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Cisco Product Shortage Causing Some Business Customers To Try SonicWall & WatchGuard

The Standard Cisco ASA 5505 Firewall Appliance

A Cisco ASA 5505 Firewall? You need it WHEN? HAHAHA

If you are in need of a Cisco ASA 5505 or 5510 Security Appliance for your application, chances are, you are not going to be happy when you call your reseller to order one. The device is in very short supply and in most cases, back-ordered until April, May or June, depending upon the supplier. As a Cisco dealer, Homeland Secure IT is trying to secure product for our clients just as many others are. We have had one on back order for 2 months for a particular application.

Why is there a shortage? The story is different depending upon the vendor you speak with, but it goes a little something like this: During the worst of the economic slump, Cisco scaled back production of the ASA and apparently many other products as well. This is not surprising, as there is no need to build a device that is going to sit on the shelf and become outdated before it sells. But what has happened since then is that sales have increased, and the demand has rapidly outpaced the supply. Cisco has apparently attempted to ramp up production and this is where it gets sketchy… One version of the story says that a supplier of a particular component is unable/unwilling to provide it fast enough, another has it that the supplier of said component retooled and is making something else for another company and told Cisco to jump in the lake and get their component elsewhere, and then there is another story which is popular on some internet forums in which the rumor has it that Cisco is upgrading the ASA line with new software and that it requires additional RAM, which is also in short supply.

Any way you look at it, for the time being there is a shortage of the ASA 5505 & 5510 products. You could get lucky and find one at your favorite supplier, and if you do, good for you, I am only slightly jealous. However, be warned that some places have jacked their prices up, 25% and higher. If the ASA is the only product you can use, as mandated by some policy or another, then pay the money and be happy.

What about the rest of the world who doesn’t actually require a Cisco product? Fortunately for them, there are a number of products available that will fit the bill. Here at Homeland Secure IT, we offer some great alternatives, such as the SonicWall and Watchguard security appliance line. These are both very high quality lines of security products and can easily replace the Cisco ASA devices spec for spec. In many, if not most cases, the SonicWall or Watchguard firewalls will not only compare in features, but will also save you money! Call us today at 864-990-4748 or email  and find out if a Watchguard or SonicWall Security Appliance is right for your application.

Comments 6

  1. Well surprise surprise! Today I received our missing ASA 5505 UL via FedEx, after being told that it could be another month or more. I don’t know if this blog entry helped, or if this means there is a change in the Cisco product pipeline, but I do know at least one job can be completed now!

    I had a great discussion yesterday with some other IT people at a “lunch and learn” for GSATC and they were telling me how they had been abandoning Cisco themselves due to better ROI with other products. One that kept being mentioned was Juniper. While we resell the Juniper firewall and security appliance line of products, it has not played a major role here at Homeland. When asked why we go with Watchguard and SonicWall, my response was the customer service. We have been very pleased with our relationship with these companies…

  2. As most of you know already, the Cisco shortage continues… ASA 5505’s are still on back order at 3 major suppliers. SonicWall is sending out promotions to try and catch the eye of those wanting the ASAs. Complete with a comparison of features between their products. I’ll post another reply or a blog entry about this when I confirm additional details.

  3. As of this morning, the same 3 major suppliers are still out of stock. Companies that have backordered their Cisco ASA 5505 over a month ago have still not received their product… I heard there are thousands of backorders currently, so if you were to order one today, you would probably have to wait until that backlog was cleared with the pre-orders.

    No wonder SonicWall was taking advantage of the moment by offering direct comparison of their product to the Cisco ASA 55xx line of firewalls. If you require a firewall right now, we can provide you with SonicWall, Watchguard, Jupiter, etc. Give us a call.

  4. The Cisco Shortage seems to have cleared up, a number of the common Cisco ASA 5505 devices are available through various distributors… Seems that some small businesses gave up hope and went with other security appliances instead of waiting.
    SonicWALL, Zyxel and WatchGuard have taken advantage of the shortage to position their security products…

    On a sidenote, Cisco has a small business security device that plays well with small scale VoIP systems that may be worthy of checking out in place of the ASA. If you would like more information about that, shoot me an email, or check out our Cisco Showcase at http://www.homelandsecureit.com/Partners/cisco_security_products.htm – browse to the security section, and find the Cisco SA 500 product line. I have not sold or installed this product, but it looks promising for many small/medium businesses and IS available last I checked.

  5. An interesting thing is that one of the top searches that brings people to this page appears to be “cisco asa shortage”, along with “cisco asa backordered” and variations of Cisco, ASA, unavailable, out of stock, backordered, supply, etc. So even though our suppliers seem to have most of the Cisco products available, it would appear that people are still having issues obtaining exactly what they are wanting from Cisco.

    If you are having a problem obtaining a Cisco device, reply here, shoot me an email or call me, I will do my best to try and help you find that unit, or a suitable replacement.

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