Until a couple of years ago, everything was fine regarding my main use cases for Cisco Secure Firewall. I didn't have any problems with the equipment, quality, or support. However, in the last couple of years, they started making our lives difficult. Trying to renew the partnership with them became challenging as they were requesting numerous things on our side, and since we are a very small business, it wasn't possible to get through that verification.

Until a couple of years ago, everything was fine regarding my main use cases for Cisco Secure Firewall.

They are definitely reliable, and regarding positive features, once you get through with the purchasing of this equipment they offer their special support schemes, SmartNet support schemes, which are quite useful.

They offer their own software, and regarding integration capabilities, it's not wise to have only one vendor. One might get Cisco Secure Firewall for the outside drone and then get some other software from other companies such as ESET or Panda for the PCs and the servers, and that's how it's typically done.

Regarding policies about partnership, they are losing, not us. There are other equipment options out there that don't require such strict requirements.

With the new systems that Cisco Secure Firewall is deploying right now, I don't have experience with downtimes. With older systems, it happened once with a big customer that they went through the repair and they actually hacked the whole thing. It wasn't actually the equipment's fault. It was a customer's fault because we were begging them to implement two-factor authentication mechanisms, and they never did it, and in the end something happened. That's understandable. You can't blame the equipment for that.

The technical support for Cisco Secure Firewall once you have the SmartNet is very good. The people are always willing to help, they can even log on remotely on the devices and check things. They're very good with that.

It depends on the customer, and regarding the deployment time of Cisco Secure Firewall, it depends on what you want to implement. To set it up just for getting out to the internet may take a couple of hours. However, to prepare a skilled network with site to site VPNs, it's going to take days.

There are other equipment options out there that don't require such strict requirements.

They say that their new software for Cisco Secure Firewall is AI compliant, whatever that means. They have some kind of databases on the cloud, the system communicates with them in order to monitor the traffic getting through and clearing things and stopping attacks or whatever. Everybody does this, but at what level they do it, nobody really knows.

The security policies that an organization has are also upon the IT people and the management to properly identify and implement. If they don't do these things, and they don't update the software of the servers, they leave all the usernames and passwords vulnerabilities there and they don't do something about that, you can't blame the equipment. It's the perimeter kind of firewalling you have with the equipment. But after that you have to do something on your own to help yourself.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give Cisco Secure Firewall an eight.

The solution is used in a normal enterprise-level configuration. It has effectively worked as a perimeter firewall. Our VPN was also configured on it.

The threat prevention is better than FortiGate, but it is less effective than Palo Alto. The VPN functionality is consistent, and the performance is good.

Cisco Firewall is not user-friendly. They complicate simple configurations, requiring multiple steps. Compared to Palo Alto and FortiGate, it is not as effective. Cisco Firewalls require FMC for management.

If you have a small to medium-sized office with only a few firewalls, you can deploy and manage them without FMC. However, without FMC, it is not fully functional, limiting the features available. You cannot use the asterisk value in address objects in Cisco.

In other firewalls, hovering over an object displays details like the IP address. With Cisco, you need to access the object to see inside details. Cisco should improve this aspect. The NAT process is handled differently, which I do not like. Obtaining support is challenging compared to FortiGate and Palo Alto.

Although knowledge-wise they are good, obtaining technical support and involving an engineer in a troubleshooting call is a challenge.

I have used the solution for almost two years.

The scalable performance is good, however, the voice communication is not effective. Compared to FortiGate and Palo Alto, it lags in configuration and other aspects.

Knowledge-wise, they are good, however, obtaining technical support and involving an engineer in a troubleshooting call is a challenge.

The deployment was a normal activity, similar to how enterprises operate. It worked as a perimeter firewall, and our VPN was configured on it. The installation took approximately half a day.

For mid-sized organizations, I do not recommend it. For ISPs or data centers, I would recommend it due to its good performance and hardware capabilities. Their hardware can handle substantial amounts of data without causing latency. I recommend it for ISP or data center. For enterprise purposes, I do not recommend it.

I rate the overall solution seven out of ten.

I implemented the product which provides end-to-end networking and security features. It starts with secure tunneling, and I performed micro-segmentation in the firewall specific to a particular customer environment. It offers comprehensive security as well as networking features that I have enabled.

The software was mainly the highlight. Most firewalls have a challenge of identifying keywords and providing restricted access, which I encountered. However, Cisco Firewall has very good features, like trusted applications and restricted access for users based on keywords. I could access it appropriately, unlike some firewalls where this is a challenge. Essentially, the restricted access to websites has been exceptional. I was in the life science industry, focusing heavily on compliance. This product meets compliance requirements, and the security process has improved. Stability and consistent performance are critical components of Cisco's product.

