Check Point Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways vs. SonicWall NSA Series

Check Point Next Generation Firewall is a great solution for larger companies that have the ability to dedicate a large budget towards information security controls. In order to get the best return on investment, however, the company should have a highly functioning information security maturity level and the ability to invest in dedicated training so that all features are utilized effectively. The SmartEvent dashboards are able to provide ongoing data that can track this effectively.

Incentivized

SonicWall NSA is best suited for small to mid-size companies or small to medium K-12 school districts. It's less appropriate for larger businesses and schools. This is due to their ease of use and well-rounded feature set but lacks in advanced configuration, performance, and reliability.

Incentivized

• Provides prime level security at perimeter with 99% Accuracy.
• NGTP blade can provide features with maximum benefit.
• Check Point all in one evaluation blade provide access to evaluate the features.

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• Relatively inexpensive compared to some of the higher-end products, like Palo Alto Networks.
• Easy to set up, as the SonicWall NSA interface is consistent across all models.

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• Fine tune required in the malicious domains blocking
• Antivirus signatures should be updated in real time
• Network latency can be reduced during high utilization time window

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• Ideal with smaller businesses. Would have to examine for more complex needs of larger businesses.
• Scalability might be an issue for super large organizations.

Security Gateways are coming with a Hyperscale solution that provides maximum usability in production.

Incentivized

The usability takes a bit of training, like any firewall, but I've found that showing even Tier 1 helpdesk how to do basic things has been easy. We have entry-level IT technicians performing white-listing, IP entries, VPN access and LDAP functions, to name a few tasks. The menus in the GUI are pretty straight forward.

Incentivized

Check Point has a variety of support options that can be used to optimize your investment in the product. Companies with a larger information security and certified checkpoint engineer employee base can benefit from a standard SLA, while companies with a smaller security engineering footprint or more critical implementations can opt for premium, elite or diamond packages that even include the ability to provide on-site engineers for major security incidents. Check Point PRO support also provides the ability to outsource maintenance concerns by automating case creation and follow up when application components fail.

Incentivized

Most of the time, calling SonicWall NSA Support, you get an expert who can help resolve your issues. RMAs are pretty easy once they determine there is an issue with the hardware. Support is available 24x7, which makes emergency calls easy. The only downside is the support engineers may have thick accents; however, their expertise more than makes up for any language barriers.

Incentivized

• Best Security meets Ultimate Hardware
• SandBlast Zero Day Protection out of the box
• Modular hardware
• High Performance CPUs
• I believe this has been covered prior - Smooth migration and very minimum downtime for a big FSI client. Our FSI client now also wants to integrate it with other 3rd party vendors which will be a part of Q3 or Q4 this FY

Incentivized

The SonicWall NSA is a lot more fluid and much less clunky than a Watchguard firewall. The Watchguard is ok for a small business-- you can buy them at retail outlets. But as you can see above, this model of Watchguard Firebox has been discontinued. The NSA classes are a more high-end and functional business-class firewall.

Incentivized

• Although there are better alternatives out there, Check Point delivers results for the price we paid for the system.
• Since implementation, we have not have any major issues with the product, minor issues were resolved in a timely fashion.
• Check Point currently fulfills our need for an outside facing firewall, when our organization grows larger, we will be looking at higher level enterprise solutions.

Incentivized

• It is a firewall appliance at an affordable price compared to other firewall vendors.
• It is reliable and thus, allows our business to operate without any hiccups.

Incentivized