Cisco Rolls Out New PIX Firewalls, Enhanced OS

Cisco Systems has unveiled new additions to its PIX firewall line, an updated PIX operating system and a new SAFE Blueprint for IP telephony, all efforts aimed at boosting the company's security posture, particularly in the converged networks arena.

The new versions of the PIX 506 and 515 firewalls join the new E series, which is designed for small offices. The 506E is a plug-and-play appliance that features a quieter fan and up to 70 percent more Triple DES (Data Encryption Standard) VPN performance than the existing 506, said Tom Russell, director of product marketing at Cisco, based here.

The 515E is designed for small-to-midsize environments and provides up to two-and-a-half times more firewall throughput than current 515 devices, he said. It also features integrated, hardware-based VPN acceleration.

The new versions of the PIX firewalls, updated PIX operating system and new SAFE Blueprint for IP telephony are aimed at boosting Cisco's security positive, particularly in the converged networks arena.

The new PIX products bring superior performance to the lower end of the market, particularly in the VPN segment, said Scott Strochak, president and CEO of Xtelesis, a network integration firm in Burlingame, Calif.

"These products will allow our customers to confidently extend VPN capabilities to their networks without worrying about performance degradation that can be seen in some IPSec VPN products," he said.

"The new PIXes will help our customers protect their long-term investment, as they will be able to increase bandwidth without the need to necessarily buy bigger, faster firewalls," Strochak added.

Cisco also rolled out version 6.2 of its PIX Operating System. A key enhancement in the OS allows PIX firewalls to perform as hardware-based VPN clients, which greatly simplifies VPN management, Russell said.

Other new OS features include Point-to-Point over Ethernet Protocol (PPPoE), improved ISP compatibility in SOHO networks, LAN-based fail-over functionality, and enhanced management and multimedia capabilities.

Slated for availability in March, PIX OS version 6.2 supports all of the PIX platforms.

Jeff Wankel, senior consulting engineer at N2N Solutions, Schaumburg, Ill., applauded the new price points and enhancements to the PIX line and said the new capabilities in the PIX operating system are a big improvement to a good product.

The ability to use PIX as a hardware-based VPN client is a major plus that will allow the use of PIX at certain remote sites where it couldn't be used previously, Wankel said.

The additional horsepower of the 515E will support more VPN capabilities, he said.

"We have some clients that could use these features right away," Wankel said.

Cisco has also enhanced its SAFE Blueprint for security with the release of the SAFE Blueprint for IP telephony, which provides security recommendations for IP telephony and deployment guidelines.

Since it was launched more than a year ago, the SAFE Blueprint has proven popular, said Sean Convery, technical marketing manager at Cisco.

"It really speaks to a larger issue in terms of security," he said. "Partners and customers

are anxious for this kind of information that explains how to deploy security in a systematic way as opposed to focusing on individual point products."

IP telephony is the next area that customers are looking to secure, so having a method sanctioned by Cisco is helpful, Wankel said.

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