Cisco To Update Pix Security Line
"We have new price/performance levels across the board," said Tom Russell, director of marketing at Cisco's VPN/security business unit.
For small and remote offices, Cisco is offering enhanced versions of its PIX 501 and 506E appliances, which provide five to six times the firewall performance and two times the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) VPN throughput of previous models. Existing 501 and 506E customers can obtain the performance gains via PIX OS 6.3 software, available later this month.


The 501 features 60 Mbps firewall throughput and starts at $595. The 506E provides 100 Mbps firewall throughput and is priced from $1,395. Cisco in late April also expects to release a new PIX 501-Unlimited model for $995 that provides unlimited user connections for customers deploying 501 devices in larger environments, Russell said.
Having unlimited user connections out of the box makes the product easier to deploy, said Tom Shaw, president and CEO of Wide Area Management Services, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based systems integrator.
"Anything that offers a bundled unlimited user license is easier to administer down the line," he said.
For the midrange market, Cisco is rolling out new PIX 515E and 525 appliances, priced from $3,495 and $8,995, respectively, Russell said. The 515E-6FE features six Fast Ethernet ports, 190 Mbps firewall performance and 140 Mbps VPN throughput. The 525-2GE features dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, dual Fast Ethernet ports, 300 Mbps firewall and 155 Mbps VPN throughput.
The 515E-6FE costs $7,495, while the 525-2GE costs $13,995.
For large enterprises and service providers, Cisco is boosting the performance of its PIX 535, which offers 440 Mbps of VPN throughput, up from 100 Mbps. Pricing starts at $29,995. The firewall module for the Catalyst 6503 and 6505 switches provides up to 20 Gbps firewall throughput and has intrusion detection and SSL termination upgrade options. Pricing starts at $59,995.