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GE Proficy Smart Factory MES vs Hillstone Networks Hillstone CloudEdge Virtual-Firewall comparison

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Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

GE Proficy Smart Factory MES
Ranking in AWS Marketplace
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Hillstone Networks Hillston...
Ranking in AWS Marketplace
460th
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Yulianto Artawan - PeerSpot reviewer
Field Services Engineer at Tetrapak
Trend analysis has improved troubleshooting and program testing for accurate, reliable outputs
The features I appreciate most in GE Proficy Smart Factory MES are the ability to create trends when I troubleshoot during my daily work. I can also edit the program in GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, and before I download it to the PLC, I can test it first to ensure my program is working correctly. GE Proficy Smart Factory MES has been very useful in my daily work because it is user-friendly. I can also go online and change the IP address easily, which is simpler compared to other solutions. Troubleshooting with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is easier than other options.
Centralized security has protected hybrid workloads and provides deep visibility into cloud traffic
Cloud-native automation and IaC: Terraform support, auto-scaling templates, and API maturity lag behind Palo Alto VM-Series and FortiGate-VM. Dynamically scaling in public cloud requires more manual effort. Third-party integrations and ecosystem: fewer native connectors with SIEM/SOAR platforms, CSPM, and third-party tools compared to market leaders. Documentation and training material: technical documentation and community resources (forums, tutorials, KB) are more limited, which lengthens the learning curve for new teams. SASE/SSE capabilities: the integrated SASE/ZTNA offering is less mature compared to the convergence already provided by Fortinet or Palo Alto. Centralized multi-instance management: managing large fleets of virtual appliances could be smoother; centralized management (HSM) works, but some users would like more granularity and automation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"GE Proficy Smart Factory MES positively impacts my organization by providing a tool for real-time production that utilizes our time in various ways, enabling us to gather all data on one page."
"GE Proficy Smart Factory MES facilitates improved data capture, processing, and reporting across organizational levels, from supervisory to managerial to business levels."
"With GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, it has affected daily operations by making it a lot easier for them, taking a little bit of load off of their paperwork, but also allowing the customer to really see what is going on and see where they can make some improvements."
"GE Proficy Smart Factory MES has positively impacted my organization, as the production has gone up to 33% in the financial year that they introduced the MES system and we upgraded the systems."
"The most positive impact of GE Proficy Smart Factory MES was the immediate gain in accuracy in measuring OEE, and in practical results, I was able to reduce unaccounted downtime by about 12% in the first few months."
"The hardware of GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is very strong, and the software is very easy and useful for me."
"I have seen a return on investment from using GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, as it enhanced productivity, leading to an increase in the number of parts manufactured, which resulted in good revenue generation for the business."
"GE Proficy Smart Factory MES has positively impacted my organization in many ways, for example, what we used to accomplish in a day as production has increased quite a bit, and our performance and quality of products have also improved, leading to a noticeable increase in OEE."
"On balance, Hillstone CloudEdge is a solid and highly competitive solution within the virtual NGFW firewall segment."
"Hillstone CloudEdge Virtual Firewall provides advanced security for cloud and virtualized environments through next-generation firewall (NGFW) capabilities, including application visibility and control, intrusion prevention (IPS), antivirus protection, VPN services, threat intelligence, and advanced attack defense mechanisms."
"The most valuable aspect is the combination of traditional firewall functionality with cloud deployment flexibility."
"CloudEdge has helped us apply consistent security controls to our AWS workloads with our on-premises workloads."
 

Cons

"GE Proficy Smart Factory MES should be a bit easier to customize."
"I think GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is complicated for replication, but I consider that it can be scalable if properly sized."
"In terms of how GE Proficy Smart Factory MES can be improved, I believe one key area is the connectivity on the shop floor."
"I think GE Proficy Smart Factory MES can be optimized better, specifically regarding the application right and the backup."
"Improvements in GE Proficy Smart Factory MES should focus on enhancing the user interface for thick client displays."
"Customer support for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES gives quick results sometimes, but there are delays at times, so I would appreciate quicker responses from their end."
"What I wish was easier or better with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES are some custom extensions in regards to third-party code that integrates into it, making it more of a faceplate and something easier to populate with a single tag number."
"I think you could add more password protection inside GE Proficy Smart Factory MES."
"Cloud-native automation and IaC: Terraform support, auto-scaling templates, and API maturity lag behind Palo Alto VM-Series and FortiGate-VM."
"Additional automation resources for AWS would also be helpful."
"The setup cost is more expensive with similar features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
28%
Manufacturing Company
22%
Healthcare Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES?
As for my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES, I did not have to charge for that, so I was the integrator.
What needs improvement with GE Proficy Smart Factory MES?
In terms of how GE Proficy Smart Factory MES can be improved, I believe one key area is the connectivity on the shop floor. We need local connectors that can connect directly to the machines such a...
What is your primary use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES?
My main use case for GE Proficy Smart Factory MES is that we implemented this in one of the factories two to three years ago as smart manufacturing to calculate the OEE and other KPIs. We have many...
What needs improvement with Hillstone Networks Hillstone CloudEdge Virtual-Firewall?
Additional automation resources for AWS would also be helpful. More comprehensive CloudFormation or Terraform examples, deployment templates, and guidance for high-availability architectures could ...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone Networks Hillstone CloudEdge Virtual-Firewall?
We deploy Hillstone CloudEdge Virtual-Firewall in AWS to protect workloads hosted inside our VPC. We use it to inspect north-south traffic, enforce access-control policies, secure communication bet...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about GE Proficy Smart Factory MES vs. Hillstone Networks Hillstone CloudEdge Virtual-Firewall and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.