End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliances
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EOL9166
Cisco announces the end-of-sale and end-of life dates for the Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliances. The last day to order the affected product(s) is September 16, 2013. 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 under the terms and conditions of customers' service contract.
This end-of-sale notice is part of a broader end-of-sale announcement for the Cisco ASA 5500 Series appliances that covers ASA 5510, ASA 5520, ASA 5540, and ASA 5550, including hardware accessories. Please refer to the respective end-of-sale notices for more detail. Software licenses on the Cisco ASA 5550 have not reached their end-of-sale date. The Cisco ASA 9.1 is the last software release that will be supported on ASA 5550 and other ASA 5500 appliances that have reached their end-of-sale date. Customers are encouraged to migrate to the newer ASA 5500-X Series of next-generation firewalls (NGFW), which includes the ASA 5512-X, ASA 5515-X, ASA 5525-X, ASA 5545-X, and ASA 5555-X.
Table 1. End-of-Life Milestones and Dates for the Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliances
| 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. | March 18, 2013 |
| 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. | September 16, 2013 |
| Last Ship Date: | The last-possible ship date that can be requested of Cisco and/or its contract manufacturers. Actual ship date is dependent on lead time. | December 15, 2013 |
| End of Routine Failure Analysis Date: | The last-possible date a routine failure analysis may be performed to determine the cause of hardware product failure or defect. | September 16, 2014 |
| End of New Service Attachment Date: | 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. | September 16, 2014 |
| End of Service Contract Renewal Date: | The last date to extend or renew a service contract for the product. | December 12, 2017 |
| Last Date of Support: | The last date to receive applicable service and support for the product as entitled by active service contracts or by warranty terms and conditions. After this date, all support services for the product are unavailable, and the product becomes obsolete. | September 30, 2018 |
Note that the ASA 5500 appliances (including the ASA 5550) do NOT support NGFW services (Application Visibility and Control and Web Security Essentials), whereas all ASA 5500-X appliances (including the ASA 5555-X) have been designed ground-up to run multiple services, including NGFW services, without sacrificing performance. Moreover, unlike the ASA 5500, the ASA 5555-X now offers IPS capability.
Table 2. Product Part Numbers Affected by This Announcement
| End-of-Sale Product | Product Description | Replacement Product Part Number | Replacement Product Description | Additional Information |
| ASA5550-BUN-K9 | ASA 5550 Appliance with SW, HA, 8GE+1FE, 3DES/AES | ASA5555-2SSD120-K9 | ASA 5555-X with SW, 8GE Data,1GE Mgmt,AC,3DES/AES, 2 SSD 120G | — |
| ASA5550-DC-K8 | ASA 5550 Appliance with DC power, SW, HA, 8GE+1FE, DES | ASA5555-DC-K8 | ASA 5555-X with SW, 8GE Data, 1GE Mgmt, DC, DES | — |
| ASA5550-K8 | ASA 5550 Appliance with SW, HA, 8GE+1FE, DES | ASA5555-2SSD120-K8 | ASA 5555-X with SW, 8GE Data, 1GE Mgmt, AC, DES, 2 SSD 120G | — |
| ASA5550-SSL2500-K9 | ASA 5550 VPN Edition w/ 2500 SSL User License, HA, 3DES/AES | ASA5555VPN-PM25HK9 | ASA 5555-X w/2500 AnyConnect Premium and Mobile | — |
| ASA5550-SSL5000-K9 | ASA 5550 VPN Edition w/ 5000 SSL User License, HA, 3DES/AES | ASA5555VPN-PM5KK9 | ASA 5555-X w/5000 AnyConnect Premium and Mobile | — |
| ASA5550-UC-BUN-K8 | ASA 5550 UC Bundle With 3000 UC Proxy Sessions, DES | See Product Migration Options section for details. | ASA5555-2SSD120-K8 with ASA-UC-3000 License |
|
| ASA5550-UC-BUN-K9 | ASA 5550 UC Bundle With 3000 UC Proxy Sessions, 3DES/AES | See Product Migration Options section for details. | ASA5555-2SSD120-K8 with ASA-UC-3000 License |
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Product Migration Options
Customers are encouraged to migrate to the newer Cisco ASA 5500-X Series, specifically the Cisco ASA 5545-X, which offers increased throughput, better interface density, dual power supplies, and the ability to run services like IPS, AVC (Application Visibility and Control), WSE (Web Security Essentials). Refer to the table below for a detailed comparison between the ASA 5550 and ASA 5555-X.
Table 3. Product Comparisons
| Feature | Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliance | Cisco ASA 5555-X Adaptive Security Appliance |
| Next-Generation Firewall | No | Yes |
| Application Visibility and Control Service | No | Yes |
| Web Security Service | No | Yes |
| IPS Service | No | Yes (Does not require separate hardware module) |
| Content Security Service | No | Similar functionality available through Cloud Web Security (formerly known as ScanSafe) |
| Firewall Throughput (Max) | 1.2 Gbps | 4 Gbps |
| IPS Throughput (Max) | Not Applicable | 1.3 Gbps |
| VPN Throughput (Max) | 425 Mbps | 700 Mbps |
| Connections (Max) | 600,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Connections Per Second | 33,000 | 50,000 |
| Integrated I/O | 8 GE Copper and 1 FE | 8 GE Copper + Dedicated GE Copper Management Port |
| Expansion I/O | Not Available | 6-port GE Copper, or 6-port GE SFP |
| CPU | Single Core | Multiple Cores |
| Memory | 4 GB | 16 GB |
| Dual Power Supplies | No | Yes |
| IPS Accelerator hardware | No | In-built hardware accelerator for both default and custom signatures |
| Hardware support for 2048-bit certificates | No | Yes |
Customers may be able to use the Cisco Technology Migration Program (TMP) where applicable to trade-in eligible products and receive credit toward the purchase of new Cisco equipment. For more information about Cisco TMP, customers should work with their Cisco Partner or Cisco account team. Cisco Partners can find additional TMP information on Partner Central at http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/incentives_and_promotions/tmp.html
Customers may be able to continue to purchase the Cisco ASA 5550 Adaptive Security Appliances 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: www.cisco.com/go/eos
Service prices for Cisco products are subject to change after the product End of Sale date.
The Cisco Takeback and Recycle program helps businesses dispose properly of surplus products that have reached their end of useful life. The program is open to all business users of Cisco equipment and its associated brands and subsidiaries. For more information, go to: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac227/ac228/ac231/about_cisco_takeback_recycling.html
For More Information
For more information about the Cisco ASA 5555-X Adaptive Security Appliances, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps6032/ps6094/ps6120/at_a_glance_c45-701635.pdf, or contact your local account representative.
For more information about the Cisco End-of-Life Policy, go to:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_end-of-life_policy.html
For more information about the Cisco Product Warranties, go to:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/prod_warranties_listing.html
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http://www.cisco.com/cisco/support/notifications.html
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Any authorized translation issued by Cisco Systems or affiliates of this end-of-life Product Bulletin is intended to help customers understand the content described in the English version. This translation is the result of a commercially reasonable effort; however, if there are discrepancies between the English version and the translated document, please refer to the English version, which is considered authoritative.
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