The integration, especially for APIs or with other firewall products, is a challenge for me. In some satellite sites where large firewalls are not involved, I used Cisco Meraki. The integration between Cisco products themselves presents difficulties, such as SD-WAN configuration. Managing centralized networking with Cisco is challenging for me in terms of integration with other firewall products.

I have used the solution for almost four years.

The solution is stable and performs well.

Scalability presents a challenge. There is commercial involvement and several factors, making it complex for me. I would rate scalability seven out of ten.

Technical support is unsatisfactory for me. There might be restructuring within Cisco India or with the partner's capability. Whenever I encounter a technical support challenge, it is not an easy process. Even with premium support, it is a struggle. I have to provide many logs, yet problems remain unresolved, often requiring workarounds rather than solutions.

The initial setup is not simple as it is all based on my requirements. If the requirement or site is predominantly complex, specialist involvement is necessary. However, for a vanilla installation, it is fine - just not easy.

I have assessed and decided to move on to Sophos. Sophos's support is excellent compared to Cisco and other products, with their technical support team based in South India. I have received a lot of good feedback about it.

Overall, I would rate the product six out of ten. Because of the support and cost, I moved away from Cisco, but otherwise, it is a good product. Recommendation depends on the requirement. If lacking a proper team and being dependent on the OEM and partner, Cisco is not suitable.

However, if the team is qualified with Cisco-certified people and the requirement is a big network, it can be considered. In today's hybrid work world, having an expanded gateway is more typical than having a single one. Thus, Cisco is unlikely to be recommended for a hybrid requirement unless in-house skills align. Otherwise, depending on partners and Cisco, it can be a risk.

I rate the overall solution six out of ten.

I am a system engineer, and I've been looking for some details and competitive information regarding the standards of this firewall and similar technologies.

There is a good relationship between real throughput, meaning the root performance, and the data sheet performance. When comparing it to other vendors, the data sheet performance is often more than expected and more than the real performance. It includes features like IPS, malware protection, and other security features.

The management usability and security of Cisco Firewall are based on Firepower Management Center, which is quite out of date compared to other vendors.

I have used this solution for more than ten years.

The SLA is great, and the escalation process is also great. For example, if I have a priority one case, I am able to call the manager to raise the severity, etc. So the SLA is very good.

When compared with other competitors like Palo Alto or Fortinet, Cisco stands in a good position regarding the firewall environment. Compared to Fortinet, Cisco is a bit higher. When comparing with Palata and Juniper, Cisco has the same price level.

I am well prepared, and it is quite easy. Cisco has really great documentation, like a deployment guide and a quick start guide, etc.

If engineers are well prepared, it is good to note that Cisco has really great documentation. I have been working with AI features in the Cisco environment with Cisco Firewall, etc. I have been hearing and reading a lot about the integration of AI capabilities into Cisco devices, but I have not worked with that yet.

Overall, I would rate this an eight out of ten.

Cisco Secure Firewall is a next-generation firewall that can be used for various security applications.

The advantage of using Cisco is its integration within the Cisco fabric, which allows for effective threat detection and mitigation.

Cisco could improve its score by developing more features that integrate seamlessly with various applications and investing in hardware acceleration to enhance performance.

The product is stable with minimal glitches or latency issues.

The solution is easy to install, requiring minimal expertise. Deployment time varies, but it can take about two days for a medium-sized company with 200-300 users to configure and install.

After five years of product usage, the high return on investment and low total cost of ownership can be observed.

Pricing depends on partnerships and certifications. The engineering team's certifications can qualify it for seven to eight percent discounts.

The platform's integration capabilities depend on the project context. In some cases, integrating Palo Alto may provide better performance, but Cisco can still be effective.

However, its classification in industry comparisons, such as those from Gartner, is lower than that of competitors like FortiGate and Palo Alto.

Overall, I rate it seven out of ten.

Cisco Secure Firewall has impacted our cybersecurity cost efficiency.

The important features are IPS intrusion prevention, anti-malware, and anti-spam.

Cisco firewall needs experience with hardware. They should also enhance security antivirus, application detection, user detection, and ID detection.

I have been using Cisco Secure Firewall for three years.

300 users are using this solution.

The support is good.

The initial setup is easy, but it takes some time to push the configurations. Also, it's a little complicated and not friendly to use. It is good only for IT and experienced people.

The deployment took two months and a team of two to three people.

The pricing is average.

I recommend the solution to medium and enterprise customers since it is expensive.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I deployed the Cisco Secure Firewall at the Internet Edge for the most part.

We use the solution for deep packet inspection, Internet Edge functionality, IDS, and IDP.

The solution’s GUI could be better.

I have been using Cisco Secure Firewall for six years.

Cisco Secure Firewall is a scalable solution that allows you to add capacity.

The solution’s initial setup is straightforward.

The solution’s pricing is competitive.

I rate the solution's ease of management and configuration an eight out of ten. I would recommend Cisco Secure Firewall to other users based on what they want it for and a combination of price point and supportability.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.