[shortdesc] 3U data-center NGFW, 150 Gbps FW, 90 Gbps Threat Prevention, 39M sessions, 100/400G ready, DC redundant PSUs [/shortdesc]

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Solve High-Speed Edge Risk with Quantum-Ready Security

Growing east-west traffic, encrypted threats, and 100/400G uplinks put pressure on legacy edge firewalls. The Palo Alto Networks PA-5540-DC delivers data-center-class performance in a compact 3U chassis with Precision AI defenses and post-quantum cryptography readiness, giving you predictable security at scale without compromising throughput.

Key Benefits & Features

Quantum-Optimized & PQC-Ready NGFW

Designed as the world's first quantum-optimized Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW, the PA-5500 Series supports PQC use cases (PQC TLS decryption and PQC site-to-site VPN and includes a PCIe slot for future PQ capabilities—ideal for long-lived data and compliance roadmaps.

Inline Prevention at Data-Center Speeds

Achieve 150 Gbps firewall throughput (AppMix and 90 Gbps Threat Prevention, plus 80 Gbps IPsec VPN, 39M max concurrent sessions, and 1.33M new sessions per second—built for large east-west and internet edge workloads.

100/400G I/O for Modern Fabrics

Connect fabrics and spines with a high-density I/O of 16 × 10G/25G SFP28, 16 × 40G/100G QSFP28, and 4 × 100G/400G QSFP-DD ports; dedicated management and logging ports simplify operations.

Unified, AI-Powered Operations with Strata Cloud Manager

Operate at scale with Strata Cloud Manager, the industry's first AI-powered unified management solution. Leverage Strata Copilot for policy hygiene, anomaly detection, proactive issue resolution, and faster troubleshooting, unified across NGFW, SASE, and security services.

App- and User-Aware Control

PAN-OS natively classifies all traffic, including applications, threats, and content, tying them to the user regardless of location. App-ID and identity-based policies deliver precise Layer-7 control, safe SaaS access, and zero-trust segmentation without port-based guesswork.

Ideal Use Cases for the PA-5540-DC

• Internet Gateways and Data-Center Edges consolidating high-bandwidth threat prevention with 100G/400G connectivity.
• Service Provider POPs needing predictable, low-latency performance and massive session scale.
• 5G-Native and Encrypted Traffic Environments planning for PQC migration and requiring 5G identifier-based visibility.
• Enterprises standardizing on AI-assisted, centralized policy and lifecycle management to strengthen their security posture.

Technical Specifications at a Glance

• Firewall Throughput (AppMix: 150 Gbps
• Threat Prevention Throughput: 90 Gbps
• IPsec VPN Throughput: 80 Gbps
• Max Concurrent Sessions / New SPS: 39M / 1.33M
• Interfaces: 16 × 10/25G SFP28; 16 × 40/100G QSFP28; 4 × 100/400G QSFP-DD
• Form Factor & Airflow: 3U, front-to-back
• Power (DC Model: −40 to −60 VDC input, 2+2 redundant DC PSUs
• High Availability: NGFW clustering (Active/Active and HA (Active/Passive

Lock Down Your Edge with Headroom to Grow

Ready for quantum-safe futures and 400G fabrics, the Palo Alto Networks PA-5540-DC delivers the performance, visibility, and manageability modern, high-speed network edges demand.