Cisco® announces the end-of-sale and end-of life dates for the Cisco PIX 535 Security Appliance. The last day to order the affected product(s) is July 28, 2008. Customers with active service contracts will continue to receive support from the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) as shown in Table 1 of the EoL bulletin. Table 1 describes the end-of-life milestones, definitions, and dates for the affected product(s). Table 2 lists the product part numbers affected by this announcement. For customers with active and paid service and support contracts, support will be available until the termination date of the contract, even if this date exceeds the Last Date of Support shown in Table 1.
Cisco PIX Security Appliance customers are encouraged to migrate to Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances. Built on the same software foundation as Cisco PIX Security Appliances, the Cisco ASA 5500 Series offers more robust firewall and IPsec VPN capabilities, as well as many additional benefits, including:
• Significantly better performance and scalability
• A modular design that allows you to add features such as intrusion prevention (IPS), anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and URL filtering.
Migration to the Cisco ASA 5500 Series is straightforward. Customers can take advantage of their knowledge and investment in Cisco PIX Security Appliances, because there are essentially no changes in user interface, operations, or training.
Table 1. End-of-Life Milestones and Dates for the Cisco PIX 535 Security Appliance
Milestone
Definition
Date
End-of-Life Announcement Date
The date the document that announces the end of sale and end of life of a product is distributed to the general public.
January 28, 2008
End-of-Sale Date
The last date to order the product through Cisco point-of-sale mechanisms. The product is no longer for sale after this date.
July 28, 2008
Last Ship Date: HW
The last-possible ship date that can be requested of Cisco and/or its contract manufacturers. Actual ship date is dependent on lead time.
October 26, 2008
End of Routine Failure Analysis Date: HW
The last-possible date a routine failure analysis may be performed to determine the cause of product failure or defect.
July 28, 2009
End of New Service Attachment Date: HW
For equipment and software that is not covered by a service-and-support contract, this is the last date to order a new service-and-support contract or add the equipment and/or software to an existing service-and-support contract.
July 28, 2009
End of Service Contract Renewal Date: HW
The last date to extend or renew a service contract for the product.
October 23, 2012
Last Date of Support: HW
The last date to receive service and support for the product. After this date, all support services for the product are unavailable, and the product becomes obsolete.
July 27, 2013
HW = Hardware
OS SW = Operating System Software
App. SW = Application Software
Table 2. Product Part Numbers Affected by This Announcement
Customers are encouraged to migrate to the Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliance, which provides significantly higher real-world firewall performance, advanced security features for greater network protection, SSL VPN support, and VPN clustering/load balancing. For customers requiring multigigabit firewall throughput, jumbo frame support, higher I/O port density, 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, or redundant power support, Cisco recommends the Cisco ASA 5580-20 Adaptive Security Appliance.
Table 3. Product Comparisons
Feature
Cisco PIX 535 Security Appliance
Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliance
Maximum Firewall Throughput (1400-byte UDP)
1.7 Gbps
1.2 Gbps
Maximum HTTP Firewall Throughput (Real-World, 10K Object Size)
600 Mbps
1.1 Gbps
Maximum 3DES/AES VPN Throughput
425 Mbps
425 Mbps
Maximum Connections
500,000
650,000
Connections per Second
15,000
36,000
Packets per Second (64-byte)
300,000
600,000
Maximum IPsec VPN Sessions
2000
5000
Maximum SSL VPN Sessions
Not Supported
5000
Integrated Network Ports
2 Fast Ethernet (R/UR/FO), 3 Gigabit Ethernet + 2 Fast Ethernet (UR-GE/FO-GE/AA-GE)
8 Gigabit Ethernet + 1 Fast Ethernet
Maximum Network Ports
6 Gigabit Ethernet or Fast Ethernet (R)/14 Fast Ethernet or 9 Gigabit Ethernet (UR/FO)
8 Gigabit Ethernet + 1 Fast Ethernet
VLANs
50 (R)/150 (UR/FO)
250
High Availability/Scalability
Not Supported (R)/Active/Standby (FO)/Active/Active and Active/Standby (UR/FO-AA)
Active/Active, Active/Standby, and VPN Clustering/Load Balancing
Expandability
1 Fast Ethernet (1FE), 4 Fast Ethernet (4FE-66), 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GE-66), VPN Accelerator Plus (VAC PLUS)
Not Supported
Redundant Power
Supported
Not Supported
Customers can use the Cisco Technology Migration Plan (TMP) to trade in products and receive credit toward the purchase of new Cisco equipment. For more information about Cisco TMP, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/tradein/. The Cisco TMP application requires all users to have a Cisco.com user ID.
Customers may be able to continue to purchase the Cisco PIX 535 Security Appliance through the Cisco Certified Refurbished Equipment program. Refurbished units may be available in limited supply for sale in certain countries on a first-come, first-served basis until the Last Date of Support has been reached. For information about the Cisco Certified Refurbished Equipment program, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/eos.
For More Information
For more information about the Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliance, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/asa, or contact your local account representative.
