network and data, but often rely on legacy and outdated security platforms that fail to provide protection before, during and after an attack.  Attackers are finding distributed sites and industrialized locations to be attractive targets because they are often viewed as easier entry points to access sensitive information and data either at the remote location or on the corporate network.

Enterprise-Level Threat Protection

Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services delivers the industry's first threat-focused NGFW by combining stateful firewall, application visibility and control (AVC), advanced malware protection (AMP), and next-generation intrusion prevention capabilities (NGIPS) into a single device, delivering integrated, continuous threat protection that can be pervasively applied across a broad range of enterprise sizes and locations as well as into industrial locations.

Cisco AMP detects and controls advanced and zero-day attacks, advanced persistent threats and  targeted attacks. Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services offers a multi‐layered threat protection solution, closing blind spots common with disparate point solutions and combining pervasive visibility with many unique detection techniques, including continuous analysis, big data analytic and Cisco threat intelligence.

Lower Total Cost of Operation

Many midsize companies and midmarket organizations still rely on a patchwork approach to security, resulting in security investments being far from maximized. Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services radically changes that by tightly integrating multiple threat protection technologies, and at the same time lowering the total cost of ownership. Automated tuning and correlation capabilities prioritize events and reduce false‐positive alerts, reducing IT staff demands – especially in environments where these models are deployed as pervasive threat sensors across the network. Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services also flags previously unknown malware, significantly reducing time to detection and time to resolution from weeks to hours.

Simplified Security Management

Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services delivers flexibility with standard, unified on‐box management for single‐instance deployments, which combines control over access policies and advanced threat protection functions. The user interface provides quick views on trends and the ability to drill-down for details. Optional centralized management maximizes threat visibility, contextual information, and analytics across the distributed enterprise.

Managed Security and Migration Services

Cisco Managed Services for Security can supplement customers' internal protection efforts with full‐time, proactive, systematic threat monitoring and management.  For customers migrating from existing legacy firewalls or in need of deployment assistance, Cisco offers migration services that help distributed enterprises and organizations with remote and branch offices accelerate the deployment of Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services. Cisco, along with its partners, provides the expertise, creating deployment plans, and testing and implementing the solution to maximize cybersecurity threat defense and performance.

ASA with FirePOWER Services Models

  • 5506-X – Desktop threat centric NGFW for small and home offices as well as small businesses
  • 5506W-X – Desktop threat centric NGFW with Integrated wireless access point
  • 5506H-X - Ruggedized threat centric NGFW for Industrial environments
  • 5508-X and 5516-X – 1RU threat centric NGFW for branch offices and midsize businesses

Pricing and Availability

The solution is available now. Pricing starts at US $995 including a Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services appliance and management.

Supporting Quotes

Saqib Malik, Network Architect, Houston Methodist Hospital

 "It is critical for us to be able to securely share information between our hospital's enterprise network and the local networks located at the physician clinics throughout the greater Houston area.  We need to ensure that the clinics' networks don't become an entry point for attackers to gain access to our enterprise network.  Cisco's next-generation firewall solution meets our threat-centric security requirements for our enterprise and off-site physician clinics and this is the reason why we see Cisco as a trusted security advisor.  The low cost of ownership was built in since we already use Cisco ASA 5500 series on our hospital network, so when we deployed the Cisco ASA 5508 model, our IT staff did not have to go through the time-consuming process of ramping up.   Another key feature is how simple it is to manage security with the FirePOWER Services for ASA's, which includes NGIPS, AMP and URL and web-filtering on one box, as well as how quickly we were able to deploy the Cisco ASA 5508 and apply policies across the networks."

David Goeckeler, Senior Vice President, Cisco Security Business Group

"Hacking is a sophisticated business, and as the attackers become even more profit-driven, midsize businesses, branch offices and industrial environments are increasingly in their crosshairs. As organizations work to protect themselves and their partners, they require security solutions that combine sophistication and simplicity, while also offering low TCO. The new models of Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services address that exact need with advanced threat protection capabilities along with easier management and cost savings that improve an organization's security efforts – before, during and after an attack."

 

Supporting Resources

RSA Conference – ASA Next Generation Firewall Demo - Booth N3801

Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services for SMB and Distributed Enterprise

Cisco Security Webcast

 

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies transform the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.

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