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3Com Firewall (Discontinued) vs. Cisco Secure Firewall vs. FireMon

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)

    Score6 out of 10
    N/A3Com firewalls were acquired by Hewlett-Packard and then sold to H3C. The product line is now obsolete and discontinued.N/A

    Cisco Secure Firewall

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/ACisco Secure Firewall delivers comprehensive threat protection for modern, distributed networks. Built to support hybrid workforces and multicloud environments, it enables Zero Trust access, application visibility, and secure remote connectivity. With integration across the Cisco Secure portfolio, including SecureX and Talos threat intelligence, the firewall powers organizations to detect and stop more sophisticated threats. Centralized management simplifies policy enforcement, orchestration,…N/A

    FireMon

    Score7.9 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    FireMon is a real-time security policy management solution built for today’s complex multi-vendor, enterprise environments. Supporting the latest firewall and policy enforcement technologies spanning on-premises networks to the cloud, FireMon delivers visibility and control across the entire IT landscape to automate policy changes, meet compliance standards, to minimize policy-related risk. Since creating their policy management solution in 2004, FireMon states they've helped…N/A
    Pricing
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Free Trial
    NoYesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Considered Multiple Products
    H3C Technologies
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    FireMon
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Would buy again
    193 Answers
    94%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    160 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    191 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    140 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    164 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    15 Answers
    Features
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of 3Com Firewall (Discontinued) and Cisco Secure Firewall and FireMon
    Feature
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    8.2
    196 Ratings
    5% below category average
    FireMon
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies00 Ratings8.1177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools00 Ratings7.8175 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection00 Ratings8.3175 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls00 Ratings8.5183 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings7.9156 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console00 Ratings8.0182 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging00 Ratings7.7184 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN00 Ratings8.8164 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability00 Ratings8.9177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection00 Ratings8.8171 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server00 Ratings7.793 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco IOS Security
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Likelihood to Recommend
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (203 ratings)
    7.9
    (69 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    6.8
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.7
    (131 ratings)
    7.7
    (17 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    7.9
    (48 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    3Com Firewall (Discontinued)Cisco Secure FirewallFireMon
    Likelihood to Recommend
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I can't think of scenarios where it is less appropriate, unless we are talking about real tiny businesses. More businesses will find Cisco Secure Firewall an outstanding tool to use, love, and trust from a reputable Network giant vendor. It is a must for businesses that want to focus on what they are doing, and leaving the network security for the pros.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    FireMon is best used in a large environment (for example, I have >100
    firewalls in my environment). It's best used when trying to improve
    security posture and showing changes in firewall security over time. It
    might not be the best choice for smaller environments or those that aren't concerned about security management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    • Cisco's firewall actually does its job of blocking what it is supposed to block. We had an old Firewall that led to slippages. Cisco catches 97% of malware and vulnerabilities during testing. For Coitiar, that means an engineer who clicks a link with malware is handled quickly.
    • We actually tested if failovers would affect running sessions. We pulled our primary unit during a certification submission period. The firewall just switched, and the connection kept running.
    • The AI assistant in policy management is excellent, and for our lean team, it makes the whole process easy and efficient. I don't have to audit 200 policies manually; the AI steps in and does its thing.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    • Give good real time reporting for anyone making a change to any of our firewalls
    • Provides good reporting tools that are out of box
    • Provide good customization tools that is specific to our needs
    • Upgrades are a simple process and support does relatively well with assisting us.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    • I mean I think a lot of the technology with managing them is getting better. There's a few cons to the new firewall management console. You can't sort through routes or I think you can with interfaces now, but there's a few caveats that they haven't really worked out yet, but they're implementing AI into it, so it's getting to be a lot easier to use.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    • Some features could be added to the existing functionality which include NAT rules usage
    • Rule expiration normalization from firewalls rather than entering them in rule documentation
    • .csv exports of the files from the firewall pane only gives usage for 30 days by default and that should be increased
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It works really well. We can do most anything we want or need to with it, and you don’t have to have a doctorate or multiple certs to necessarily figure it out. The thing that would probably have to happen to make us switch would be if we just got priced out - Cisco’s more powerful and higher bandwidth models cost a pretty penny.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    The shell is locked out and we can't run any general centos commands. The implementation and maintainence of the arch is very complex. Even with the right identifiers on log messages the log collection keeps failing. The warning messages on the device are ambiguous. The log messages on firemon are a bit confusing and don't show the exact issue.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    i think overall after ALOT of tac cases it works allright now. But still have alot of issues if you use cloud based mangement. fx, if you open 2 windows of access policys, both of the pages, rules starte to jump form side to side. if you then open one more list, its start to jump even faster. if you close the 2 of them, its back to normal. ALSO the extended access lists for VPN, SUCKS. Its the tiniest window when opening the editor, and you are not able to give the rules names, Which means finding and editing rules SUCKS, its a horrible experience, and eveytime we have to we want to yell :P
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    It save me time and I'm able to have the review - review the rule independently with using my time.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Rationale:


    Strengths:


    High availability (HA) and failover configurations ensure continuous operation during hardware or network issues.


