Enterprises are facing an increasingly complex and hostile threat landscape. There’s a massive growth in network traffic across data centers, campuses and remote branches, with cloud apps, hybrid environments and AI workloads expanding the attack surface and making traffic more vulnerable.

This expanded surface is a prime target for increasingly sophisticated adversaries. Attackers are now leveraging threat automation, AI and evasion techniques to launch faster, more deceptive and harder-to-detect attacks. These advanced threats, including malware, ransomware and phishing, require us to decrypt and inspect all traffic to maintain security.

As traffic volumes and complexity soar, many firewalls are simply reaching their limits, creating dangerous gaps in visibility and protection. The problem is compounded by the rise of post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which will render today's encryption standards obsolete and create a new set of decryption challenges.

With the release of PAN-OS 12.1 Orion, Palo Alto Networks also launched a new Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) lineup to handle these modern demands. The lineup includes new, fifth-generation NGFWs that are ready to decrypt and inspect PQC traffic at scale, helping you stay secure as encryption standards evolve and a wide hardware selection to solve security challenges across various deployment scenarios, including:

• Enterprise Data Centers: The PA-5500 series, which includes the PA-5580, PA-5570, PA-5560, PA-5550, and PA-5540, is purpose-built for high-performance security in modern enterprise data centers. These devices offer exceptional throughput and advanced threat prevention capabilities, essential for safeguarding critical assets.
• Distributed Branch Locations: The PA-500 series includes the PA-560, PA-555-PoE, PA-550, PA-545-PoE, PA-540, PA-520, PA-510, PA-505, and provides robust security for distributed branches with integrated switching and power over Ethernet (PoE) options optimized for these environments.
• Extreme Environments: The PA-455R-5G extends our fourth-generation lineup with a new ruggedized NGFW that includes 5G connectivity and is built for extreme outdoor environments. It carries an ingress protection outdoor rating of IP65 for dust and water and is rated for use from -40°C to 70°C.

The new lineup of NGFWs launched with PAN-OS 12.1 Orion.

Fifth-Generation NGFWs: A New Era of Security Performance

The PA-7500 NGFW was the first fifth-generation NGFW announced and includes a modular chassis design. The new PA-5500 series and PA-500 series are the first fixed models in the fifth-generation lineup.

The PA-5500 series incorporates key innovations designed to address the most critical customer needs. At its heart lies the custom-built FE-400 ASIC, a revolutionary hardware component that is instrumental in achieving unparalleled scale, significantly improved quality of service (QoS), and granular visibility into network traffic.

The PA-500 series, built for distributed enterprise branches, supports higher port densities, including PoE capabilities, offering integrated security and switching in an optimized footprint ideal for branch deployments. This convergence simplifies network infrastructure and reduces the need for multiple devices, streamlining management and lowering operational costs.

The PA-5500 Series: Engineered for the Future-Ready Data Center

The PA-5500 series stands as the pinnacle of the Palo Alto Networks fixed portfolio for high-end data centers. The PA-5500 series delivers up to 4x the threat performance compared to the fourth-generation PA-5400 series. This dramatic increase in performance ensures that organizations can maintain robust security postures without compromising network speed or efficiency.

Furthermore, the PA-5500 series supports active/active clustering, which is crucial for maintaining continuous operations and resilience in enterprise environments. For expanding enterprise data center needs, these devices provide high Ethernet connectivity supporting speeds of up to 400 Gbps, enabling seamless integration into high-capacity networks.

The PA-5500 series is designed to meet the escalating demands of AI-enabled modern enterprise data centers, offering a suite of advanced features:

• Lightning-Fast Connectivity: Featuring up to eight 400 Gbps interfaces and the new FE-400 ASIC, the PA-5500 series delivers high throughput and exceptionally low latency. This ensures that even the most data-intensive applications and high-volume traffic flows are processed efficiently and securely. The FE-400 ASIC supports hardware acceleration capabilities for critical security functions like IPsec, crypto assist and session offload. It also reduces response times for authenticated applications with fast-path forwarding when additional software processing is not required.
• Quantum Optimized: With up to 256 cores of compute and hardware acceleration, the PA-5500 series is designed to process PQCs at scale. The inclusion of a future-ready PCI slot highlights Palo Alto Networks commitment to future-proofing security against emerging threats.
• Superior Threat Performance: Achieving up to 4x the threat performance compared to the PA-5400 series, the PA-5500 models offer a formidable defense against advanced persistent threats, malware and zero-day exploits. The PA-5580, for instance, boasts an impressive 300 Gbps of threat prevention throughput and up to 99 million concurrent sessions in a 3RU form factor.
• High Bandwidth and Reliability: Support for the new NGFW Clustering Active/Active solution enhances both bandwidth and reliability, ensuring seamless failover and continuous operation even under extreme loads.

