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Cisco Cloud Web Security vs. Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco CWS

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers Cloud Web Security (a, internet security platform / web security gateway), based on technology acquired from ScanSafe.N/A

    Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ASymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services (formerly Blue Coat WebFilter) is a web application protection and web content filtering solution, designed to allow users to control access to web content and block web threats with advanced threat defense and real-time global threat intelligence.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco CWSSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco CWSSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    User Ratings
    Cisco CWSSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco CWSSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Remote and telework but not for onsite filtering.
    Incentivized
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    Broadcom
    In a large environment, this is the perfect system. If you do not have constant changes, it easily becomes a system you drop in place and rarely have to think about. Our units have been rock solid and have never experienced any unexpected downtime, and upgrades are just a couple button clicks to deploy, or roll back. For small offices, with minimal traffic this may be using a sledgehammer to put in a push pin. It will work great, but the devices is likely over engineered for small offices (<50 people). That being said, price-wise it's still a great solution when compared to competing products and being from Symantec, you know it's going to be around and support for the long term.
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • Flexibility
    • Scalable
    • Ease of administration
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    Broadcom
    • Almost real time protection from all ongoing threats with their DLA inspection
    • Great visibility into web filtering policies using the dashboards and reports
    • No patching or downloads needed, immediate protection is provided as clients are always cloud connected
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • Intuitiveness of the UI
    • Real time reporting
    • Report detail
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    Broadcom
    • The admin interface would be better off not using Java
    • Setting up SSL properly can be a bit challenging
    • Could really use a better source for training, like a library of how-to videos
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Broadcom
    I really like the system, it's easy to use and mostly intuitive. I would have gone 10/10, but the management interface uses Java, and that seems to always make things a bit harder to start. Once everything is loaded and running, it's great - but it does require me to maintain a compatible version of Java on the machine I use to access the system, I'd be much happier with some kind of HTML5 interface. I also deducted 1 point for the functionality of the refer filter - it works as expected, but if the site isn't coded with the correct refer header, like Microsoft's site - then some page elements get stripped and pages only render about 98% correctly. I know that's not in Symantec's list of responsibilities, but having a filter that doesn't fully understand CDNs is worth the 1 point ding.
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Broadcom
    I've had exactly 1 problem in 8 years, I contacted support via the customer portal, less than an hour later I found myself in a screen share with a support tech who not only fixed my configuration error, but also took the time to ask about my usage and offered some great tips on changes. It was just one support incident, but I was impressed by the speed of response to a non-critical issue as well as the depth of product knowledge the support engineer had.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    CWS is on par with Forcepoint cloud web security. It offers flexibility and scalability.
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    Broadcom
    Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution was a simple 1U appliance that does everything we need, compared to the Forcepoint solution which required a virtual appliance, a database server, a log server, and a management server - the licensing costs alone make the Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution a clear winner. The Forcepoint solution is really good, it just requires such a big footprint without delivering much beyond what the Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution does with a single unit.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Increased security
    • Decrease in number of infections
    Incentivized
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    Broadcom
    • Boosts business productivity with having secured systems
    • Globally available threat protection adhering to our own security policies
    • User may sometime find it difficult to deal with - so there can be a feature to make it more user friendly in terms of user experience. That is a bit of negative we have seen.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots