We tend to use the solution as it's forced on us by corporate. Our company wants us to use it.
Senior MIS Manager at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Stable with great security and good scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is excellent for enterprise-level networks."
- "If the implementation was easier, it would be a lot better for us."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The solution is stable. We haven't had any issues in that sense.
The security of the hardware is excellent. Cisco is very serious in its approach to security.
We have a high level of trust in Cisco and its products.
The solution is excellent for enterprise-level networks.
What needs improvement?
The solution is difficult to use. There's more required than a typical firewall. It's different than, for example, Palo Alto and Fortinet, which we find are easier to set up.
If the implementation was easier, it would be a lot better for us.
It would be such a great product for us if it was easier to manage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with the solution for more than ten years. It's been a long time. It's been over a decade at this point.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. We have no problems with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've found the solution to be scalable. A company shouldn't have any issues with expanding it if it needs to.
We have about 300 users on the solution currently. We do plan to continue to use Cisco in the future.
How are customer service and support?
We use third-party technical support that's offered and we're quite satisfied with the level of attention we receive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have knowledge of Palo Alto and Fortinet.
While those two are easier to set up and control, nothing compares to Cisco in terms of security. They're very strong in that regard. We also find Cisco to be more stable.
However, we only use Cisco firewalls in our organization. We don't use anything else.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation is not so straightforward. It's rather complex and we have a lot of trouble with it.
The implementation took us about one month.
We plan to implement an updated version next month as well.
We need three to eight people to handle the setup.
What about the implementation team?
I did not handle the implementation by myself. Rather, it's done by another team including the original support from Singapore and with license support from headquarters in Japan.
However, our team does handle the implementation in-house, and we can handle the setup for clients as well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We do need to purchase licenses. Those come from headquarters in Japan. They handle the details in terms of pricing. I'm not sure of the overall costs.
What other advice do I have?
We're both a customer of Cisco and a reseller.
This month we plan to upgrade from our existing hardware.
Overall, we've been happy with the results we've gotten. I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Network Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Easy to operate with good technical support, but needs better logging features
Pros and Cons
- "The command line is the same as it is on the Cisco iOS router."
- "The solution needs to have better logging features."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily provide implementation and maintenance services to our clients.
What is most valuable?
The software itself is very simple.
The solution is easy to operate. It's not overly complex.
The command line is the same as it is on the Cisco iOS router.
The technical support is very helpful and responsive.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs to have better logging features.
Cisco needs to migrate its ASA Firewall to a management console or to a web console.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with the solution for six years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is largely stable. Once we adopted Cisco services, we found that everything was pretty reliable. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's quite good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is a problem as the solution has a low throughput.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've been in touch with technical support and I've always found them easy to reach. They're responsive and helpful. I find their service much better than, for example, Fortinet or Palo Alto. Overall, we're satisfied with Cisco with respect to their technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have some experience working with Palo Alto and Fortinet solutions as well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While I don't have the exact pricing of the solution, it's my understanding that Cisco is rather costly. It's not the cheapest option on the market. It's expensive. It's more costly, for example than Palo Alto.
What other advice do I have?
We have a gold partnership status with Cisco, however, we are also partners with companies such as Fortinet and Palo Alto.
For a next-generation firewall, I would likely recommend Palo Alto. However, if a company had the budget, I would recommend Fortinet. That said, for a VPN gateway, I would recommend Cisco ASA.
In general, I would rate Cisco's ASA Firewall at seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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System Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Stable, scalable, and flexible, with good support
Pros and Cons
- "It's a flexible solution."
- "The configuration is an area that needs improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use Cisco ASA for traffic control.
What is most valuable?
It's a flexible solution.
What needs improvement?
The configuration is an area that needs improvement.
In the next release, I would like to see the UI include or provide web access, and more integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco ASA Firewall for five years.
We are not using the latest version, as it is not available.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution and we have not had any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable product. We have approximately 2,000 users in our organization.
We have plans to continue to use it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support provides us with good service.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It was easy for us because we have experience.
It was already deployed when I arrived.
We have two or three guys for deployment and maintenance.
What other advice do I have?
This is a product that I would recommend to others.
I would rate Cisco ASA Firewall a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Programming Analyst at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
A stable, advanced threat detection solution with a straightforward setup, but with room for improvement on the console visualization
Pros and Cons
- "The customer service/technical support is very good with this solution."
- "An area of improvement for this solution is the console visualization."
What is most valuable?
The feature I have found most valuable is the IPS advanced threat detection for removing ransomware and malware.
What needs improvement?
An area of improvement for this solution is the console visualization.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The customer service/technical support is very good with this solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and it took two weeks to deploy. Currently, 5000 employees use this solution in our company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution was chosen because of its price compared to other similar solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to other users.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
Network Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Accurate CLI, knowledgeable support team, valuable features
Pros and Cons
- "To be honest, all of the features that are provided, all the other vendor will also have. One feature we did find valuable was the CLI, it is more accurate. Additionally, I was happy with the customization, dashboards, access lists and interface."
- "It is hard to collaborate with our filtered environment."
What is our primary use case?
We utilize the solution for our IT security.