    Minimal unplanned outages reported; system remains responsive under full inspection load.


    Centralized monitoring and proactive alerts help prevent downtime.




    Minor Considerations:


    Occasional maintenance windows or updates may require brief service interruptions.


    Complex integrations with other systems may sometimes require extra attention to maintain uptime.




    Overall, Cisco Secure Firewall is highly available and dependable, supporting business continuity and operational resilience.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    FireMon has been relatively stable overall. However, there have been a handful of times where we had issues with the console. For example, we couldn't update which devices to include in a security assessment. The initial suggestion from support was to just reboot it. It seems like there weren't many other options available such as to restart services before going to the extreme of a complete reboot.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    We have not had any performance issues with Cisco Secure Firewall, even with DPI and IPS enabled, we have not seen a performance hit. Emoployes have not complained about any slow network speeds that could have been attributed to the secure firewall it has always been something else within the office network.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    I'm not sure we have the largest implementation of FireMon out there but we do have a few 1000 devices being probed by FireMon. Overall, the system's performance has been rock solid. The console refreshes quickly and reports are generated within an expected timeframe.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I rarely get the support I need in the time I need it. Often, while they are "looking at packet captures and going to get back to me" I fix the problem on my own. If you were to look at my TAC cases over the past year, you would see some very lengthy cases that usually ended with me contacting the TAC person and telling them to just close the case
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    FireMon technical support is awesome! They respond quickly to our requests and they are well trained and very knowledgeable about the tool. Some issues have to be referred to the development team, but technical support largely provides solutions for any issues that we may have.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    very good
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    was a good training but questions was answered not so good. Training was "Fundamentals of Cisco Firewall Threat Defense and Intrusion Prevention (SFWIPF)".
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Our initial implementation was aided by Cisco's professional services and was excellent. The engineer was very knowledgeable and helped us work through issues while building out our new internet security edge Part of this involved tools to migrate the firewall configuration from old to new.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    Implementation is fairly simple. Most issues can be resolved by referencing manuals.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Cisco Secure Firewall works better with the Cisco ecosystem when we can utilize it and feels beefy enough when we utilize it in the data center. The Fortinet we have found are great, small cost boxes for remote offices with a better UI then Cisco Secure Firewalls. The feature set included with the firewalls feels similar from a security point of view.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    I has worked with AlgoSec and while they are very similar product, I find the FireMon is easier to understand and get rolling with. While both require some learning, FireMon is by far the easier one. Once you have an understanding of how things are arranged and labeled you can easily import firewalls and begin to work on them to improve them
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    A solid, realistic rating most people give for Cisco Secure Firewall pricing is 7 or 8 out of 10 (because the product is strong but licensing can be a bit complex)
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Cisco Secure Firewall has never given us any trouble, it has stayed up at all times, upgrading the appliance has also become much simpler. We operate the appliance in a HA pair, so 0% downtime within our organisation. During switchover while upgrading, not a single packet seems to get lost, so this has been a very valuable asset to our company.
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    Firemon Is easily scalable and maintainable with any size team. Although it requires some tech debt, it is well worth the time to invest to ensure compliance is visible and reports are accurate. Although our environment is very large we do not fully utilize the scalability of the Firemon product.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    was not involved
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    H3C Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    • Cisco Secure Firewalls help with our segmentation policies and protect our company assets
    • Cisco Secure Firewalls help identify when our policies have changed on or network and troubleshoot network outages
    • Cisco Secure Firewalls help identify threats through Cisco Talos and other threat feeds that they ingest
    Incentivized
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    FireMon
    • FireMon's Compliance Reporting provided an immediate and tangible benefit
    • FireMon helps identify egregious or erroneous rules quickly across multiple platforms
    • FireMon took our audit process from an Excel spreadsheet into a far more advanced process with readily available context for reviewers
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Cisco Secure Firewall Screenshots

    Screenshot of Cisco Secure 1200 Series Firewall FamilyScreenshot of Cisco Secure 4200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure 4200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 1200 Stack FamilyScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 200 Series