Max Sessions: 40M concurrent connections (Cisco datasheet; some resellers list 15M)
New Sessions/sec: 350K
Interfaces: 8x 1/10/25GbE SFP28 fixed (some listings say SFP+); 2x NetMod bays for expansion
Form Factor: 1RU rack-mountable
Curation Review
✔ Pros:Up to 90 Gbps stateful firewall throughput in a 1RU chassis; 40M concurrent connections and 350K new connections/sec suit high-session data center and campus workloads; 2x NetMod bays allow port expansion; Supports up to 20,000 VPN peers; Runs Cisco FTD or ASA software for flexible deployment
✘ Cons:Threat prevention throughput (65 Gbps) is well below the headline firewall figure; Reseller pricing is high, typically well over $100K, which puts it out of reach for small or branch deployments; Published specs and port types conflict across Cisco and third-party sources, which complicates sizing; Threat, malware, and URL protection require separate subscription licenses on top of the hardware cost
✔ Pros:25G SFP28 and 10G SFP+ uplinks at a gateway price point; 23.5 Gbps routing throughput; 1 million concurrent sessions; 18-core ARM CPU with 16 GB RAM; hot-swappable redundant PSUs; supports 500+ UniFi devices and 5,000+ clients; manages through UniFi Network controller with a single pane of glass
✘ Cons:IPsec VPN throughput of 580 Mbps is low for a gateway at this price; IDS/IPS throughput of 12.5 Gbps halves routing performance when threat inspection is enabled; SSL/TLS inspection is limited to about 10,000 concurrent sessions; port configuration differs across listings and should be verified; frequently out of stock at major US retailers, with a $170 memory surcharge at some resellers; no built-in Wi-Fi, so it depends on separate UniFi APs and switches; reviewers cite a steeper learning curve than consumer-grade routers