Prisma SD-WAN Reviews

Prisma SD-WAN offers the same functionalities as Palo Alto CloudGenix, but my company uses it for different clients who operate retail chains. All the places where I have seen a big business setup, consisting of the head office, warehouse, sales office, and different kinds of offices for a particular area of business, require everything to be connected with their data centers, which is one of the main requirements of a business for which Prisma SD-WAN is required. Depending on the needs of my company's customers, we suggest Meraki, CloudGenix, or Juniper since the basic nature of all the aforementioned products is the same for a multi-point business setup.

The solution's most valuable features are that it is easy to onboard and its features are easier to understand. Prisma SD-WAN's features are similar to Cisco Viptela. Prisma SD-WAN is less costly than Cisco Viptela, but it did its job well. With Prisma SD-WAN, it took me a week to understand the concepts. In a month's time, I was able to deploy Prisma SD-WAN, so it was very easy and good. Users can cover up for the lack of support with the level of ease that the device provides you to interact with, so it gives confidence to its users. Whenever you go to the support, you are confident about what the issue is in the tool. Juniper, which functions on a Linux-based architecture, allows only a Linux expert to work on it, but a normal network technician cannot work so smoothly on it. The ease of troubleshooting and deployment are two main features that are better in Prisma SD-WAN compared to its competitors.

There are some small issues in Prisma SD-WAN's area related to bypass pair or couple ports related to redundancy. Sometimes, during the product's initial setup phase, bypass pair or couple ports don't come up normally, and it requires an hour and a half to troubleshoot to reset the box from Prisma SD-WAN to factory default. Prisma SD-WAN has some minor issues in its physical port, especially in bypass pair or couple ports. Bypass pair or couple ports are not abnormal ports. It is just that the aforementioned ports behave differently. If Prisma SD-WAN can fix bypass pair or couple ports and make them robust enough to work after the initial setup in the first attempt, then it can save a lot of time. The physical device's bypass pair or couple ports generally have issues.

I have been using Prisma SD-WAN for three years. My company has a partnership with the product.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

The solution has some issues related to bugs, but in my company, we can fix them.

The product's scalability is good since my company has never found any issue with the traffic load or the memory utilization part. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten.

I have dealt with around 100 sites with small setups, so I can say that around 1,000 to 2,000 users use the solution.

Prisma SD-WAN has some support issues, but not much since it can be handled.

There are certain areas where the support team of the solution lacks.

I would say that the support team can easily find the root cause of the problems related to the product in a very short amount of time, but the support team's availability is not good. If we have a P1 ticket now, which needs to be given priority owing to its severity, the product's support team takes nearly two hours to join, which doesn't help us solve the problem even though they are good. In our company, every time we have some activity, we pre-plan it, and we ask the product's support team to join us irrespective of whether we have an issue or not so that in case we face an issue, we can get help. The support team might not be available to help our company even if there is some severe issue.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.

The solution can be deployed in a day or two, considering it is done from my company's customer's branch office.

I have seen a return on investment in the sense that earlier, the customer used to work on the legacy network where it usually took time to set up the network, and once the network was set up, it worked fine, but, again, if you want to change something in the network, it takes time. After implementing Prisma SD-WAN in an environment like this, it can be described as offering more automation on the WAN side, so if you add a new service, you don't need to redesign the network. You just enable the service you want on the box from Prisma SD-WAN, or if you have some specific parameters, the box will take care of them under the service default list. In Prisma SD-WAN, voice is always prioritized, and data is less prioritized. Whatever services you have in your network, you can just add, and the device will take care of them, as it knows that a particular service may have four links, it knows from where it needs to send it, and if the service goes down, it knows by default where it has to send a link, so there is no manual intervention required. By considering the solution's base, we can say that it offers good scalability, as a user gets to see an increase in network readiness and uptime.

I recommend the solution to those who plan to use it. As per market standards, the product is doing good.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

We use this solution to enable better connectivity for utilizing the more available Internet broadband lines instead of the expensive MPLS lines.

The solution is deployed on the cloud. I'm using version 5.4.

There are 15 people using this solution in my organization, including network and security engineers. We currently don't have any plans to increase usage.

The reliability of the solution has improved our organization. We don't have any downtime unless there is a power outage. The network is more resilient and faster. It delivers applications in a timely manner. The performance has greatly improved due to the expansion of bandwidth and a reduction in costs. 

MPLS lines are the most expensive lines. After changing to a broadband line, the monthly cost of running the network is completely different.

Prisma SD-WAN also provides Panorama integration, although we haven't used it.

