Question: How does the ASA compare with the competition?

awaithaka · ‎07-08-2008

Hello's

I'm in the market looking to replace my current PIX firewalls. I've been looking at the ASA and the competition (Checkpoint, SonicWall) and was wondering if i could get some added expert opinion on how you think the ASA compares/competes.

thanks,

Sky.

5220 · ‎07-09-2008

Hi,

It very much depends on what you want to do with the firewall.

For SSL you can use Juniper Netscreen (they are the best) or the ASA (second choice).

For IPSEC VPN and Firewalling i would choose ASAs(best choice) then Nestscreen (second choice). My company currently is replacing all the Checkpoints with ASAs.

http://www.networkworld.com/ap/searchresults.jsp?qt=firewall+test&hpg1=sb&

You'll find in the link multiple tests performed by NetworkWorld for various features for the firewalls on the market.

Please rate if this helped.

REgards,

Daniel

husycisco · ‎07-09-2008

Hello Andrew,

Your reason why you want to replace your PIX with a better one is the key determinant on which model of firewall you should have.

Fortinet's Fortigate products are also suitable for small-mid sized companies. Cisco's products are modular (Conext security, IPS, Anti virus are different modules), hence expensive. Fortinet products are "Unified" which contains all of the above, and suitable for lower IT budget.

Regards

awaithaka · ‎07-09-2008

As much as i have read about the UTM model, I'm still of the school of thought that i want my firewall to perform firewall functions only and other products to perform Anti-virus and IPS functions. I'm not sold on the UTM model. That could change, but at this moment, not so much :)

thanks

Sky.

Collin Clark · ‎07-09-2008

If you read the article from Network World, they basically state that UTM is still immature. We put IPS in our ASA's and Netscreen's (DI), but that's it. I like both the ASA's and the Netscreens. We have both in our environment and we sell both to our customers. The Netscreens do some things better and the ASA's do some things better. It boils down to what you need the firewall to do.