Cisco has announced the availability of the Cisco ASA 5580 Series Adaptive Security Appliances. The Cisco ASA 5580 is a security platform for deployment as a firewall with up to 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) of throughput, as well as a 10,000 user remote-access concentrator for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and IP Security (IPsec)-based virtual private networks (VPN).

The Cisco ASA 5580 Series consists of three offerings: The Cisco ASA 5580-40 security appliance, Cisco ASA 5580-20 security appliance, and the Cisco ASA 5580-20 Remote Access VPN Concentrator.

"The advent of Web 2.0 applications and a huge increase in the number of connections is driving the need for an increasingly high-powered security infrastructure," said Mick Scully, vice president of product management for Cisco's Security Technology Group. "Many organisations have been unable to keep up their security posture in the face of burgeoning traffic growth. Cisco's security strategy involves delivering products that can meet these needs. We recently delivered a data center-caliber intrusion prevention sensor for greater packet inspection, and the Cisco ASA 5580 represents the latest offering from Cisco to provide high-performance firewalling and VPN connectivity. Together, these products bring the promise of our Self-Defending Network strategy to life in high-performance, data-intensive environments."