Cisco PIX-525 Firewall w/ VPN Accelerator VAC+ Intel PRO/1000 F Fiber NICs

Cisco PIX-525 Firewall w/ VPN Accelerator VAC+ Intel PRO/1000 F Fiber NICs

The Cisco PIX-525 is a high-end enterprise-class stateful firewall and VPN security appliance from Cisco's PIX 500 Series. This unit includes a Cisco VPN Accelerator Card+ (VAC+) for hardware-accelerated IPSec VPN throughput and two Intel PRO/1000 F Server Adapters providing gigabit fiber Ethernet connectivity, making it a capable platform for demanding network security deployments.

Specifications & What's Included

• Make / Model: Cisco Secure PIX 525 Series Firewall
• Form Factor: 2U Rackmount
• Included Card 1: Cisco VPN Accelerator Card+ (VAC+), P/N 74-3176-01 — hardware IPSec acceleration
• Included Card 2: Intel PRO/1000 F Server Adapter, P/N A06512-007 — Gigabit Ethernet fiber (LC), labeled G0
• Included Card 3: Intel PRO/1000 F Server Adapter, P/N A06512-007 — Gigabit Ethernet fiber (LC), labeled G1
• Built-in Ports: 2× 10/100 Ethernet (labeled ETHERNET 0 and ETHERNET 1)
• Additional Built-in Ports: USB, Console (RJ-45), Failover (DB-25)
• Power Supply: 525W internal, P/N 68-1098-02 E0
• Power Input: 100–240V~, 50/60Hz, 5–2.5A (universal input)
• Front Panel Indicators: POWER LED, ACTIVE LED
• Expansion: Multiple internal slots populated with VAC+ and two fiber NICs

Applications

The Cisco PIX 500 Series was Cisco's flagship line of dedicated hardware firewall appliances, widely deployed in enterprise data centers, large branch offices, and service provider edge networks throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. The PIX-525 sits near the top of the PIX 500 lineup and was designed to support high-throughput stateful packet inspection, NAT, and IPSec VPN for large networks. The included VAC+ card offloads IPSec encryption processing from the main CPU, substantially increasing VPN tunnel capacity and throughput. The two Intel PRO/1000 F fiber adapters add gigabit fiber uplink capability, typical in campus backbone and data center environments where fiber backbone runs were standard. The PIX line was eventually succeeded by Cisco's ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) series around 2005, but PIX-525 units remain in use in legacy network environments, lab testing, and Cisco certification (CCNA Security / CCSP) study setups where hands-on PIX configuration practice is still relevant.