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Axiad Conductor vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

Axiad and Broadcom are both solutions in the Authentication Systems category. Axiad is ranked #12 with an average rating of 10.0, while Broadcom is ranked #19 with an average rating of 7.0. Axiad holds a 0.5% mindshare in AS, compared to Broadcom’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Axiad users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 77% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.
Axiad Conductor
Read 6 Axiad Conductor reviews
  • 689 Views
  • 148 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Read 9 Symantec Advanced Authentication reviews
  • 307 Views
  • 187 Comparison Views
77% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 16, 2025

Symantec Advanced Authentication and Axiad Conductor are key players in the multi-factor authentication market. Symantec Advanced Authentication stands out with its scalability and integration, ideal for complex enterprise environments. Axiad Conductor shines with user-centric features and ease of deployment, beneficial for businesses focused on streamlined operations.

Features: Symantec Advanced Authentication offers strong integration capabilities, extensive support for legacy systems, and combines hardware and software token options. Axiad Conductor features innovative passwordless authentication, hybrid cloud management, and adaptability across diverse platforms.

Room for Improvement: Symantec Advanced Authentication could enhance user experience simplicity and reduce the complexity of its setup. Additional training resources would benefit users and reduce deployment time. Axiad Conductor might improve by expanding its integration capabilities and providing more advanced reporting tools. Enhancing customizability for larger enterprises and improving interface intuitiveness are areas of potential growth.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Axiad Conductor offers a seamless deployment with minimal infrastructure, emphasizing rapid time-to-value and providing comprehensive documentation. Its responsive support is advantageous for businesses with limited resources. Symantec Advanced Authentication supports various deployment models but may involve a more complex setup process for expansive integrations.

Pricing and ROI: Symantec Advanced Authentication requires a higher initial investment due to its extensive features, promising a high ROI in complex scenarios. Axiad Conductor offers competitive pricing with more predictable costs, appealing to small to medium-sized businesses looking for cost-effective, valuable authentication solutions. Its lower setup costs are attractive for businesses focusing on faster ROI without compromising security.

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To learn more, read our detailed Axiad Conductor vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Axiad Conductor vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication
April 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Axiad Conductor
Ranking in Authentication Systems
12th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Privileged Access Management (PAM) (15th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (14th), Passwordless Authentication (4th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (5th)
Symantec Advanced Authentic...
Ranking in Authentication Systems
19th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Authentication Systems category, the mindshare of Axiad Conductor is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Authentication is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

Eric Brown - PeerSpot reviewer
The day-to-day tasks, running the servers, and making sure that everything is patched is all handled by the platform
The most valuable feature is the overhead management of the platform. There is less for my team to worry about. The day-to-day tasks, running the servers, and making sure that everything is patched is all handled by the platform. We just consume the service and work with them to refine it, making it even more valuable. Aside from Active Directory, anything that is a multi-factor platform is handled through Axiad Cloud. It is critical for helping to enforce usage of authentication devices across our organization. One of our requirements to continue some of our contracts is to have multi-factor authentication across all devices accessing the network. It is extremely easy to enroll a user with “One Click Issuance”. I have had very few calls to the service desk regarding enrollment. It takes a couple of minutes to enroll a user with "One Click Issuance". Deploying and managing authenticators is very easy, either done by a mobile application or enrollment of an OTP token. It is very simple. This is important to my userbase, which makes it important to me. Functionality-wise, it is pretty solid.
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Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures robust security features and ease of deployment, although it may lack some of the more modern authentication options
There has been a need for aggressive development to modernize the product and align it with contemporary security requirements. While the rebranding has been a step forward, further enhancements are essential to meet the evolving demands of the market. It lacks features such as ActiveSync Exchange security, and it doesn't offer alternatives like password-less authentication via biometrics or patches. While Symantec mainly relies on traditional token-based or password-based methods, newer authentication methods are missing from its repertoire. Support services often lack promptness and depth of knowledge, leaving customers waiting for weeks to resolve issues. In the realm of multifactor authentication, swift resolution of problems is critical, as any slowdown or interruption can significantly impact operations. Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation.
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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The life cycle management of credentials is the aspect that we have found to be the most useful... The differentiator that Axiad provided was the ability to provide users a way to self-serve the updating of their credentials on their private keys. That was the feature we were most interested in and Axiad does an excellent job of it."
"What I have found most valuable is the overall way Axiad listened to our problems and helped us solve them. They provided guidance and expertise, with their experience, that enabled us to be successful in a very challenging space."
"It's very user-friendly. We're issuing YubiKeys for our corporate users and they just plug it in, go to the Axiad Cloud portal, and click the issue button. It's a couple of steps."
"Aside from Active Directory, anything that is a multi-factor platform is handled through Axiad Cloud. It is critical for helping to enforce usage of authentication devices across our organization."
"The solution has also saved us time by having end-users troubleshoot issues through the MyCircle feature, and has definitely reduced the efforts of our administrators. It is saving us five to 10 minutes per incident."
"And when it comes to enrolling a user, it's super easy with One Click Issuance... It's so easy now that we can offload the process to our clients who can self-enroll. Previously, we would have to do the enrollment process because it was so complicated."
"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is that it's a strong authentication solution that's able to integrate with applications."
"One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."
"Rules on Risk Authentication are very good."
 