We use Prisma SD-WAN's event correlation and analysis capabilities to help minimize the number of alarms from a single event, but this is all done from the dashboard. This feature has made our network operations much more clear and more concise. Sifting through numerous alarms, especially if they're for related incidents, makes it cumbersome to focus on the problem that needs our attention.

Prisma SD-WAN enables branch services such as networking and security to be delivered from the cloud. It provides seamless integration with the Prisma core networks and traffic web filtering. This simplifies our WAN management. 

We're able to have one place where we can configure pretty much all of the features of our network. We can designate a device to use a certain set of features, policies, etc. It's just a matter of doing its local configuration and it's instantly on. We don't have to configure each device from scratch. We set the policy, upload the configuration, and that's it.

The move to Prisma SD-WAN definitely resulted in a reduction in outages because we usually have one WAN link. Regardless of whether the internet access is used from the hub site, ideally, Prisma Access allows us to have local internet access through the branch side. The benefits are numerous in that respect.

I like that the integration with Palo Alto is easy.

The dashboard is okay. The dashboard gives us enough flexibility to get the information needed so that we can act upon any issues or data that is represented. It serves our purpose for our use case. Like with any other product, it takes time to get acquainted with it.

The only con is the pricing because it's more premium. 

I have used this solution for less than a year.

It's a solid product.

Scalability is not an issue. We can have defined policies, defined routing, etc. Onboarding new sites isn't a problem.

I haven't needed to contact technical support in the past year. The product is performing well. From what I know from my colleagues, the support from Palo Alto is usually great.

I wasn't involved in deployment, but I was told that it was pretty straightforward. It became complex because they did a full-blown deployment and configured everything. Palo Alto did the POC.

If you're already invested in a Palo Alto product, it would be logical to use this solution. If not, there might be some other solutions that are more viable in terms of pricing.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

My advice is that everybody should do a proof of concept. First, read the basic white papers on Palo Alto. If the product seems to suit your needs, contact them and see what the POC will be and what the pricing will be like. The pricing is different for different companies. Larger enterprises get larger discounts. This also depends on how many sites will be incorporated. There are many factors. It's not a simple decision, but at least you know the product is good. It's on the premium end, but that's what Palo Alto is all about. If you want a top-notch solution, then Prisma is for you.

Our security team evaluated the solution and couldn't find any lacking features. I think it's suitable for large and complex enterprises.

Public Cloud

We are doing a proof of concept for Prisma SD-WAN and considering whether to migrate from our existing solution. We are attempting to replicate our existing technology and duplicate that traffic.

In POC testing, we're able to communicate from one site to another perfectly.

Prisma supports all of the applications we're currently using. 

Prisma could be a little cheaper. 

We are currently evaluating Prisma SD-WAN and haven't implemented it yet.

I rate Prisma SD-WAN nine out of 10 for stability.

I rate Prisma SD-WAN eight out of 10 for scalability. 

I rate Palo Alto support eight out of 10.

Positive

We are using an HP solution. Prisma SD-WAN is easier to manage and has more features. 

It's very easy to set up Prisma SD-WAN. 

Prisma SD-WAN is a good investment. 

I rate Prisma SD-WAN 10 out of 10. 

On-premises

Prisma SD-WAN is a software-defined wide area network that allows us to programmatically reconfigure how remote office locations connect to each other or to a centralized repository.

The most valuable component of the solution is the necessity of utilizing an SD-WAN to implement Prisma Access. The solution allows our network to be self-healing in the event of a loss of connectivity between different locations.

Prisma SD-WAN can be built on top of a couple of hardware platforms, including the Palo Alto Next-Generation Firewall or the CloudGenix infrastructure. On the CloudGenix side, the ability to drill down into the details of connectivity issues and built-in firewall capabilities is lacking. However, you don't have those limitations if you build it on top of the Next-Generation Firewall.

I rate the solution’s stability ten out of ten.

We've been able to add new sites without any significant increase in effort to implement it. Around 1,200 users are using the solution in a rental car company.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten for scalability.

The solution's initial setup and configuration were very problematic. However, once we got all the issues worked out, it has been working pretty much flawlessly.

Positive

We had significant issues getting the tool operational with the CloudGenix base for the SD-WAN, but once it became operational, we had no issues with it.

Four people from our side were utilized to deploy the solution, which included me, two network engineers, and one security analyst. We also had to rely heavily on the professional services of Palo Alto and a third party.

Prisma SD-WAN is a pretty expensive solution.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.

Before choosing Prisma SD-WAN, we evaluated other tools like Cisco Umbrella, Zscaler, and BeyondCorp. At the time, Cisco Umbrella was incomplete. There were SaaS features that it had not yet implemented. BeyondCorp was still in production without a complete product yet released.

