Cisco’s latest release to the popular Adaptive Security Appliance provides next-generation firewall services.  As with the standard line of ASA models, the new ASA-X series comes in a large array of models and options.  With integrated inline IPS, the expansion slot in the ASA-X series can provide a multitude of additional connectivity options including an additional 6 Gbps copper or SFP (SX,LH,LX) module.  The built-in 6 Gbps copper ports expands the original 4 of the 5520 and up models.  The 5525-X model boasts 2Gbps of stateful inspection throughput and 600Mbps of IPS throughput.

Options still include HA/Failover peers and with ASA 9.0 software release,  ASA’s now support VPN terminations in Multi-Context mode. For full ASA-X series specifications:  CISCO.