Cons

"I would like a more modern look to the portal."
"With their licensing model, it becomes hard to scale. For example, we couldn't roll it out enterprise-wide because if you scale it across more than 100,000 users, the cost becomes too exorbitant."
"I'm looking forward to seeing how they move to FIDO U2F as their primary authentication method across all of their solutions."
"macOS is notoriously ever-evolving and it's difficult to keep pace with it as it pertains to certain kinds of crypto authentication. That's really not even on Axiad. That's a decision by Apple, but it makes it a moving target."
"There are just some minor tweaks that could be made on the front end. It would be cool to have nicknames for authenticator devices. If you have more than one, it's hard to discern what you have."
"We would prefer that the solution be hosted in Canada because we're a Canadian entity. That would be nice to have. It's not a feature, as such, but it would really make us a lot happier if it could be located in Canada."
"We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."
"This solution could be improved with risk-based authentication. I think that this product has everything that most customers are looking for, but modern technology has people looking for security tools with risk-based authentication, which they have a separate tool for. If they could integrate this, it would improve Symantec Advanced Authentication. They have to look at what's newly trending and how things are moving forward, and then adapt and adopt those features. Symantec's technical support should also be improved, in terms of response time."
"Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation."
"Advanced Authentication talks about the Device ID. But how the device ID is captured, I want to know more about that."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Don't just focus on the hardware or software costs of acquiring a solution, but look at it from the perspective that so much of what it takes to run a PKI environment has to do with the people who are running it.... look at the total cost of ownership and not just the cost of acquisition."
"The pricing is very competitive for what is offered at the level that we need. They are right there with what the industry standards are. They tend to be a little bit less, in terms of cost, when we are talking about security at government standards. So, I would say that they have a slight advantage on cost compared to the industry average. They are the lower cost solution and the best bargain out on the market today."
"Axiad's pricing was what we were expecting. It was at the right spot. They were competitive."
"It's very cheap on a per-year basis. The cards themselves last about three years and the license is on the order of double-digit dollars per user, and not hundreds of dollars per user, per year."
"There are eventually going to be implementation costs. Sometimes you're required to have custom code developments there, so that has to be part of the implementation price."
"The price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
12%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Axiad Cloud?
The life cycle management of credentials is the aspect that we have found to be the most useful... The differentiator that Axiad provided was the ability to provide users a way to self-serve the up...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Axiad Cloud?
Our use case is credential management for one of the business units. Axiad provides credential management for those users, including the creation of new credentials and life cycle management of the...
See all answers
What advice do you have for others considering Axiad Cloud?
You have to understand the number of users and the number of devices that are going to use the solution. I'm saying that because of my experience with the licensing part. That's my one gripe. If yo...
See all answers
What do you like most about Symantec Advanced Authentication?
One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Advanced Authentication?
The price is reasonable.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Symantec Advanced Authentication?
There has been a need for aggressive development to modernize the product and align it with contemporary security requirements. While the rebranding has been a step forward, further enhancements ar...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 31% of the time
Yubico YubiKey vs Axiad Conductor Logo
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Compared 29% of the time
More Axiad Conductor Competitors
No data available
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Axiad Conductor
April 2025
Axiad Conductor reportDownload Axiad Conductor product report
Buyer's Guide
Symantec Advanced Authentication
March 2025
Symantec Advanced Authentication reportDownload Symantec Advanced Authentication product report
 

Also Known As

Axiad Cloud
CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
 

Overview

Axiad Conductor offers a user-friendly platform for managing multifactor authentication and credential lifecycle, supporting seamless transitions to cloud environments for enhanced security compliance and access control.

Axiad Conductor stands out with intuitive management of multifactor authentication systems, assertive device lifecycle management, and a managed cloud solution that streamlines operations. It promotes user self-service for credential updates, minimizing the need for extensive training. With the capability to handle large networks, it enhances efficiency while meeting contract demands. Addressing user suggestions, plans include interface design updates and Canadian hosting, although macOS's frequent updates pose integration challenges.

What are the principal features of Axiad Conductor?
  • "One Click Issuance": Simplifies user enrollment through easy interface actions.
  • Multifactor Authentication: Manages critical authentication processes securely.
  • PKI Support: Facilitates seamless management in PKI environments.
  • Credential Self-Service: Empowers users to handle updates independently.
  • Cloud Management: Reduces operational burdens due to its managed environment.
What should users look for in terms of ROI and benefits?
  • Efficiency: Streamlined operations boost productivity across large networks.
  • Flexibility: Adaptability to meet evolving challenges and contract requirements.
  • User Empowerment: Enables users to manage their credentials autonomously.
  • Compliance: Supports regulation adherence effortlessly.

In diverse industries, Axiad Conductor is implemented to manage multifactor authentication and PKI elements like smart cards and YubiKeys. Organizations leverage it to ensure compliance, facilitate secure workforce access, and transition PKI systems to the cloud, handling substantial volumes of smart card and machine certificates with ease.

Axiad

CA Advanced Authentication provides a secure, user-convenient and cost-effective way to protect online and mobile applications. The solution consists of two components:  CA Risk Authentication allows the enterprise to silently and transparently collect data and assess risk based on device identification, location and user behavior, among other factors, and CA Strong Authentication provides a wide variety of software-based, two-factor authentication credentials and technology to make passwords more secure.  Together they enable an intelligent, layered security approach to protect user identities and organizational data.

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Broadcom
 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
Buyer's Guide
Axiad Conductor vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication
April 2025
Free Report: Axiad Conductor vs. Symantec Advanced Authentication
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