Forescout Platform and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager compete in the network access control category. Forescout appears to have the upper hand due to its extensive security integrations and dynamic network monitoring capabilities.
Features: Forescout Platform offers enhanced network access control with robust integration capabilities, endpoint visibility, and flexibility in deployment options. It manages a wide array of network devices without significant infrastructure changes. F5 BIG-IP APM is known for handling complex access policies and integrating with numerous authentication processes. It provides customizable secure remote access and application delivery.
Room for Improvement: Forescout needs enhancements in patch management, detection of dual-homed devices, and integration with additional third-party tools. It also faces challenges with false positives and needs more intuitive user error messages. F5 BIG-IP APM could improve its pricing, focus more on cloud capabilities, and provide advanced reporting features. Both products can enhance third-party integration and user interfaces.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Forescout Platform offers flexibility with deployment across hybrid and private clouds, though customer service feedback is mixed regarding speed and knowledge. F5 BIG-IP APM supports hybrid and on-premises deployment with commendable customer support, although some users suggest a need for better local support presence.
Pricing and ROI: Forescout is priced based on device count, resulting in potential higher costs for large deployments, though it offers flexible licensing models. Pricing clarity remains a concern. F5 BIG-IP APM is also expensive but considered to deliver significant ROI due to its access management capabilities. Both solutions, while costly, provide essential security benefits that justify the expense for most users.
Most of the technical support is managed in-house due to our extensive experience with F5 products.
Even if they respond, they don't update me with the process or what's going on.
F5 technical support is responsive and helpful.
We have had experience with their technical support and must pay additionally for maintenance, support, and regional service.
The product's flexibility and company culture contribute to resolving these challenges.
I would rate the scalability of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) between seven and eight.
Scalability can be costly since a physical box needs to be installed for every site.
On a scale from one to ten for stability, I would rate F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) a ten.
Sometimes, the logs are not quite informational or easy to understand.
I would rate its stability as 9.5 out of ten.
If I could copy and paste objects instead of picking and configuring them from scratch each time, it would be great.
The main improvement needed for F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is to integrate into the cloud-delivered services from F5.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) does not have a direction for SaaS.
Forescout Platform could enhance its integration of AI to improve IoT and OT device security to better meet our needs.
The console is a fat client, and a web interface would be preferable.
F5 products are more expensive than other solutions but are valued for their quality and reliability.
Installing a physical box on each site can be expensive.
The overall pricing of Forescout Platform is reasonable for the functionality it provides.
APM is quite flexible for customers to use, providing secure remote access through various host-checking conditions for both machines and users.
It provides robust security and offers integration with multi-factor authentication systems, which is crucial for an organization's security policy.
A lot of features are useful to me, including mostly the authentication, SAML, or SSO, with no sign-on.
The platform enables automated policy enforcement, allowing us to simulate and test policies before enforcement, streamlining our security operations.
The most effective feature has been network access management, which has been crucial for our primary use cases in the organization.
F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access.
BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.
BIG-IP APM Benefits:
BIG-IP APM Features:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.
Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."
Clyde Livingston, Senior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."
Chris Lam, Senior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.
Forescout Platform provides today’s busy enterprise organizations with policy and protocol management, workflow coordination, streamlining, and complete device and infrastructure visibility to improve overall network security. The solution also provides concise real-time intelligence of all devices and users on the network. Policy and protocols are delineated using gathered intelligence to facilitate the appropriate levels of remediation, compliance, network access, and all service operations. Forescout Platform is very flexible, integrates well with most of today’s leading network security products, and is a very cost-effective solution.
Forescout Platform Features
Real User Reviews
An important main feature of Forescout is the visibility the solution offers.
One reviewer who is a Consultant at a tech services company, says, "Within three or four days, you can have complete visibility of your infrastructure on the network. Compared to other solutions, the deployment of the solution is easier and we can close the project quickly."
Users also appreciate that the user interface is clear and easy to understand.
An Instructor at a tech services company, shares, "The most valuable feature of the Forescout Platform is the large capacity it can handle. Additionally, the interface of the platform is good."
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