Cisco Network Consulting Firm

Cisco's PIX security appliances and Cisco ASA Series firewalls integrate next-generation firewall, intrusion protection, and VPN technologies in an affordable, single-cabinet format. Both product families offer powerful client and program policy support, mutlivector assault defense, and safe access features. The increased knowledge sharing of integrated security features in a single package offers customers implementing these integrated solutions the benefits of advanced security, lower cost of ownership, and less maintenance expense.

PIX firewalls and Cisco's ASA 5500 family combine with IOS Firewall, the Firewall Services Module (FWSM) for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switches, and Cisco 7600 family routers as components of Cisco's flexible, integrated firewall line. Based on a scalable, building-block approach, every offering is designed with a particular feature set to deliver more efficient security to different network situations. These solutions can be individually installed to protect specific facets of a network environment, or can be grouped for a systematic, defense-in-depth approach based on the design best practices described in Cisco's SAFE framework. Completing the modular firewall product line, Cisco provides a complete security management offering, spanning Cisco security device and IOS security features and built-in appliance managers, to self-contained management programs, moving to ensure that businesses can effectively use their Cisco security solution investments.

PIX Firewall Appliances
The popular PIX firewalls deliver reliable policy support, multi-source attack protection, and safe connectivity services in affordable, easy-to-deploy modules. These purpose-built devices provide a broad range of built-in security and networking capabilities such as state-of-the=art application-aware firewall services, market-leading Voice over IP (VoIP) and multimedia protection, robust multi-site and remote-connectivity IPSec Virtual Private Network (VPN) networking, high availability, intelligent networking services, and flexible administration solutions. The Cisco PIX Security Appliance Series family spans small plug-and-play appliances for small or at home offices to stackable high-bandwidth products with greater ROI for enterprise and service-provider customers, Cisco PIX firewalls deliver dependable security, speed, and reliability for network environments of all sizes.

Cisco PIX firewall appliances offer a wealth of configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting options, giving businesses the flexibility to use the methods that most closely meet their requirements. Management solutions range from common, policy-based management tools to integrated Web-accessible administration to compatibility with remote-tracking standards such as Simple Network Management Protocol and syslog. The integrated ASDM system offers a powerful Web-accessible control solution that greatly streamlines the installation, ongoing configuration, and monitoring of a specific Cisco PIX firewall without requiring any extra software beyond an ordinary Web browser and Java applet to be running on a manager's PC. Administrators can also remotely configure, track, and troubleshoot PIX firewalls using a command-line interface. Protected command-line interface access is possible using several methods, such as Secure Shell Protocol, Telnet through IP Security (IPSec), and out-of-band through a console port. Cisco PIX security appliances also include dependable auto-update features, a set of revolutionary protected remote-administration options that ensure security configurations and software images are kept current. In addition, Cisco PIX security appliances are supported by a number of configuration and tracking tools offered by Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) partners.

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances 5500 Series Firewalls
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances 5500 Series Firewalls are purpose-built devices that incorporate market-proven, best-of-breed protection and VPN support plus an innovative, adaptive design. The result is a robust, multifunction network security appliance better able to defend small and medium business and larger networks and, at the same time, lower the total installation and maintenance costs associated with this new degree of security.

Cisco ASA 5500 Series firewalls deliver strong application security via smart, application-sensitive inspection processes that analyze traffic at Layers 4-7. This produces a more secure environment covering Web, voice, and 3G-mobile wireless connectivity. To protect networks against application-layer attacks and to give organizations more policing of the programs and protocols used in their networks, Cisco's inspection engines integrate broad application and protocol knowledgebases and rely on security enforcement solutions such as protocol anomaly detection and state monitoring. Also included are attack detection and remediation techniques including application and protocol command filtering and content verification. Cisco ASA 5500 Series firewall inspection engines also provide management of instant messaging and peer-to-peer file sharing, enabling organizations to police usage policies and preserve bandwidth for important business applications.

At the same time as increasing network security, Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) firewalls also lower installation and support expenses. By providing broad Virtual Private Network and protection functions, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series firewall can be used as the the only platform for a multitude of environments, enabling product commonality. The Cisco ASA 5500 Series firewall can be used as a converged attack-prevention device at the datacenter by leveraging its access control, application inspection, and malicious assault remediation technologies. The Cisco ASA firewall can also be used as a specialized remote connectivity device utilizing its VPN features. Alternatively, the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) 5500 Series firewall serves equally well in the network interior for inter-office connectivity management and to guard against malicious assaults inside workers might unwittingly introduce into the network. In small business and satellite office networks, the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) firewall acts as an all-in-one platform offering comprehensive intrusion defense and Virtual Private Network services while suiting the cost structure and operational models of these deployments. This versatile single-device, multiple-solution approach lowers the amount of devices that must be installed and managed while providing a standard functional and management environment across all installations. This architecture streamlines the education of configuration, tracking, support, and security staff. To further reduce maintenance expenses, Cisco ASA firewalls are also highly network aware, enabling these devices to insert seamlessly into the network without disrupting authorized traffic and applications.

How Progent's Cisco Certified Experts Can Help You with Cisco PIX and ASA Security Appliances
Cisco PIX security appliances and Cisco ASA Series firewalls provide a wealth of configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting features which offer you the flexibility to configure these security appliances to align optimally with your company's requirements. Progent's CISM and CISA certified security experts can help you to create a security policy appropriate for your situation and can set up your firewall to enforce your security strategy. Progent's CISA-certified IS security auditing professionals and GIAC-certified IT security professionals can evaluate the effectiveness of your current firewall solution and help determine the security of your whole IT environment. Progent can also troubleshoot your firewall both remotely or on premise, and can educate your in-house network support personnel to configure and support your PIX or ASA firewalls.

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