Cisco ASA 5500 ASA5585-SSP-CX20 Cisco ASA firewall / appliance

Brand: Cisco | Category: Network Security

SKU: CSC-ASA5585-SSP-CX20 | Part #: ASA5585-SSP-CX20 | MPN: ASA5585-SSP-CX20

Contact for Pricing — Request a Quote

The ASA5585-SSP-CX20 is a next-generation security services processor module designed for organizations that need to move beyond perimeter firewalling into granular application and user-aware policy enforcement. This blade integrates directly into the Cisco ASA 5585-X chassis as a dedicated inspection engine, meaning your network engineers are not bolting on a separate appliance—they are extending the ASA's native architecture with a purpose-built processor that handles deep packet inspection, application recognition, and threat correlation at wire speed. The design reflects how enterprise and data-centre teams actually work: the base ASA 5585-X continues to handle stateful firewall policy and VPN termination, while the CX20 module layers application visibility, intrusion prevention signaling, and user-identity policy on top of that foundation.

Performance is the entry point for understanding where this module sits in your network design. Under sustained load, the ASA5585-SSP-CX20 delivers firewall throughput measured in tens of gigabits per second, application control throughput that does not crater when deep packet inspection is active, and IPS throughput that remains relevant when you are running against real-world traffic patterns. Those three numbers—firewall Gbps, AVC throughput, and IPS Gbps—define whether you are looking at a mid-tier consolidation platform or a gateway suitable for high-density environments. The CX20 processor is built to avoid the performance cliffs that plague simpler implementations, where enabling application visibility tanks overall throughput. That matters because the teams buying this module—network architects responsible for GCC and regional hub deployments, security operations managers tasked with maintaining policy compliance without dropping frames, and infrastructure engineers modernizing legacy checkpoint-based architectures—cannot afford to trade visibility for speed.

Application recognition is where the ASA5585-SSP-CX20 differentiates from basic ACL filtering. Rather than relying on port numbers and VLAN tags, the module uses deep packet inspection to identify and classify thousands of applications, whether they are SaaS platforms, streaming services, collaboration tools, or custom enterprise applications. Once identified, your policy engine can enforce business rules at the application level, not the service level. A Cisco administrator can now write policies that say "allow Salesforce and Microsoft 365, block personal cloud storage, rate-limit video streaming" without needing to maintain spreadsheets of IP ranges or depend on application vendors to use standard ports. This capability becomes mission-critical in enterprises where unmanaged SaaS sprawl and shadow IT represent both security risk and compliance exposure. The module integrates with Cisco Talos threat intelligence to correlate application metadata with known malicious signatures and reputation scores, so your policy decisions carry the weight of global threat intelligence, not just local rules.

Identity-aware firewall policy is the second pillar. The ASA5585-SSP-CX20 integrates natively with Microsoft Active Directory and LDAP repositories, meaning your policies can reference user identities and group membership rather than just source IP addresses. A contractor on a temporary VLAN can inherit different application permissions than a full-time employee; a departing user's access can be revoked organization-wide without manual firewall edits; audit trails show which user ran which application at what time. This matters profoundly for regulatory compliance—teams managing PCI DSS, HIPAA, or SOX workloads can now demonstrate that access was identity-bound, not static, and that policy revocation was immediate and auditable. Cisco Prime Security Manager (PRSM) provides the management plane for this entire model, centralizing policy deployment across multiple ASA5585-X chassis in your data centre, branch offices, or regional hubs, and generating compliance reports that security and audit teams can actually understand without resorting to raw packet captures.

The module operates inline within the ASA 5585-X chassis, meaning traffic does not fork into separate inspection stacks. Your network engineer deploys the ASA5585-SSP-CX20 into an available blade slot, and the chassis firmware automatically recognizes it and integrates the CX module's inspection capabilities into the main forwarding pipeline. High-availability configurations—Active/Standby or Active/Active pairs—continue to function normally, with the CX module state synchronized across the pair so that failover is transparent to your users and applications. Logging is detailed and exportable: application usage logs capture which users ran which apps, web category logs show which policy action was taken on which request, and user activity records can be sent to syslog servers or directly into your SIEM platform for cross-domain correlation. This level of granularity is why security operations centers and enterprise network teams choose the ASA5585-SSP-CX20 over simpler alternatives.

Technical Specifications and Integration Details

• Product Part Number: ASA5585-SSP-CX20 — Cisco Next-Generation Security Services Processor module compatible exclusively with ASA 5585-X chassis
• Module Form Factor: Blade processor card, installed in dedicated slot within Cisco ASA 5585-X appliance; runs proprietary CX OS alongside base ASA security policies
• Performance Metrics: High-speed firewall throughput, non-blocking application control throughput via deep packet inspection, and concurrent IPS threat correlation without performance degradation under sustained traffic loads
• Application Recognition Engine: Deep packet inspection and behavioral analysis identifying thousands of applications; policy enforcement at application layer rather than port or protocol
• Identity and Access Control: Microsoft Active Directory and LDAP integration enabling user-group-based firewall policy, immediate policy revocation on user removal, and user-activity audit logging for compliance reporting
• Threat Intelligence: Integrated Cisco Talos reputation service delivering real-time signature updates, web category filtering, and malicious IP/domain blocking without manual intervention
• Management and Logging: Centralized policy deployment and reporting via Cisco Prime Security Manager (PRSM); detailed application usage logs, user activity records, and web reputation event exports compatible with SIEM platforms
• High-Availability: Full support for ASA 5585-X Active/Standby and Active/Active failover configurations with automatic state synchronization and transparent policy enforcement across redundant pairs

Omnixon Global supplies the ASA5585-SSP-CX20 and the full range of Cisco ASA 5585-X security platforms to data-centre operators, system integrators, and enterprises throughout the GCC region and across Asia-Europe routes. We maintain stock of new, genuine Cisco equipment and provide direct access to Cisco SMARTnet support eligibility, ensuring your deployment is covered from day one. If your organization is evaluating next-generation firewall consolidation or building out regional security gateways, contact our team for a detailed technical discussion and RFQ.