If you take a look at the product lines of most of the major firewall "appliance" vendors, you’ll find several different models, not to mention a variety of different licensing schemes, as well as plenty of "add-ons" that enhance functionality and come at extra cost.

Constructing an intelligent comparison of products from different vendors can be a daunting task, and often there is no clear-cut "winner" in such a comparison. Instead, you find that making the right choice depends very much on your existing network infrastructure, the role you want the firewall to play, and a tradeoff of some features for others.

This article kicks off a series that compares the ISA firewall to the other major players in the firewall market.

By Thomas Shinder at ISA Server.

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