Firepower hardware architecture makes for more efficient processing, fewer bottlenecks Cisco is coming out with four next-generation firewall boxes aimed at giving smaller organizations protection that is better sized to their needs and engineered to minimize performance hits as additional security services are turned on. The devices make up a family called the Cisco Firepower 2100 series and are built around dual, multi-core processors. That architecture enables custom processing of traffic requiring threat inspection, and also supports tagging traffic that doesn’t need threat inspection so it flows through only the separate network processing unit. These features combine to provide ample processing power for services such as IPS and also lighten the total load on that processor by diverting traffic that doesn’t require those services, Cisco says. The Firepower 2100 series competes against midrange devices made by Check Point, Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks. Cisco says it doesn’t have numbers yet for how performance is affected when Cisco Advanced Malware Protection and SSL acceleration are turned on. Advertised throughput for the devices ranges from 1.9G to 8.5Gbps. Management for the new devices can be handled by the onboard Cisco Device Manager, Management Center appliances for managing multiple devices, and Cisco Defense Orchestrator, its cloud-based policy management tool. The appliances can automate security tasks including assessment, tuning and remediation. Through integration with Cisco’s Threat Intelligence Director, the management center can absorb and act on threat intelligence via third parties that use industry standards for formatting and sending. The orchestrator can apply individual policies throughout an organization that uses multiple Cisco security products. Cisco Firepower 2100 Series Next-Generation Firewall starts at $10,995 for the 1.9Gbps 2110 model and ranges upward to $64,995 for the 8.5 Gbps 2140 model. Related content news Nvidia to build supercomputer for federal AI research Federal agencies including the IRS and Pentagon will have access to the Nvidia DGX SuperPOD system through MITRE, a nonprofit organization that operates federally funded R&D centers. By Andy Patrizio May 15, 2024 2 mins Supercomputers Data Center news AWS boss steps down after 15 years at Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that Adam Selipsky will be replaced by sales and product leader Matt Garman in June. By Jon Gold May 15, 2024 3 mins Cloud Computing news Google unveils next-generation AI chip Trillium Trillium, the sixth iteration of Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), is nearly five times more efficient than its predecessor, TPUv5, in peak compute performance and memory bandwidth, Google said. By Anirban Ghoshal May 15, 2024 4 mins Google Cloud Platform Generative AI Cloud Computing analysis Kyndryl bolsters its Bridge infrastructure services Kyndryl is using AI to expand its integration services for on-premise and cloud environments, adding to its range of security, mainframe modernization, and AI-readiness services. By Michael Cooney May 14, 2024 7 mins Cloud Computing Networking PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe