{"id":100,"date":"2026-08-21T18:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/?p=100"},"modified":"2026-08-21T18:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:03:15","slug":"what-is-cisco-firepower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nceducations.com\/blog\/what-is-cisco-firepower\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Cisco Firepower?: Management Center, Threat Defense, Datasheet, Used For, 1000 Series, Other Details 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cisco Firepower 300-710<\/a> is Cisco’s next-generation firewall (NGFW) product line, built around <\/span>Firepower Threat Defence (FTD)<\/b> – unified software that combines stateful firewalling, intrusion prevention, application visibility, URL filtering, and malware defence in a single data path. It runs on dedicated Firepower\/Secure Firewall appliances, on Cisco’s ASA 5500-X hardware, and as a virtual machine (FTDv), and is managed either through the Firepower Management Centre (FMC), the on-box Firepower Device Manager (FDM), or Cisco Defence Orchestrator (CDO).<\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re evaluating Cisco Firepower for a network security role, preparing for Cisco’s CCNP Security track, or simply trying to understand how it differs from the older Cisco ASA firewall, this guide walks through what the platform actually consists of, how its pieces work together, and where it fits in a modern security architecture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quick Answer<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Cisco Firepower is not one product – it’s a firewall <\/span>platform<\/b>. The core software is Firepower Threat Defence (FTD), which replaced the older “ASA with FirePOWER Services” combination. FTD runs on purpose-built Firepower\/Secure Firewall hardware, on repurposed ASA 5500-X boxes, or as a virtual appliance, and is centrally managed through the Firepower Management Centre. Optional subscription licenses add intrusion prevention (IPS), malware defence, and URL filtering on top of the included firewall and application-control base features.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cisco Firepower Brief History: From ASA to FTD<\/b><\/h2>\n

Understanding Firepower requires understanding where it came from, because a lot of confusion in the field stems from this transition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cisco originally sold two separate security lines: the <\/span>ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance)<\/b>, a mature stateful firewall, and <\/span>Sourcefire<\/b>, a next-generation IPS company Cisco acquired in 2013. For a period, Cisco offered “ASA with FirePOWER Services” – ASA software running the Sourcefire-derived inspection engine as a bolt-on module, each with its own separate management interface (ASDM for the firewall, FMC for the IPS module). This dual-management setup was widely regarded as clunky.<\/span><\/p>\n

Firepower Threat Defence (FTD)<\/b> was Cisco’s answer: a unified software image that merges ASA-class firewalling with the Sourcefire-derived Snort inspection engine into a single piece of code, managed from a single console. FTD is now the default image on current Firepower\/Secure Firewall hardware, and Cisco has increasingly rebranded the overall line as <\/span>Cisco Secure Firewall<\/b>, though “Firepower” remains the name most commonly used in documentation, exam blueprints, and job postings, so both terms are used throughout this guide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Core Components of Cisco Firepower 300-710<\/b><\/h2>\n

Firepower Threat Defence (FTD): The data plane<\/b><\/p>\n