Sophos UTM and Check Point NGFW are leading products in the network security category. Check Point NGFW seems to have the upper hand with its advanced threat prevention and detailed reporting capabilities, which are critical for larger enterprises.
Features: Sophos UTM offers comprehensive VPN capabilities, reliable UTM technology, and a centralized management dashboard. It supports various deployment options and is ideal for small to medium environments. Check Point NGFW stands out with its advanced security features, robust threat prevention tools, and flexibility to accommodate different network environments effectively.
Room for Improvement: Sophos UTM needs enhancement in scalability, appliance throughput, and web filtering. It lacks IKEv2 support for VPN functionalities. Check Point NGFW can improve its stability during firmware updates, initial setup complexity, and support response time. Better integration with third-party vendors is also recommended.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Sophos UTM and Check Point NGFW are adaptable to various deployment settings. Sophos is preferred for straightforward setups in small environments, while Check Point is better suited for larger enterprises. Sophos is noted for its supportive community and consistent service, whereas Check Point support needs to enhance its responsiveness.
Pricing and ROI: Sophos UTM is cost-effective with flexible licensing options, perceived as lower-priced compared to competitors, offering good ROI for small businesses. Check Point NGFW, although more expensive, justifies its premium pricing with robust security features. Its complex licensing model, however, can be more costly and less intuitive than Sophos UTM.
The response time for a critical priority one issue was over four hours and they only responded because we threatened legal action for them violating our support contract.
They say they will respond in 24 hours, but I have received responses in a maximum of one hour, which is impressive.
The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is 24 hours a day seven days a week, and 365 days a year.
The support team we engaged was knowledgeable and well-versed with the application.
I rate technical support from Check Point at ten out of ten.
When I can't resolve an issue technically, I consult with a senior engineer.
FortiWAN supports OSPF but does not support the BGP protocol.
Fortinet VPN and DDoS capabilities are great, yet we need to provide a solution that enables CASB and integration to the cloud.
The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate.
Check Point would benefit from having a single console for both basic and policy configurations.
The graphical user interface (GUI) could benefit from some updates.
In the rule creation process, we need to decide on the source address, destination address, and services.
The devices will usually fail way before reaching the capacity advertised in the data sheets, especially when you activate several of the features the device can handle.
The solution is working and it is still stable even across all of these devices and servers.
We have over 10,000 users behind it.
Scalability must be carefully planned for, considering future growth and user base increases.
It enhances performance with high availability, shifting to a secondary firewall if one fails.
The cost of the original deployment fell below £5,000, and licenses are priced at around £3,000.
Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment.
Overall, FortiGate is affordable.
In comparison to Fortinet and other products, the pricing may be considered high.
We found the pricing reasonable, ensuring the product was not overpriced.
All of these issues were resolved in v5.2.
Stability has dramatically improved over the previous main version branch of FortiOS; 5.2.x and 5.4.x are stable enough for critical environments.
Overall, the devices have been very stable.
While the solution is generally stable, there are complications, such as requiring SmartConsole for deployment and upgrades, which can be time-consuming.
The two most valuable features are VPN and firewalling.
WiFi network for visitors isolated from our corporate WiFi network using only one unit
Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it 'readable'
The firewall's default behavior of blocking all traffic, including a cleanup rule that blocks everything from external to internal sources, is highly valuable for protecting our network.
One of the most valuable features is the ability to whitelist and blacklist sources to control access to our ecosystem, ensuring secured SaaS application access.
In the normal GA login, I can create interfaces and configure interface IPs, while in the SmartConsole, I manage the NAT quality and firewall access.
Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.
Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.
What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?
What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?
Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.
Check Point NGFW provides comprehensive firewall protection, managing VPNs, and securing network perimeters with advanced threat prevention techniques. It's widely used to protect businesses, data centers, and ensure secure traffic management.
Check Point NGFW offers robust security for companies, delivering security features like threat prevention, URL filtering, and intrusion prevention across both layer 3 and layer 7. It supports remote access, web filtering, application control, and safeguards against malware, botnets, and zero-day attacks. With its intuitive management console, deep packet inspection, centralized management capabilities, and sophisticated threat detection, Check Point NGFW enhances network security and productivity. The system integrates seamlessly with other technologies and provides real-time monitoring, detailed reporting, and automated policy management. Additionally, its setup is straightforward, it scales well, and offers comprehensive logging.
What are the key features?Check Point NGFW is implemented in industries like finance, healthcare, and retail, where protecting sensitive data and ensuring compliance are critical. Its advanced security features and ease of management make it suitable for large enterprises and data centers, ensuring reliable and secure network operations.
Sophos UTM is a unified threat management platform designed to protect your businesses from known and emerging malware including viruses, rootkits and spyware. The solution provides a complete network security package with everything your organization needs in a single modular appliance.
Sophos UTM Features
Sophos UTM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Sophos UTM Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Sophos UTM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Sophos UTM solution.
PeerSpot user Dana B., Network Administrator at a manufacturing company, says “The web and email filtering are the two biggest and most valuable aspects of the solution for us. The solution overall has just been a good, cost-effective solution for us. The solution offers a lot of functionality. The solution scales well. We've found the technical support to be helpful. The stability and performance are quite good.”
A Technical Director at a security firm mentions, "Sophos SG UTM had all the basic functionality that you needed. It is user-friendly and easy to manage for any integrator."
Marek M., Senior Network Engineer at a computer software company, comments, “Sophos UTM is the simplest of these products to set up. If you follow the instructions using the wizard, which is just a few steps, then you will have a firewall to protect you and your customer.”
A Software Sales Manager at a tech services company explains, “The overall visibility of the console is what I find most valuable, plus it's very user-friendly. It can be integrated with other solutions such as SOAR, SIEM, etc., even when you have an existing firewall. I really like that the console can be integrated. You'll see everything on the same window, and the single window feature of the machine is so good. These are the features I really like.”
James D., IT Manager at Manual Workers Union, states, “The fact that it's on the cloud means we don't have to administer it on our network or deal with a physical machine, which saves us money. The solution has many great features. From the console, we can start different scannings on different machines. We enjoy the centralized reporting part of it. The initial setup is simple. We enjoy its general stability. The solution can scale. So far, the solution has been problem-free.”
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