Enterprise firewalls inspect and control traffic between trusted and untrusted zones, protecting users, applications, sites, data centres, cloud environments, and remote workers across the network edge and internal estate.
The platform you choose determines how consistently you can enforce policy, segment internal traffic, secure branch and remote access, and whether adding threat prevention, TLS inspection, or SD-WAN integration simplifies operations or adds complexity.
As a partner to vendors including Fortinet, Cisco, and Juniper, we specify firewalls against your requirements, so you're not paying for throughput, licensing, or high availability you won't use or left short on performance, inspection depth, and policy control where you need them.
Modern firewalls are built to handle the demands placed on today's threat landscape, from advanced threats and hybrid working to zero trust and cloud protection.
FortiManager, Cisco Firewall Management Center, and Juniper Security Director help centralise policy while threat intelligence blocks known and emerging attacks.
FortiSASE, Cisco security integrations, and Juniper security policy tools help protect users as they move between offices, home, and cloud apps.
Identity-aware rules, ZTNA, and policy orchestration help enforce least-privilege access instead of trusting users because they are on the network.
FortiAnalyzer, FortiAIOps, and Cisco Security Cloud Control help turn logs, alerts, and policy changes into more manageable operational workflows.
Cloud firewall management and unified policy controls help secure workloads and connections that no longer sit inside one corporate perimeter.
Central policy, logging, and recovery plans help security teams respond faster when outages, misconfigurations, or active attacks affect connectivity.
Firewalls adapt to different environments, each with distinct traffic flows, control requirements, and operational security priorities.
Secure internet breakout, VPN, SD-WAN, and guest access with consistent policy and simple remote management across distributed sites.
Enforce policy between users, applications, cloud services, and internal segments with identity awareness, threat prevention, and reporting.
Protect server zones, databases, and application tiers with high-throughput inspection, east-west visibility, redundancy, and controlled change management.
Protect stores, POS, guest Wi-Fi, and payment systems with PCI-aligned policy, remote oversight, and repeatable templates.
Segment clinical systems, admin networks, guest access, and medical devices while supporting patient data protection and auditability.
Separate OT, IT, supplier connections, and remote maintenance paths with controlled access that reduces cyber risk.
Getting these areas right will help your business avoid costly rework and gaps in coverage, performance, security or lifecycle support.
Plan firewall placement alongside Edge Routers so internet breakout, WAN routing and failover paths are clear before deployment.
Decide how Security Management will control rules, objects, change approval and reporting across sites and environments.
Confirm Zero Trust & Secure Access requirements for users, applications and administrators before finalising policy design.
Check how SIEM & XDR Platforms will receive logs, alerts and threat events so investigations are not dependent on firewall views alone.
Assess where SASE services should complement branch firewalls, remote access and cloud security rather than duplicating controls.
Factor Vendor Support & Lifecycle Services into licensing, security updates, hardware support and roadmap fit before committing.
Each firewall type protects a different part of the network. Knowing the difference helps you apply the right security control without overcomplicating sites that need simpler protection.
| Branch Firewalls | Enterprise Firewalls | Data Centre Firewalls | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where they sit | At branch offices, retail sites, clinics, depots or remote locations connecting users and local services securely | At central sites or major network boundaries where broader user, application and internet traffic is controlled | Inside or at the edge of data centres protecting application, server and storage environments |
| Traffic profile | Local internet breakout, VPN, cloud application access and secure connectivity for distributed teams | High user counts, multiple network zones, remote access, internet edge traffic and business application flows | Server-to-server traffic, application segmentation, high throughput and controlled access to critical systems |
| Performance priority | Reliable security and connectivity in compact sites, often with limited on-site support | Throughput, inspection, policy scale and resilience across many users, applications and security services | Low-latency inspection and segmentation without slowing critical workloads or east-west traffic |
| Security focus | Consistent policy, secure remote management, VPN, web filtering and protection for local users and devices | Central policy enforcement, threat prevention, identity-aware access, compliance reporting and operational visibility | Application segmentation, controlled administrator access, workload protection and audit-friendly rule management |
| What it is not built for | Replacing high-throughput enterprise or data centre firewall roles | Very small branch use cases where simpler remote-site security is enough | General branch connectivity or end-user wireless access control |
| Explore Branch Firewalls | Explore Enterprise Firewalls | Explore Data Centre Firewalls |
Fortinet, Cisco, and Juniper platforms each suit different security architectures, teams, and workloads. Here's where each one fits best.
Best for: Teams standardised on Junos that want firewall policy and routing operations handled within one consistent operating model across the wider estate.
Strengths
Best for: Cisco-led estates that want firewalling tied closely to identity, DNS-layer protection, and cloud-delivered security controls without adding separate platforms.
Strengths
Best for: Teams that want converged security and networking with strong price-performance from branch to data centre, especially where throughput under inspection matters.
Strengths
Unsure which platform is the right fit? Our specialists can assess crucial factors such as workloads, compatibility, operational priorities and future growth to recommend the most suitable approach.
