Item: Cisco Firepower 1000 Series
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Purchased [Cisco] Firepower [1000 Series] appliances to replace legacy ASA 5500X series with [Cisco] Firepower modules. Used for AnyConnect employee RAS, IPSEC site to site VPNs and local internet access breakout from sites. Firepowers allowed us to scale from ~100 remote users a day to almost 1500 in response to COVID work from home restrictions.

Pros and Cons

Secure employee remote access in conjunction with AnyConnect client
Logging with high level of connection, application and user visibility
Reliable and secure as you would expect from Cisco

Cloud based Firepower Management Centre doesn't support stateful HA of multiple management consoles
Would be great to have embedded extensible objects for ever-changing Office 365 address ranges and CDN URLs

Return on Investment

Seamless replacement of legacy ASA hardware on internet edges
Enabled us to ramp up employee remote access capacity overnight in response to COVID

Simplified Administration

We manage Firepowers deployed on multiple branch sites from a single central Firepower Management Center deployment in Azure. We were able to pre configure appliances centrally then ship them to sites without local technical teams required to support initial deployment. Configuration, logging, management and upgrades are all managed centrally by our core network team without requiring ongoing local presence to support.

Support Rating

We have direct enterprise support with Cisco and have had good response from support teams when it has been needed. No issues from a technical standpoint - Firepowers are secure, reliable and do what they say on the tin. Central management and configuration is easy and they fit in well with our existing Cisco infrastructure. These are not the cheapest available option for firewalls and we had to fight a bit with the accounting and finance teams to justify the initial cost outlay.

Alternatives Considered

Check Point 4000 Appliances, Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services and Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series

No issues from a technical standpoint - Firepowers are secure, reliable and do what they say on the tin. Central management and configuration is easy and they fit in well with our existing Cisco infrastructure. These are not the cheapest available option for firewalls and we had to fight a bit with the accounting and finance teams to justify the initial cost outlay.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Firepower 1000 Series delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Firepower 1000 Series's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Firepower 1000 Series live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Firepower 1000 Series go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Firepower 1000 Series again?

Yes

Usability

Firepowers are secure, reliable, central management and configuration is easy and they fit in well with our existing Cisco infrastructure. Good feature set and support. Good management and control with chassis manager and central control with additional Firepower Management Centre.

Likelihood to Recommend

Good edge device for branch sites integrating firewall, application visibility & control, intrusion detection & prevention and remote access services with exceptional control and visibility. Not the cheapest option but do what they're supposed to reliably and consistently. Having Firepowers deployed on multiple sites allowed us to ramp up our AnyConnect RAS capacity from having ~ 100 AnyConnect VPN users a day to the entire company working remotely almost overnight in response to COVID restrictions this year.

Cisco Firepower Appliances

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Firepower 1000 Series