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Cisco Expands Security

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cisco Systems® (NASDAQ:CSCO - News) today announced two new models in its Cisco® ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security appliance family: the Cisco ASA 5505, a next-generation solution designed to defend small businesses, remote offices and enterprise teleworkers, and the Cisco ASA 5550, which extends gigabit-class threat protection and highly scalable IPsec and Secure Sockets Layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) services to large business sites. As part of the announcement, the company introduced numerous enhancements to the Cisco ASA family's underlying software that, when combined with the advantages of a broader appliance portfolio, can extend the benefits of integrated security across an organization.

Cisco ASA 5505 and 5550 appliances are core components of the Cisco Self-Defending Network. Both appliances are part of a multifunction network security appliance family that offers the necessary breadth and depth for protecting businesses of all sizes. Their proactive threat defense helps prevent attacks from spreading throughout corporate networks, helping businesses protect various segments of a network while consolidating security investments, minimizing deployment complexities and reducing operation costs.

The Cisco ASA 5505 packs many capabilities into its compact desktop form factor. Designed for providing high-performance security services for next-generation broadband environments, it delivers 150 megabits per second (Mbps) of firewall throughput and 100 Mbps of encrypted VPN throughput. It also provides significant flexibility and investment protection through its unique modular design, offering an expansion slot for future capabilities. In addition, the Cisco ASA 5505 can act as a hardware VPN client for simplified management. It offers hardware-accelerated SSL VPN services, an integrated 8-port 10/100 switch that supports the creation of multiple security "zones," and two built-in Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) ports. Among their many uses, these PoE ports can provide zero-touch deployment for Cisco IP phones and can power Cisco wireless access points for enhanced user mobility.

The Cisco ASA 5550 extends the market-leading firewall and IPsec/SSL VPN services to support large-enterprise network environments. It can deliver more than 1.2 gigabits per second (Gbps) of firewall throughput and supports 200 virtual local-area networks (VLANs), so businesses can segment a network into numerous high-performance zones for improved security. It also offers highly scalable VPN services, supporting as many as 5,000 IPsec and SSL VPN clients per appliance. Using its integrated VPN clustering and load-balancing capabilities, businesses can cluster up to 10 Cisco ASA 5550 appliances, supporting a maximum of 50,000 concurrent IPsec and SSL VPN users.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)