What is most valuable?
To be honest, all of the features that are provided, all the other vendor will also have. One feature we did find valuable was the CLI, it is more accurate. Additionally, I was happy with the customization, dashboards, access lists and interface.
We frequently use the Bottleneck feature we purchased specialized from Cisco.
What needs improvement?
It is hard to collaborate with our filtered environment.
If Cisco could combine the Bottleneck feature of ASA, their platform called Umbrella, and the other team they have that has similar malware protection into one, this would be perfect.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for almost three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. However, It does have some bugs, but Cisco always fixes them really quickly. Sometimes we have to restart and it would be better if the bugs could be fixed without having to reload.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is not perfect.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support has been great and responsive. Most of their engineers are very professional and knowledgeable.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is easy to do if you are familiar with these type of installs, if not then it could be difficult.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a perpetual license for all of our firewalls. For some of the features, we purchase them on demand. The pricing is decent but it could always be cheaper, we would be happier.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We will probably change to a higher version in the near future or migrate to a next-generation firewall which would include IPI and some other new features. This makes sense because our current firewall ends the support in several years.
Cisco FirePower, the next-generation firewall, is much better for stability.
What other advice do I have?
I have used many versions of the software over the years, versions 8.6 to 9.1 and 9.9 to 9.12.
Keep in mind before purchasing the solution, if you do need to scale the solution then ASA is probably not right for you.
I rate Cisco ASA Firewall an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable and reasonably-priced, and the support is okay
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is stability."
- "The performance should be improved."
What is our primary use case?
This is a product that is used at the infrastructure level to protect the network from outside traffic.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is stability.
What needs improvement?
When using this product, our network is slower. The performance should be improved.
The installation could be made easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall for more than two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable product and we plan to continue using it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Support from Cisco is good enough.
How was the initial setup?
The installation can be easy, although it is slightly more difficult to install than Fortinet FortiGate. One day is enough for deployment but it takes a long time to configure.
What about the implementation team?
I deployed Firepower with support from the team in India.
We have a team of three people for deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Firepower is not bad compared to other products.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Program director at a tech consulting company with 201-500 employees
A stable firewall solution with antivirus and bot protection
Pros and Cons
- "I think Cisco ASA Firewall is the most stable firewall solution."
- "The price can be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use Cisco ASA Firewall to protect different sites at a protocol level. We also use it for antivirus and bot protection.
What is most valuable?
I think Cisco ASA Firewall is the most stable firewall solution.
What needs improvement?
The price can be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Cisco ASA Firewall for the last ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I think they're all are stable. I've never seen a firewall that's unstable.
How are customer service and technical support?
I'm satisfied with their technical support.
How was the initial setup?
It's easy for me to configure one because I have firewall configuration certifications. I don't know what someone with nothing in terms of experience would be able to do.
It normally takes me a week to implement and deploy. I normally need a week and three people to do maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
I used to implement it several years ago, but now I ask our engineer to do it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cisco ASA Firewall should be cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Cisco ASA Firewall to potential users.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Cisco ASA Firewall an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Administrator at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
User-friendly UI, blocking by category, has plenty of features
Pros and Cons
- "You do not have to do everything through a command line which makes it a lot easier to apply rules."
- "The solution could offer better control that would allow the ability to restrictions certain features from a website."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to monitor the connections as part of our parameter protection for our network. We restrict what kind of traffic comes in and out, we use it basically for traffic management.
What is most valuable?
Cisco used to be all command-line operations and now Firepower is in a way modelled from FortiGate. Firepower has integrated a UI into it now.
You do not have to do everything through a command line which makes it a lot easier to apply rules.
You are able to see the traffic of what sites users are visiting.
There are warnings if you are about to go to sites that could be malicious.
It also allows you to block within categories, such as, by URL.
The solution always had these capabilities, but it did not have a user interface that was user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
The solution could offer better control that would allow the ability to restrictions certain features from a website. For example, If we want to allow YouTube but not allow uploads or we want to allow Facebook but not allow the chat or to playing of videos. This ability to customize restrictions would be great.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for three months now. We have always used Cisco but before we were using the ASA and now we use the new version with the threat defence.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good so far. My opinion could change in another couple of months once we get more deeply involved with the solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We currently are protection approximately 220 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
We just deployed it a couple of months ago, we have not used the tech support with the Firepower yet. We have not had an issue that we have had to raise with them.
Generally, the tech support for Cisco takes too long to go through the different tiers of support agents to get to someone that can resolve the issue. You end up speaking to someone that is not qualified to solve the issue, then you have to be escalated upwards over and over. This system could be better.
I rate the tech support service generally from Cisco a seven out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is not hard and not easy either, it falls in between.
What about the implementation team?
The time of implementation took us two to three days. This was in part because we were migrating from another Cisco firewall. The config files were already there, we just had to bring them over. While having the config files we just had to set up the hardware to have us up and running. The install could have taken longer if this was not the case.
What other advice do I have?
Currently, I would give this solution high marks because I have not had a problem. However, keeping in mind, my evaluation period has been short. I would not give the solution a ten, nothing is perfect.
I rate Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

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