Palo Alto Networks Unveils PA-7050 Firewall

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) claims its new, next-generation firewall is the fastest one so far. The PA-7050 provides customers with full application enablement, an intrusion protection system, antivirus and the vendor’s WildFire active on all traffic.

But it’s the performance speed Palo Alto is really touting. The vendor stated the firewall provides “superior consistency in performance” to empower customers in applying next-generation firewall security throughout their networks, from edge to data center. Of importance to the release is ensuring network performance doesn’t become a barrier to the adoption of network security.

“The PA-7050 allows security teams to achieve two seemingly conflicting goals. First, it provides state-of-the-art security at the application level and applies scans for attacks, malware and exploits,” said Lee Klarich, senior vice president of Product Management at Palo Alto Networks, in a prepared statement. “Second, because it has a unique single-pass architecture designed to optimize performance, the PA-7050 can provide all of this security capability at speeds much greater than alternatives in the market; this ensures business processes run smoothly and securely for our customers.”

This latest release follows on the foundations on which Palo Alto Networks was founded on. From the get-go, the vendor aimed to provide customers with high-performance, next-generation firewalls that protect digital assets.

It’s a great effort in the firewall space, and one that channel partners should be able to use in their own businesses.

Palo Alto Networks is also currently fighting a court battle with Juniper Networks, which claims Palo Alto is infringing on several of its firewall patents. That lawsuit will go to trial later this month.