I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful.
Founder at itservicedeskafrika
Stable, scalable, and has a valuable IP blocking feature, but it's costly and uses up many resources
Pros and Cons
- "I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful."
- "Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. Pricing could also be improved because it's costly."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. The primary concern is that it has a lot of agents running as it's an endpoint solution, so when you apply the solution on a 4 GB system, you'd need to upgrade to an 8 GB system. At times, you'd even need to upgrade to 16 GB so the agents can run confidently without impacting your operations.
I understand that one of the reasons why Sophos Network Access Control uses up more resources is because of all the patches added over time. Still, I wonder what will happen in the next four years. It could mean that you'd need to buy a 16 GB system to ensure that Sophos Network Access Control runs very well, so Sophos needs to work on this area to ensure that the system uses up fewer resources when agents run.
The Sophos Network Access Control pricing also has room for improvement, but I know there's not much you can do about it. Sophos recently had a fifty percent off promo, but here in Nigeria, there have been some FX issues, so if you pay $10, for example, years back, that could be the maximum price, so about ten thousand Nairas. That no longer applies today because Nigeria's FX issues have affected Sophos products' pricing significantly.
If you're buying Sophos Network Access Control here in Nigeria, you have to pay based on the black market exchange rate and not on the interbank exchange rate, so you can't even blame the channel partners who earn that way. I'm unsure if Sophos can work on the pricing because many users find Sophos Network Access Control very expensive. Two customers who have used it for one year stopped using the product and decided to try Norton because Sophos Network Access Control is very expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Sophos Network Access Control for the last two years, and I'm still using it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sophos Network Access Control is stable, and I've used other solutions before I used this solution. It's exceptionally stable if you're using different Sophos products within one environment, similar to a unified solution, because communication becomes easier and better.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
From what I've seen so far, Sophos Network Access Control is scalable. It has to do with the improvement plan for Sophos products because, initially, the product wasn't as scalable. Still, over time, you'd see the improvement in scalability and the various patches to Sophos Network Access Control.
How are customer service and support?
I'd rate the Sophos Network Access Control technical support as three out of five because I've never really experienced a serious technical issue with it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Sophos Network Access Control is straightforward, so on a scale of one to five, I'd rate it a four.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The three solutions have more agents added because of endpoint coverage, while Norton doesn't cover endpoints, so Norton is very cheap over Sophos Network Access Control, Check Point, and CrowdStrike.
The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a partner of Sophos Network Access Control.
My advice to anyone looking to implement Sophos Network Access Control is that it's better to have an entire ecosystem of Sophos products because Sophos even covers the entire OSI layer. You get protection for the OSI layer and can secure your entire network. Sophos can provide MDM, firewall, endpoint-to-endpoint protection, etc. If you use Sophos, you will get general coverage for your system, so my advice to anybody who wants to use Sophos Network Access Control is to use it. As your company, services, and operations keep expanding, keep adding different Sophos products, and your network will be fine.
I'd rate Sophos Network Access Control as six out of ten because the product will struggle in enterprise-level environments, such as banks. Still, Sophos has done a lot of work on the product, so for an average user, Sophos Network Access Control works fine.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
It specialist at Pudis A.s.
Good support and highly stable solution
Pros and Cons
- "We have had interactions with the technical support team through the Xnet platform. It's good."
- "There is room for improvement in pricing."
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in pricing.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with this solution for six years. We have Sophos 310 UTM.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have only one box, but we have around 150 end users.
How are customer service and support?
We have had interactions with the technical support team through the Xnet platform.
It's good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
We have access controls on this Sophos machine.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is too much.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Sophos Network Access Control
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos Network Access Control. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Epic Client Systems Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It provides email alerts to the End User Computing team when endpoints have been compromised, but it would be nice to have AD integration.
What is most valuable?
- Comprehensive threat analysis
- Network access compliance'
- Ease of endpoint management
- Low resource utilization
How has it helped my organization?
It provides email alerts to the End User Computing team when endpoints have been compromised, and enables network remediation for unknown endpoints.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see them include direct integration with Active Directory.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for five years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Their customer support is really good and so is their documentation and knowledge base site.
Technical Support:It’s excellent, at one point our licensing lapsed and they still helped us with a complex virus outbreak.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously used McAfee and evaluated Kaspersky, we switched from McAfee to Sophos because of price and features.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, server deployment was easy and policy creation and templates were easy to setup with selection items from a list.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it in-house, just read the documentation and check the knowledge base, most of the issues that you’ll run into are documented.
What was our ROI?
The return on our investment was huge, mostly due to the time saved in managing thousands of physical endpoints.
What other advice do I have?
Test your remediation policy thoroughly before instituting it house wide.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CEO at MARVIV SRLS
Great scalability, stability and performance
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of the system and the performance of the system and the solution's most valuable features."
- "The solution could increase the integration with other platforms or other systems. This would be very useful."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use the solution to manage all of our devices.
What is most valuable?
The scalability of the system and the performance of the system and the solution's most valuable features.
What needs improvement?
The solution could increase the integration with other platforms or other systems. This would be very useful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for more than three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is quite scalable. We have plans to increase and to distribute the system into other departments internally within the company in the near future.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is good. There is a chat system that is very useful and it's quite easy to receive support on different questions through it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For on-premises I used a different solution but it's not so easy to compare the solutions because they are both on a different level. We used a Bitdefender-like private solution, but this solution is not really comparable. With Sophos, you have data control also on their hardware interface because the system is completely integrated with the infrastructure of the company. And the private solution doesn't provide the same level for infrastructure. This feature is not so easy to make a one-to-one comparison.
