The most popular firewall for small business for the last 5 years worldwide was the ASA 5505. Cisco released the New Version of this popular firewall, branded as the ASA 5506. The difference is huge. This new device has a tremendous number of feature enhancements. Not only does it continue to provide expert routing capabilities at a low price, stateful inspection firewall security features, 3 DES encryption, can handle speeds up to 750 mb of bandwidth in certain configurations, and has a BotNet protection option, but it also uses the world class Cisco Anyconnect Virtual Private Network. For small offices, the 5506W is a wireless enabled model that can provide a/b/g/n wireless coverage as part of the single box.
More importantly, it has added new options with the world class FIREPOWER and FIRESIGHT built onto the box itself. This suite of security can be accessed without requiring an external server and can be monitored and administered through a basic browser inside your network. With Firepower you can add Intrusion Detection and Prevention, Antimalware Defense and URL blocking and filtering. This can also be integrated with Active Directory for further security and ease of management.
If you are running an older firewall, or even a firewall that you purchased 6 months ago, you might be running on old technology. Don’t let the outside threats threaten your business. The 5506 is an affordable solution for any business.
If you are running a larger organization and need a brawnier firewall, you may consider the new 5508 or the 5516 which were released at the same time as the 5506 with the same base features. The biggest differences is speed and support for even higher bandwidths.
Read more here: ASAFirewallDatasheet
