Cisco IT Consulting Firm

Cisco is a long-time front-runner in delivering cutting-edge firewall appliances for the broadest possible range of environments. Cisco's Firepower NGFWs Firewalls provide a modern cybersecurity solution that marshals sophisticated hardware, cloud-based services, and machine learning to anticipate, identify, and respond to cyber attacks without manual intervention. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE-certified firewall experts can assist you to design and execute a smooth migration to Firepower Series firewalls from Cisco's legacy ASA 5500-X, ASA 5500, or PIX appliances and show you how to enhance Firepower appliances with Cisco's cloud-based services to build and centrally control IT ecosystems that span branch offices, data centers, private clouds and public clouds. Progent can also help you to maintain and debug older-generation Cisco firewalls. Progent's certified cybersecurity experts can assist you with policy creation driven by leading best practices so you can establish a consistent security posture across all your networked devices anywhere.

Cisco's Firepower NGFW Firewalls
Cisco's Firepower Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) provide a significant performance improvement over Cisco's previous-generation ASA 5500-X firewalls and include centralized management and automation of advanced cybersecurity capabilities like application visibility and control (AVC), next-generation intrusion protection (NGIPS) with intelligent prioritization of risks, advanced malware protection, DDoS mitigation, and sandboxing. For details about Cisco's Firepower family of NGFWs Firewalls, refer to Cisco Firepower firewalls integration services.

Cisco's ASA 5500-X and Legacy Firewalls
Cisco’s ASA 5500-X Series, ASA 5500 Series, and PIX 500 firewall appliances offer combined firewall, IPsec VPN, and intrusion prevention system (IPS) services in compact single-box packages, delivering a broad range of features to match the security and compliance requirements of companies ranging from small businesses to enterprises and Internet service providers. Cisco’s ASA 5500-X Series, ASA 5500, and PIX firewalls enable network security teams to defend their network perimeter and offer secure offsite and mobile access while using powerful administration tools built on Cisco's industry-leading firewall products.

Cisco’s ASA 5500 Series and PIX firewall appliances have reached end-of-life but remain widely deployed in smaller organizations as well as in a few enterprise networks. The ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls represent substantially more value and have superseded the ASA 5500 and PIX lines of firewalls for new installations. Still, Cisco's legacy firewall appliances, if carefully managed, can offer a high level of protection by providing multiple security functions including firewall, IPsec VPN, and IPS.

Following Cisco's acquisition of Sourcefire, the whole family of ASA 5500-X devices can be provisioned to support Firepower Services, built on Sourcefire's Snort product, which is the market's most popular intrusion protection system. Firepower services provide powerful new features such as advanced malware protection (AMP), URL filtering, real-time threat analytics, and security automation.

Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified network engineers can help your organization to maintain and troubleshoot older ASA 5500 and PIX firewalls and can also assist you to plan and implement an efficient migration to Cisco’s ASA 5500-X Series firewalls with Firepower Services. Progent can also help you to plan, deploy, optimize, administer and debug new firewall ecosystems built on Cisco's current ASA 5500-X firewalls with Firepower. Progent's firewall consultants can also assist your organization to migrate from your Cisco ASA 5500-X deployment to Cisco's latest Firepower Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs).

Cisco's ASA 5500-X Firewall Product Family
Cisco's extensive line of ASA 5500-X firewalls includes an improved replacement for each rack-mountable unit in the previous ASA 5500 line of firewalls. Each ASA 5500-X model is suited for the same market as the associated previous models, which offers small and midsize businesses ample room for picking a firewall that aligns with their security requirements and IT budgets. All ASA 5500-X products build on Cisco's proven stateful-inspection firewall technology and all incorporate purpose-built 64-bit hardware with multicore processors and are capable of running Cisco's advanced security services. All devices in Cisco's ASA 5500-X product line provide consistent security across any combination of physical, virtual, and cloud deployments.

For additional details about ASA 5500-X security appliances, Cisco Firepower services, and Progent's support for Cisco ASA 5500-X security appliances, visit Firepower integration and troubleshooting expertise

Cisco's Firepower Services for ASA 5500-X Security Appliances
Cisco ASA 5500-X security appliances work with software or physical modules that support Firepower Services, which offer layered defense against multi-vector attacks. Firepower Services are based on technology adopted by Cisco from Sourcefire. Major features of Firepower Services for ASA firewalls include:

• Layered protection against both familiar and zero-day threats
• Advanced Malware Protection that utilizes big data to discover and remediate security breaches
• A Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System that provides contextual analysis that covers users, network infrastructure, apps, and content to detect threats that incorporate simultaneous approaches
• High-resolution Application Visibility and Control (AVC that is familiar with thousands of applications and can automatically launch standard and custom IPS policies based on the degree of risk

Simpler implementations of Cisco ASA firewalls can be efficiently managed via Cisco's on-device Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) Adaptive Security Device Manager, a web tool provided with all ASA 5500-X versions. ASDM provides an easy-to-use web console for deploying, administering, and debugging ASA 5500-X firewalls and service modules.

For multi-device and multi-site deployments, ASA 5500-X appliances with Firepower can be administered using Firepower Management Center, available as one or several physical units or virtual devices. Firepower Management Center provides centralized firewall management, Application Visibility and Control (AVC, enhanced IPS, URL filtering, and Advanced Malware Protection (AMP). Due to frequent rebranding since Cisco's acquisition of Sourcefire Defense Center, Firepower Management Center has been offered under several names that include Cisco Defense Center, Cisco Firesight Defense Center, and FireSIGHT Management Center.

