[c-nsp] NAT on ACE

[Pavel Lunin]

Hi experts,

Who thinks what about an idea of using Cisco ACE module for 6500/7600 as 
a NAT device for a huge enterprise network?

I am looking for a device which would be capable to NAT traffic for a 
network of several thousand desktops + an enterprise-scale data center: 
up to 5 Gbps of traffic totally. Local sales say it is a nice idea to 
use ACE. The price is also very attractive in compare with any classic 
stateful firewall solution. But I myself have absolutely no experience 
with ACE and am also afraid nothing goes free. At least in Cisco world :)

Skimming through Cisco's datasheets it seems like ACE is rather a kind 
of load balancer, SSL accelerator, L7 proxy, etc. This functions are 
usually done in software. However ACE's NAT capabilities, announced by 
the vendor, should require lots of expensive hardware, just as any 
firewall does.

So where is the trick? Does anyone have real life experience with NAT on 
ACE module? Should we go there? Let's assume we don't need any other 
firewall features, only NAT.

Thank you.

--
Kind regards,
Pavel