At Intility, we deliver a complete, fully managed IT platform and digital workplace secured by a 24/7 managed network and security platform. As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve with AI-driven threats, complex multicloud environments and new technologies like quantum computing on the horizon, we rely on partners that can deliver innovative solutions with proven reliability. The deployment of Palo Alto Networks fifth generation data center NGFW devices, offering 400 G connectivity, flexible deployment options, up to 375 G of App-ID threat protection, and quantum optimization together with PAN-OS 12.1 further enhances our ability to provide secure and uninterrupted services to our customers.

—Simon Grønvik, Vice President, Network Services, Intility

Highlights of the new PA-5500 series Data Center NGFWs.

PA-500 Series: Revolutionizing Enterprise Branch Security

Traditional security solutions used by distributed branches and remote offices struggle to keep pace with modern cyberthreats. Palo Alto Networks new PA-500 series provides enterprise-grade, next-generation firewall security in a compact form factor, optimized specifically for the distributed branch.

With the new PA-500 series, you get a single-box solution that consolidates switching, PoE, and a full-fledged NGFW. This integrated approach simplifies deployment and management, reducing the complexity often associated with securing remote locations. The PA-500 series is poised to refresh and replace the existing PA-400 series, bringing a new era of performance and capability to the edge.

Highlights of the new PA-500 series Enterprise Branch NGFWs.

Compared to previous generations, these new devices deliver up to 2x threat performance, with throughput ranging from 0.8 Gbps on the PA-505 to a robust 6 Gbps on the PA-560. This ensures that even the most demanding branch environments can maintain optimal security without compromising network speed. The PA-500 series models offer a wide variety of RJ-45, multi-gig RJ-45, SFP and SFP+ connectivity options.

The PA-500 series also addresses the need for simplified deployment and power management. With an increased PoE power budget of up to 330 W across eight Ethernet ports, these devices can power multiple PoE-enabled devices like IP phones, security cameras and wireless access points, eliminating the need for separate power outlets and streamlining wiring.

Support for zero touch provisioning (ZTP) via QR code scanning simplifies onboarding through Strata Cloud Manager, significantly reducing deployment time and effort. This feature is particularly beneficial for organizations with numerous branch offices, enabling rapid and consistent security deployment across their entire distributed network.

The PA-500 series extends enterprise protection to the branch. All PA-500 series platforms support local logging, a crucial capability that was not available on all previous 400 series models. This ensures comprehensive visibility into network activity and potential threats at the branch level.

The PA-500 series is quantum-ready, demonstrating Palo Alto Networks commitment to future-proofing branch security against emerging threats. By combining high performance, increased port density, robust PoE capabilities up to 330 W, and simplified deployment through ZTP, these devices offer an optimal solution for organizations seeking to extend enterprise-grade protection to their distributed branches.

PA-455R-5G: Securing Extreme Outdoor Locations with 5G Connectivity

Highlights of the new PA-455R-5G.

The PA-455R-5G extends our fourth-generation lineup with a new ruggedized NGFW that includes 5G connectivity and is built for extreme outdoor environments. It carries an ingress protection outdoor rating of IP65 for dust and water, and is rated for use from -40°C to 70°C.

The PA-455R-5G is purpose-built for harsh environments like industrial plants, transportation hubs or remote facilities and can provide complete coverage for unmanned remote locations for security and surveillance using cameras and other digital technologies. It delivers 150 W of PoE to directly power devices like security cameras or IoT gateways.

The PA-455R-5G also comes in a unique form-factor that enables a pole-mounting option, providing organizations with an incredibly flexible option to secure the edge in places where deploying standard hardware is impractical.

New Hardware, Updated Security Power: The PAN-OS 12.1 Orion NGFWs

The PAN-OS 12.1 Orion launch not only released many new network security features and capabilities, but also brought 14 new NGFWs to secure data centers, enterprise branches and remote locations. Our new NGFWs provide the power to decrypt and inspect modern traffic, the intelligence to detect threats in real-time, and the simplicity to manage everything through a unified platform.

If you’re starting to feel the limits of your current firewalls or planning for the shift to quantum-safe, this is the perfect time to explore what our new NGFWs can do for your organization. To learn more about the new fifth-generation NGFWs, watch the announcement video or visit our PAN-OS 12.1 Orion website.