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Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] vs Steelhead comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Featured Reviews

SatishKumar13 - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager at Savex Technologies Pvt Ltd
Reliable features and exceptional tech support enhance user experience
The Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is a fantastic solution based on my experience. The Zero-Touch Provisioning feature is one of the best features I have seen so far. While there are some aspects that need improvement on the technical side, when comparing it with other products and solutions, it performs well but still has room for enhancement.
Rohit Ghorpade - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud network engineer at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.
A scalable solution for MCN controller but lacks technical supports, upgrades
There are a few things that can be improved, are domain-based routing and the slowness of virtual parts, and it may be due to the wrong configuration, which we have been unable to find out. Previously, we faced some issues with the slowness part. Apart from that, feature like end gateway level antivirus. We are currently using a NetFlow proxy to establish a virtual position for the NetFlow. Our current environment has many use cases, but we are not using them on the Citrix SD-WAN. When I navigate the NCL part, it involves configuration. I want to highlight this disadvantage. Sometimes, when we push the configuration, it tries to push it to all branch locations. This process takes a lot of time, nearly 30 minutes, to push a single change from the NCL. Overall, I don't think Citrix meets our use cases what we have. This is based on my feedback after using it for the past year and working on this Citrix SD-WAN. However, from my experience, it is the worst solution I have seen. There's no domain-based routing, which is horrible. That's why we are moving to other products. We have checked our use case requirements with Fortinet, Palo Alto, and they meet them. I will consider the PoC or another OEM. There are many things in the area you need to be prompt, like the automation part. If any link or device goes down, alerting notification, etc. We need to perform and highlight so many things to your management. This should be improved.
Chaudhary Muhammad Moez Manzar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reduces operational costs through bandwidth optimization but struggles with high traffic licensing and complex deployments
The logs in Steelhead are fantastic. There is a deep level of logs such as top 10 docker and top 50 docker. I can check from the top 50 docker which type of application is optimizing well and which type of traffic is not optimized. Steelhead provides logs and percentage levels, which is good. I can see any type of log report, report security, different types of report availability, but it is not customizable. Overall, this is a good feature. Steelhead provides real-time optimization with graphs and tables on real-time optimization, informing us packet by packet including port, source IP, destination IP, and destination port number. This reporting and real-time monitoring is fantastic, although I faced a problem in Oracle. Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs. My actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB. All the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect is the boost."
"First and foremost, it enables the customer to deploy high availability connections. This kind of solution enables them to deploy these HA connections for policies mostly automatically. It's a more automated approach than with other vendors."
"I really love the auto-tunnel creation feature."
"The most valuable feature of Silver Peak VX is the overall performance."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable features of Silver Peak VX are we can register our customers and they can receive free training and all the solutions features."
"Many features are valuable for automation, connectivity, and throughput."
"We had several clients that were paying $7,500 a month for an MPLS line for one single 10 megabit circuit and we were able to take that from $7,500 a month down to $500 a month for two 10 megabits circuits that added redundancy where before they did not have redundancy and it gave them a much better throughput."
"The main advantage of Citrix SD-WAN is that it enables fast communication between our branches and data centers. And, with its cloud management features, it also makes the process of adding new branches into our company network much easier."
"Downtime for branch offices is now almost zero. We have 100% real-time visibility into all of our lines. MPLS links have been replaced with lower-cost links, saving a larger percentage of line costs. Overall, I see SD-WAN as a must. And the Citrix SD-WAN product has delivered on expectations and exceeded them. (With later firmware updates we now have good firewall capabilities in the product too)."
"The best feature is the backup capability, where all of the users' computers are tied into a central data repository."
"The zero-touch deployment is most valuable for us."
"The SD-WAN solution as it is already is quite feature-rich and the upgrade process is very simple."
"It allows you to combine two asymmetrical connections."
"The most valuable feature of Citrix SD-WAN is customization. You are able to customize the solution to your needs."
"It allows us to use additional VPNs, offering more options compared to other VPN solutions."
"Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs; my actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB, and all the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed."
"Scalable data referencing is a great feature."
"I find the most valuable to be the compression and exchange replication."
"It is very easy to install the solution."
"Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs; my actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB, and all the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed."
"The most valuable feature of Steelhead is its optimization capabilities."
"Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs, as my actual traffic is around 2 GB but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB, resulting in a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed."
"Steelhead is stable, and it can even help you avoid service interruption in the event of a power outage. If your hardware fails, technical support will replace your device quickly."
 