We’re trusted by IT teams in enterprise environments, data centres and distributed networks. Our role is to help you make the right infrastructure decisions, with practical support across Fortinet, Cisco and Juniper firewalls.
Firewall Services
From architecture and deployment to optimisation and modernisation, we help you build resilient security infrastructure that protects changing traffic and applications.
Design resilient firewall infrastructure with the right security policy, throughput, availability and connectivity to support growth and reduce implementation risk.
Learn more about Architecture & Design →Replace legacy firewalls, migrate policies and deploy new security platforms with minimal disruption and seamless integration into your network.
Learn more about Migration & Deployment →Assess firewall performance, resilience, firmware, security policy and platform health to improve reliability, protection and operational efficiency.
Learn more about Assessment & Optimisation →Plan technology refreshes, replace end-of-life hardware and modernise firewall infrastructure with a structured roadmap for future security requirements.
Learn more about Lifecycle & Modernisation →We help you compare suitable firewall platforms across Fortinet, Cisco and Juniper — balancing performance, licensing, security services, lifecycle status and total cost.
Match throughput, interfaces, security services and performance to your requirements.
Get the right licensing and support for your environment.
Access competitive pricing and improved lead times.
Maximise value from existing equipment and refresh with ease.
Need help with firewalls?
Speak to our experts about design, deployment, optimisation or modernisation of your security infrastructure.
Firewalls provide a critical control layer across branch, enterprise, and data centre network architecture.
The solution below connects firewall strategy with stronger segmentation, secure access, Zero Trust, and threat visibility.
Browse the full range available from each manufacturer we partner with.
Integrated switching, wireless, SD-WAN and firewall management within a unified security-driven networking fabric.
View Fortinet Networking ›
Switching, wireless, routing and security platforms designed for resilient operations and stronger policy control.
View Cisco Networking ›
Junos-based infrastructure with Mist AI for automated operations and faster resolution of user-impacting issues.
View Juniper Networking ›If you're specifying firewalls, these categories cover the routing, SD-WAN, cloud-managed and industrial networking areas that shape the wider security perimeter.
Ruggedised network hardware for operational sites, factory floors, utilities, and harsh environments requiring reliable segmented connectivity.
Browse modelsCentrally managed switching and wireless with visibility and control across every site from a single console.
Browse modelsPolicy-based WAN connectivity for steering traffic across broadband, MPLS, and cloud links while improving branch resilience.
Browse modelsRouting platforms for branch, WAN, cloud, and site-to-site connectivity with secure traffic control and resilient links.
Browse modelsChoose a firewall platform by matching threat inspection needs, throughput, segmentation design, compliance requirements, VPN usage, and management capability at scale.
Also consider architecture fit, as perimeter firewalls, internal segmentation firewalls, and cloud or virtual firewalls for cloud workloads often have different sizing and feature priorities. Use the vendor comparison above to narrow the right platform for your security model, traffic profile, and management requirements.
Next-generation firewall vendors differ in threat intelligence, inspection performance, SD-WAN integration, management tooling, segmentation features, and security ecosystem depth at scale.
Meaningful differences usually appear under full inspection load, not basic stateful filtering, so compare throughput and latency with IPS, anti-malware, and SSL inspection enabled, alongside threat intelligence quality and integration. Use the platform comparison above to compare the main options against management model, security requirements, and site profile.
Firewall choice affects segmentation design, inspection policy, logging quality, remote access, compliance evidence, and how consistently security controls are enforced.
Firewall placement and policy define trust boundaries across user, server, OT, and guest networks, which directly affects containment if an account or device is compromised. Many compliance frameworks also require auditable segmentation and logged policy enforcement, making firewall capability a direct control rather than only perimeter protection.
Replace firewalls when inspection throughput, licensing, support status, VPN capacity, logging, or security feature coverage no longer meets risk requirements.
Replacement is usually needed when the platform cannot sustain full threat prevention at required traffic levels, is nearing end of support, or lacks capability for SSL inspection, sandboxing, SD-WAN, or cloud security integration. This helps avoid security gaps, expired support, and unnecessary policy complexity.
Yes, mixed-vendor firewall environments can be supported during migration when policies, NAT rules, VPNs, routing, and logging dependencies are mapped.
During transition, security policy intent should be documented independently of vendor syntax, then implemented consistently across both platforms until cutover is complete, with testing and fallback at each stage. For firewall migration, policy review, or multi-vendor security estates, speak to our network security experts before finalising the approach.
Specify firewalls around inspected throughput, concurrent sessions, VPN capacity, SSL inspection, high availability, logging volume, and future traffic growth at scale.
Base sizing on performance with full security inspection enabled rather than headline maximum throughput, as vendor figures can materially overstate production capacity. Confirm SSL or TLS inspection capability and its performance impact as well, because encrypted traffic creates a major blind spot if inspection cannot be sustained properly.