How was the initial setup?
If you have the correct knowledge base, the initial setup is not complex. Deployment took less than a week and took about three people. For maintenance, we only need one person to manage it.
What about the implementation team?
I handled the implementation myself apart from one section that was related to the hardware, but mainly for the integration with the other devices internally to the company. In this case, I needed to have a person with more expertise in charge.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing is on a yearly basis.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn't evaluate other options before choosing Sophos.
What other advice do I have?
We're a Sophos partner. We tend to use both deployment models. Mainly, the hardware is on-premise, but all the management is on the cloud. For me, it's a better way to use this solution.
The system right now covers all my needs and it's very comfortable to work with.
For those considering implementing the solution, they need to be sure to have a complete overview of the system at the beginning. They need to know how they want to solve the need and the problems that they have. Everyone should start with an overview from the top.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Works at Inertia holding group
Great stability and performance
Pros and Cons
- "Sophos' technical support is great, very fast and responsive, and they always know how to fix the problem."
- "An area that could be improved is the information about licensing, which is fairly confusing at present."
What needs improvement?
An area that could be improved is the information about licensing, which is fairly confusing at present. I've also had some issues with disabling ports.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with this solution for almost six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Network Access Control provides great stability and performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Sophos' technical support is great, very fast and responsive, and they always know how to fix the problem.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise anybody considering using this solution to go for it. I'd rate it as nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at kamla raheja vidyanidhi institute for architecture
Scalable and reliable but needs more than one access point
Pros and Cons
- "The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price."
- "In order to provide better management, it would be ideal with they offered better plugins for their firewall."
What is most valuable?
There is good documentation that helps to deploy a new wireless access point and a controller in a very easy way.
The initial setup is very easy.
We've found the solution to be very reliable.
The scalability is quite good.
Technical support has been very good so far.
The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price.
What needs improvement?
We would like to be able to implement an access point range. There are a number of clients we have at one time and only one access point.
In order to provide better management, it would be ideal with they offered better plugins for their firewall.
The solution could always offer better security.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've only been using the solution for one year at this point. It hasn't been that long.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable and very reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches and the solution does not crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
A company can easily scale the solution If it needs to. The scalability is very good.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've been in touch with technical support and they are very helpful. they respond in a timely manner. We are quite satisfied with their level of attention.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm also familiar with Ruckus and Aruba.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not too complex and we did not find it to be difficult. The solution is easy to set up and deploy. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution requires us to pay an annual license fee. I'm happy with the pricing. Basically, we negotiate the pricing and they provide for our needs.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer and an end-user. We're an educational institution. We don't have a business relationship with Sophos.
We are using the Sophos Firewall model number XG 310. The Access Point model number is 740.
The client has many options when it comes to solutions like this. Other options include Ruckus and Aruba.
I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. It's been okay.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Integrates endpoints and firewall: Endpoints missing a patch will be disconnected from the network
Pros and Cons
- "What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices."
- "What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."
How has it helped my organization?
If there is an infected system, the firewall will alert me and we can actually take that system off the network and isolate it. The Sophos people will resolve that issue and then bring the system back to the network.
What is most valuable?
Sophos has an endpoint side, a firewall side, access control, and a phishing side. It is an entire network security solution.
What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices. I also have visibility into my users, my servers, and into what is happening at all my gateways, as well as visibility on my switches. So it gives me a global view of my infrastructure.
The beautiful thing about it is that it has an integration between the endpoint and the firewall. So if any of my endpoints, systems like desktops or laptops, does not have an updated patch, it will be disconnected from the network.
What needs improvement?
What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high. I am a little bit worried about where Sophos is. A system with 4 GB would struggle. Even when it scans systems that have 8 GB, they struggle.
Also, one of the things that Sophos has not been able to tidy up properly — and I asked them about it — is that it would be nice if a person who is using Sophos on mobile devices could connect to the office using some type of multi-factor authentication. I would like to see a mobile app that generates a token inside our system and then it signs you into our network.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Sophos for a few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale the product.
How are customer service and technical support?
Sophos support is okay because we have people here, Sophos technical partners, in Nigeria. We are not really dependent on Sophos outside the country. They are in UK, but we have not had to depend on them there to resolve many issues. We have asked them to help one or two times.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Sophos, including Intercept X which is their anti-virus software for endpoints. I would also advise, if you are getting Sophos, to make sure you upgrade systems from 4 GB to 8 GB and make sure you upgrade your systems from Windows 7 to Windows 10, so you will be fully protected.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Executive Information Technology Architect at LBE
A stable solution that can be used for access control and network security
Pros and Cons
- "Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything."
- "It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices."
What is our primary use case?
Sophos Network Access Control is used for access control and network security.
What is most valuable?
Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything.
What needs improvement?
I last used Sophos Network Access Control for user access control. I expected the solution to combine all of the network devices in our organization. We sometimes have problems with the solution's configuration on other devices that are not listed. It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Sophos Network Access Control for five to six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sophos Network Access Control is a stable solution.
I rate Sophos Network Access Control a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our clients for Sophos Network Access Control are medium-sized businesses with around 300 users.
I rate Sophos Network Access Control a six or seven out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
I rate Sophos Network Access Control a four out of ten for the ease of its initial setup. The vendor consultant is not quite helpful, and we have to try other resources.
What about the implementation team?
It takes only one week to deploy Sophos Network Access Control.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate Sophos Network Access Control an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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