Zscaler was missing some of the core features and functions, and it had stability issues and some security breaches. Palo Alto was the last one standing, and it was far superior even in the definition of the capabilities of what was supposed to be included in the other tools.

Currently, we have just one person responsible for maintaining or making configuration changes for Prisma SD-WAN. Prisma SD-WAN has allowed us to reduce our telecommunications expenses by about 50%.

If you want your SD-WAN to be feature-rich, build it on top of the Next-Generation Firewall. If you just want to get it up and running, the CloudGenix solution is the better option.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We are using Prisma SD-WAN for testing and training purposes on our side. We deploy it for customers.

Our customers using Prisma SD-WAN have seen multiple unique benefits, including a complete application SLA. They can track application traffic flow and route traffic based on application slowness or round trip time, providing complete security and the best network optimization.

The most valuable features of Prisma SD-WAN are its ability to utilize Internet plus MPLS optimization path to route traffic as per the SLA, and its seamless integration with other security stacks.

The pricing model could be improved to make it more affordable for smaller companies.

The implementation of the solution is easy.

We usually help customers to implement the Palo Alto solutions.

Customers have seen significant ROI benefits.

Pricing can be an issue. Some customers may find it unaffordable due to their budget constraints.

We have another vendor providing an SD-WAN box within a price range of 10,000 to  20,000 thousand INR, suitable for budget-limited customers.

Integrating Prisma SD-WAN with third-party solutions is definitely required and it is recommended to utilize its AI capabilities.

On-premises

The security offered by the solution is pretty good.

Prisma SD-WAN should provide more flexibility and scalability on the hardware. The solution's conversions and failover need to be improved.

I have been using Prisma SD-WAN for two years.

Prisma SD-WAN is a stable solution.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

Our clients for Prisma SD-WAN are medium-sized businesses.

I rate the solution a four out of ten for scalability.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a five out of ten.

The solution’s deployment took a while.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.

The solution's security framework has enhanced our data protection. The solution offers really good security. We faced some challenges while integrating Prisma SD-WAN into our existing infrastructure. The key is to presage the SD-WAN ION boxes prior so you can do a simple cutover. Do as much groundwork as possible, and then you can cutover to the new boxes.

Prisma SD-WAN is aiding our AI-driven initiatives because we can push our policy updates across the board. Earlier, if you needed to provision a new IT service, you'd need several resources to implement via the command line interface to individual boxes. Now, it happens with the push of a button, and it works its magic. We're standardizing the networks first, building automation, and then looking at AI.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

On-premises

Prisma SD-WAN provides security when remote users want to access an application or internal server. We recommend Prisma SD-WAN for users who want to connect to a VPN through their laptop and for users who have multiple applications and want to integrate them with our cloud.

The solution's most valuable feature is the visibility of the logs. In case of any errors, we can check the logs and resolve them as soon as possible.

The solution should include custom ports and group voice connections.

We have been using Prisma SD-WAN for the last six months.

The solution’s technical support is good. The technical support team's response time should be improved. The support's SLA timing always takes one or two hours, and sometimes it takes four to five hours.

I rate the solution’s technical support a seven or eight out of ten.

Positive

We have a dedicated team for Prisma SD-WAN, which handles the technical parts and pre-sales. Palo Alto is the market leader in security integration. It provides WildFire and an internal security portion. Prisma SD-WAN has, by default, an inbuilt artificial intelligence feature. The solution has Wildfire, GP, and a single pane of glass features available.

I will recommend Prisma SD-WAN to users in the mid-level market who have been using public applications. I will also recommend the solution to an enterprise customer, such as a bank or finance solution with over 10,000 users.

I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

The platform allows aggregating different media, such as fiber, DSL, and even 4G/5G, providing a cost-effective alternative to MPLS VPN.

The product provides efficient stability, security, and reliability features.

They could add more advanced security features to the product.

We have been working with Prisma SD-WAN for three years.

The platform is stable. 

The product is scalable. 

We were primarily working with VMware SD-WAN.

The initial setup is quite straightforward.

We provide full implementation training for our customers. Our engineers handle all the deployment tasks.

The platform's simplicity and advanced functionalities, like a dynamic command, are very beneficial. Due to its key technology, it's better than many other vendors.

Unlike hardware SD-WAN vendors like Cisco Meraki, it integrates security easily and effectively across devices. It allows the deployment of various security solutions on the same devices.

Currently, AI functionalities are limited to basic database querying and reporting. More advanced AI integration would be beneficial.

I recommend it to others and rate it a ten out of ten.