Cisco's Firepower Management Center offers capabilities beyond those available with Cisco's on-box ASDM utility. Additional capabilities include greater context awareness, Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) with remediation for user devices, a console that offers dynamic network infrastructure visualization, automated policy optimization based on risk assessment of threats, advanced IPS, custom application discovery for Application Visibility and Control (AVC), customized health notifications, enhanced reporting options, and APIs for host input and databases. Hardware-dependent options like clustering, stacking, switching, routing, VPN, and NAT must be handled using either Cisco's ASA 5500-X on-box ASDM or the ASA command line interface.

Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances 5500 Series Firewalls leverage engineering developed for the PIX 500 Series Security Appliance, Cisco's IPS 4200 family sensor, and the Cisco VPN 3000 Series concentrator. These solutions enable the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances 5500 Series Firewall family to offer a platform that stops the widest variety of attacks. Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) 5500 Series Firewalls deliver application security, local containment, and safe VPN connectivity across the entire product portfolio. This breadth of security allows the guarding of any network segment, which includes the most common attack vectors like remote locations, LAN-attached internal users, and remote access VPNs.

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances firewalls deliver robust application security through smart, application-sensitive inspection processes that examine network flows at Layers 4-7. The result is a more secure environment covering Web, voice, and mobile wireless access. To protect against application-layer assaults and to offer better control over the programs and protocols used in their environments, these inspection engines integrate extensive application and protocol knowledge and rely on protection enforcement technologies such as protocol anomaly detection and state monitoring. Also incorporated are attack detection and remediation techniques including application and protocol command filtering and content verification. Cisco ASA firewall inspection engines also provide control over IM and tunneling applications, enabling organizations to police usage policies and free up bandwidth for critical business applications.

For additional information about Progent's support services for ASA 5500 security appliances, go to Cisco ASA 5500 series firewalls configuration and troubleshooting services.

PIX Firewalls
Based around a hardened, specialized operating system that offers rich security services, PIX firewall appliances offer a high level of security and have earned Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4 status and ICSA Firewall and IP Security qualification. Cisco PIX firewall appliances provide security for a broad range of Voice over IP and other mixed-media conventions including H.323 Version 4, SIP, Cisco Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), enabling organizations to safeguard installations of a broad array of current and next-generation Voice over IP and mixed-media applications.

Administrators can also remotely set up, track, and analyze Cisco PIX firewalls via a CLI interface. Safe CLI interface access is available using several methods such as SSHv2 Protocol, Telnet over IPsec, and out-of-band via a console port. PIX firewalls also have robust automatic-update capabilities, a collection of revolutionary secure remote-administration services that make sure that firewall configurations and software images are always current.

For additional information about Progent's consulting services for PIX security appliances, go to PIX 500 firewalls configuration and debugging consulting.

Progent's Migration Support Services for Cisco Firewalls
Since Cisco has stopped offering the PIX and ASA 5500 product lines, many companies are concerned about depending on a key infrastructure mechanism that might no longer be supported. Cisco ASA 5500-X and Firepower Series firewalls have the benefit of being new products and also bring several technical and budgetary advantages in comparison to PIX firewalls. These advantages include significantly higher performance, optional SSL tunneling support, and a modular architecture that guards your investment by allowing you to self-install new security services whenever you need them. Progent's CCIE-certified experts can help you to assess the strategic case for upgrading from PIX or ASA 5500 security appliances, create a migration plan that permits a quick and seamless changeover, help you to install new ASA 5500-x Series or Firepower NGFW Series firewalls, and provide remote training, consulting, and troubleshooting services.

Other Ways Progent Can Assist You with Cisco ASA and PIX Security Appliances
Cisco Firepower Series, ASA Series, and PIX security appliances provide an array of setup, monitoring, and troubleshooting features that give you the ability to configure these security appliances to align optimally with your company's needs. Progent's CCIE authorized network professionals can assist you to build an efficient network infrastructure that includes Cisco firewalls and that offers advanced security, resilience, throughput, and manageability. Progent's CISA and CISSP-ISSP-certified information security experts can help you to develop a security strategy appropriate for your situation and can set up your PIX or ASA firewall to support your security strategy. Progent's security evaluation consultants can assess the strength of your current firewall deployment and help determine the overall security of your entire information system environment. Progent’s Technical Response Center can deliver urgent remote troubleshooting for Cisco technology and can give you quick access to a Cisco expert.

To see additional details about Progent's engineering support for Cisco products, choose a topic:

• Overview of Cisco Engineering Services
• Fast Online Access to a CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Routers Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco Wireless Consulting Help
• Aironet APs Engineering Services
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 Wireless APs Deployment Services
• Cisco Catalyst 802.11ax APs Solution Design, Deployment and Troubleshooting Consulting
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Experts
• Meraki APs Consulting Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting Services and Wireless VoIP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber Migration and Support Services
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Meraki MS Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Network Security Consulting Assistance
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
• Design Expertise for Cisco-based Datacenters and Colocation Centers
• Network Optimization Consulting for Internet Service Providers
• Centralized Management Technologies for Cisco-based Environments

Integration of Cisco and Third-party Security Technology
Progent offers expertise in firewall and VPN products from all major vendors and can help you integrate Cisco technology with additional security solutions to help you build a cost-effective network infrastructure that provides a level of security and flexibility appropriate for your business. Third-party firewall and VPN support services available from Progent include:

• Check Point Software Consulting
• Watchguard Consulting
• Juniper Networks NetScreen and SSG Firewall Consulting
• SonicWall Consulting
• Symantec Raptor Consulting

In order to get in touch with Progent about technical assistance for Cisco technology, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.