Enterprise Firewalls

["Foerst, Daniel P." <FOERST () CUA EDU>]

Hey all,

For the past several years we have been operating with Cisco Firewall Services Modules. They have done what we needed 
them to do, but they are getting quite a bit long in the tooth.
Recently I was asked what projects I would need funding for in the coming fiscal year and I mentioned the need to 
upgrade a set of our FWSMs to be able to accommodate greater increase in our network infrastructure in addition to the 
ever changing network security topology.

I am aware that Cisco has recently made their ASA line of firewalls available as a services module to the 6500 & 7600 
series chassis switches & routers as the future for the Firewall Services Module.
However I would like to learn what others on this list use for their network security and why they chose a specific 
vendor over another. Whatever solution I select will have a minimum of 10Gbps throughput, more likely 20Gbps
So I can make an even comparison between the Cisco ASA services module and another vendor, but I really do not know 
what else to search for yet. The idea of next generation firewalls sounds interesting, but I really do not know yet.

Thanks much for anything you are will to share!

-dan

Daniel Foerst
Assistant Director, Networks & Security
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC 20064