Cons

"The license features should improve in the solution. For example, when you purchase VMware, it starts at a low level that has some functionality. When you want to expand, the difference in the price is substantial. I purchased the lower functional version for $4,000, and now if I want to upgrade, they ask me for $80,000. This is a $76,000 difference, there's no logic, but this is VMware."
"I expect automation in the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform's next release."
"They have to implement more security with it. The security, mainly their firewall functions, have to be included in the firewall features."
"I guess the tool should give you a little more flexibility on what you can show on the main window, which can be an area of improvement."
"There are some functional limitations that could improve."
"If compared with Cisco, then Aruba's pricing is very aggressive."
"Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform’s stability and technical features need improvement."
"Their WAN optimization in terms of wireless connectivity doesn't have a very good cellular capability."
"Enhancements are needed to improve the stability."
"Overall, network security and next-generation firewall features are areas that they can improve on."
"I am happy with this product. If anything, its price can be reduced. It is a bit expensive."
"The firewall reporting could be easier to use and filter. (It works well enough, but if I need to give an area for improvement, I think this would be it.). The built-in reporting on the product in this regard is not great."
"I would like to see support for additional reporting."
"The communication around the life cycle would have been really helpful. The main issue we have had is related to the life cycle because some of the things that we are using were discontinued. They were discontinued within a year after we had purchased it, which is a bit painful. If we had known that, we would've made some other decisions."
"Given that Citrix SD-WAN solved all our problems by providing us with everything we needed to unify communications with our branches and data centers, I cannot suggest anything further in terms of improvements."
"The reports need to be improved. We need to have them customized but they don't have that right now. I would like for them to have better system predictions. We don't have that right now. My system may be working fine right now but after making some changes, that can change."
"Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country. On a scale of one to ten for expense, it would be rated an eight."
"Steelhead's handling of encrypted traffic could be improved because it requires some complex configuration to optimize encrypted traffic, especially when working with Microsoft protocols for mail servers and VPN services"
"I would like to see improvement in the solution’s configuration and protocol aspects. We have got some configurations that are not set. I would also like to simplify the call detection of some protocols."
"Oracle DB traffic experiences lag and slowness due to Steelhead, while other applications perform fine."
"The product should offer more integration capabilities."
"They should include a network switch in a future release."
"One area for improvement is related to monitoring and visibility."
"If we load a primary firewall, the secondary firewall usually handles all the active connections, but in Riverbed, this isn't the case. We lose all the active connections at the moment of failure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Silver Peak VX is reasonable but could improve."
"You have to negotiate when it comes to pricing and licensing."
"The pricing for this product is good."
"The licensing would be cheap if we compare it with the others, like Cisco."
"You typically will license the hardware and you license the software to access the hardware capabilities. The price will range anywhere from a hundred to $300 a month. There are no additional costs."
"The license for Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect is paid annually."
"There is an annual license required to use Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect."
"The licensing fees depend on the bandwidth. As an example of what we charge our customers, for 100MB without Boost, the price is approximately $2,000. That includes the licensing and the unit."
"It depends on the scale. In our case, it would have been better if we had known about the life cycling steps, but otherwise, it is worth the money."
"It would be helpful to have a demo license available for customers who want to prove the concept and conduct a proof of concept (POC) before committing to the solution. This is particularly important for customers in Egypt who often require a demonstration of the solution's features and compatibility with their needs before making any investment or incurring costs. Providing a demo license would allow customers to assess whether the solution would meet their needs or not."
"The price of the subscription should be cheaper."
"It's a little bit on the high side compared to the other products."
"The license was a one-time purchase. It's expensive."
"I believe that Citrix SD-WAN is a good investment, but I do not have the information to be more specific."
"The price is relatively expensive."
"As NetScaler is now, I find it quite pricey."
"Across our 12 data centers, we spend around $150k annually."
"The solution is expensive and the service contacts are costly too. The cost of the device makes the value proposition borderline acceptable for us. The service contract fees we pay is approximately $30,000 annually."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Legal Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Silver Peak NX?
The pricing is on the higher side compared to the competition when discussing experience with pricing, setup cost, an...
What needs improvement with Silver Peak NX?
The room for improvement for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is pricing, as people are purchasing this product ...
What is your primary use case for Silver Peak NX?
A typical use case for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is high latency connectivity, which is why I or my clien...
What needs improvement with Citrix SD-WAN?
The solution's licensing model could be improved. Citrix SD-WAN is a good product from a technical point of view. How...
What advice do you have for others considering Citrix SD-WAN?
If a customer already has Citrix NetScaler and is not looking to change anything in their existing environment, we pr...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We just did an assessment for our 47 datacenters around North America. The top two enterprise-level network monitorin...
What do you like most about Riverbed Steelhead?
One of our most valuable features is Steelhead's cloud migration optimization. Moving to the cloud helped optimize ou...
What is your primary use case for Riverbed Steelhead?
I am currently working with Riverbed for replication between PR to DR for synchronization purposes, and for WAN optim...
 

Also Known As

Silver Peak NX, Silver Peak VX, Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect
Citrix CloudBridge, WOC, NetScaler SD-WAN
RIverbed Steelhead
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Group Dekko, Kingston Technology, American Student Assistance, Ares Management, Charlotte Metro Credit Union, Colonial Savings, Community Bank, Denali Credit Union, Bed Bath & Beyond, Breweries of Cameroon, Carnival Australia, Coastal Beverages, Toshiba Electronics, Tru Blu Beverages, WAXIE Sanitary Supply, Charleston Area Medical Center, Community Health Plan, Healthcare Company, Mercy Health, Linklaters, Miles & Stockbridge, Thomson Snell & Passmore
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., Dallara, ecVision, Essar, Eurofred, Groupe Promutuel, HMSHost Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd, Royal Caribbean International
ElAraby, SFK Leblanc, Bobst Group, Northwest Pipe Company, Halkbank, Tradebridge, EFG Hermes
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato Networks, Riverbed, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others in WAN Optimization. Updated: January 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.