IPsec VPN Throughput: 140 Gbps (per Cisco 4200 series listing)
Max Sessions: 60 million concurrent (with AVC, per Cisco datasheet)
New Sessions/sec: 800,000 (unverified; one listing cites 1.7M)
Interfaces: 8 x 10GbE SFP+ on-chassis; 2 NetMod bays supporting up to 8 x 25GbE SFP28 (netmod-dependent)
Form Factor: 1U rackmount
Curation Review
✔ Pros:Very high throughput for a 1U appliance (140 Gbps threat prevention and IPsec VPN, per Cisco datasheet); 60 million concurrent sessions with AVC for large data center and campus edge deployments; Modular NetMod bays allow 25GbE SFP28 connectivity; Supports Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) or ASA software images; Multi-instance support for consolidating workloads; Strong integration with Cisco Firepower Management Center and Cisco security ecosystem
✘ Cons:Very high acquisition cost compared with mid-range NGFWs; Throughput and session figures vary across Cisco and reseller sources, so validation against the current datasheet is needed; Max VPN peer count and new connections per second are not confirmed by an authoritative Cisco source; Full 25GbE capacity requires purchasing separate NetMod modules; Licensing (threat, malware, URL) is a significant recurring cost on top of hardware
✔ 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