When we switched to this solution, we saw an immediate improvement in our network visibilityPrisma's analytics provide a lot of valuable data. I like the internet health chart that shows latency, dropped packets, MOS for data quality, etc. It also runs a continuous speed test in the background. I've used it multiple times to troubleshoot internet connections when the service provider has attempted to claim nothing is wrong with the circuit. It gives me data to send them showing we're not getting the speed we should, or there is constant packet loss. I wouldn't say the Layer 7 intelligence provides deep application visibility, but it does provide some visibility. We rely on our next-gen firewalls, which are also Palo Alto. They work with this product to give a deeper view of Layer 7. It has some machine-learning features. For example, it collects data in the background. You can look at the data flows to see that internet connectivity was poor at a given time, which correlates with a point on the data flow where the customer complained about a problem with the application. We can set various policies regarding which traffic goes where using a zone-based firewall. You can also set a policy based on events. We might implement a QoS mechanism where an application might have a higher priority. For example, it might dedicate more bandwidth toward video calls under a given condition based on the policy. We can custom-build applications to ensure they're impacted the least according to the policy we have set. With the policy in place, we don't need to interact with it as much. It does it for us, so we don't have to tweak too many settings, and it allows us to get pretty granular with it. The solution formerly known as CloudGenix is now Prisma SD-WAN, so it can do zone-based firewalls. However, they do not put heavy encryption on the device. That's mostly going to be handled by the firewall service you use. It doesn't have to be Palo. It could be Zscaler or Check Point. Even though it's a Palo Prisma device, it works well with various vendors and allows you to do that aspect.
