But Cisco hit a serious snag in 2005 when it released the appliance, an attempt to merge their successful PIX firewall product line, (cancelled in 2008) with an even more successful VPN 3000 series (cancelled in 2007).

At the same time, Cisco started to merge its many end-point VPN and security tools. The idea was to fold features from its Host Intrusion Prevention, Desktop Security, 802.1X supplicant, SSL VPN and NAC product lines into a single unified client, the AnyConnect VPN Client (also called AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client).

The hitch for longtime Cisco customers was that Cisco ended support for its PIX and VPN 3000 series products, as the new client doesn't support the older hardware.

The chaos surrounding the ASA 5500 increased when 64-bit Vista hit the streets, an operating system that Cisco wouldn't be able to fully support until 2010. So, customers who wanted to simply keep doing basic VPN remote access were forced to replace old — but working — VPN 3000 concentrators with newer ASAs in order to handle end-user operating system upgrades.

While this was necessary from Cisco's point of view to integrate a half-dozen overlapping acquisitions, it remains to be seen whether Cisco customers will forgive them and keep the Cisco VPN solution at the very top of enterprise short lists.