The original release versions of the ASA officially combined the separate firewall, VPN and IPS (Intrusion Prevention Systems) functionality of several Cisco devices, although the current PIX OS at the time (version 7.x) supported all these features. Although the Cisco ASA range was launched in 2005 and aligned as a replacement for the PIX range Cisco users tend to resist change and so ASAs have only started to become widespread in the last couple of years. They were finally discontinued in 2008, their longevity was mainly down to their use of the PIX OS which enabled new features to be provided via firmware upgrade without the need for major hardware updates.
The Cisco PIX range of firewall/NAT devices was originally launched in 1995 but the models most readers are likely to encounter are the 501, 506 and 515 which were launched in 2002. There are plenty of alternative vendors providing firewall solutions with many similar features and at a lower price but the industry standard is still Cisco. There used to be a saying in the IT industry that “you wouldn’t get sacked for buying IBM” whilst that may be somewhat dated the same could be said for Cisco equipment nowadays.
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