Firewall Appliance Software for PIX 500 and ASA 5500

Cisco Firewall Appliance provides integrated hardware and software delivering full stateful firewall protection and VPN capabilities. It provides in-depth packet inspection and flow-specific monitoring, improved network integration, resiliency, and scalability. Unlike typical CPU-intensive proxy servers, the Cisco Firewall Software uses a non-UNIX secure, real-time, embedded system.

Both appliances (PIX 500 and ASA 5500 series) are based on the industry-leading Cisco Firewall Software currently on version 8.0 as of this writing. The majority of the functions are the same on both appliances, with the exception that in comparison to the PIX 500 series, the ASA 5500 series has the additional support of SSL VPN technology (WebVPN), VPN Load Balancing, the Security Services Module (SSM)—IPS module, Compact Flash (CF) card support, and Aux port support.