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Juniper Contrail Networking vs Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Juniper Contrail Networking
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (5th)
Versa Unified Secure Access...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (9th), WAN Edge (9th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Juniper Contrail Networking is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 7.7%, up 6.6% compared to last year.
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions, holds 5.2% mindshare, up 5.0% since last year.
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Juniper Contrail Networking7.7%
Meraki SD-WAN15.5%
Cisco ACI11.8%
Other65.0%
Software Defined Networking (SDN)
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform5.2%
Fortinet FortiGate13.2%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN10.5%
Other71.1%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

TA
Solution Architect at ConnX Inc.
Smart configuration management eliminates the need to worry about managing the network's configurations
Based on my experience in the Indian market, there are four to five areas that need improvement. First, there is a lack of marketing and awareness about Juniper, making it difficult to reach end-users and deliver solutions. Second, Juniper's education and awareness centers are costly and not easily accessible like Cisco's resources and their understanding of users' requirements. The information is not easily available on online channels like Youtube. Third, Juniper needs to promote its Mist integration better, and pricing is also a significant factor. Finally, Juniper needs to address the market's specific requirements, such as the SME sector, and offer more lower-priced products like a lower-end segment switch. In summary, improving marketing and sales, education and awareness, Mist integration, pricing, and catering to specific market requirements are areas that need improvement. I just want a good feature in the SD-WAN. Juniper should consider integrating its firewall experience with its SD-WAN devices to create a complete package. With everything moving to the cloud, companies require intelligence and security solutions for their on-prem infrastructure. Moreover, Juniper should integrate its SOC solution into its Mist portal and SD-WAN devices, including IPs, IDS, web and content filters, and messaging. This would provide a complete product and give Juniper an advantage over competitors such as Cisco. I believe that with a bundle that includes SOC and UTM flavors in their Mist portal, Juniper can make a significant impact in the market.
EM
Pre Sales Engineer at Konvergenz
Hybrid connectivity has improved secure remote access and simplified visibility across branches
The area for improvement in Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is on the switching part. Their switching is intelligent, but it comes in different levels and different models. They have very high-performing appliances for switching, but for the different branch offices, smaller appliances would be required. We have already provided feedback to Versa about this, and we should be expecting the first rollout of smaller branch appliances for the switching in Q1. The good thing is that they have intelligent switching, which will bump up some of the things that are lacking in normal switches. For now, it is only switching that could be slightly improved. There is nothing on the performance side; it is just the appliance model. It does not make sense to buy a 48-port switch in a very small branch that has five users.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"After we finished setting Contrail up, it seemed stable enough. Still, we never tested it in a real environment, so we don't have enough information to say whether it's stable with a given number of users and appliances. We have tested it in a lab environment, but we haven't tested enough to say that the platform is stable."
"It provides proactive alerting in a single dashboard solution."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is a stable solution."
"Contrail automates the excellent communication between virtual appliances."
"Versa is a good centralized solution, where you're setting up your infrastructure in a data center type thing."
"The most valuable feature I find in Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is multi-tenancy, which has benefited my customer's network performance by removing the need for MPLS and enhancing security on the open internet link."
"The flexibility is a great feature."
"It is very easy to deploy. The GUI interface is really good, and the security features are also very good. It is also stable and scalable, and their support is also good."
"This integration between SASE and SD-WAN is beneficial, as we have tested it with various customers."
"Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is the best option on the market at the moment."
"Our customers are very satisfied with this solution. They have not mentioned any areas for improvement."
"There are great security and ops features without the need for having a different box for security."
 

Cons

"Juniper needs to address the market's specific requirements, such as the SME sector, and offer more lower-priced products like a lower-end segment switch."
"Concerns were raised about the complexity of involving networking components like MX routers, which often required expertise beyond the scope of software engineers. As a result, users encountered challenges in achieving comprehensive understanding and troubleshooting of networking issues within the Contrail environment."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is difficult if you do not have a certificate for Juniper. Juniper is a different type of configuration or operation than Cisco."
"Visibility, especially for the top of the platform, is a nightmare. The top was documented incorrectly and really complex to complete. In the end, it worked but only after several weeks of work with the support of a Juniper solution engineer in Holland."
"The UTM features can be improved. It should offer better functionality."
"The interface could be simpler."
"The support needs to be improved."
"We are thinking about how to make customers consolidate the loads to an SD-WAN network so that the customers can have bigger chunk from the SD-WAN side so that customers can have critical data be transferred with NPS VPN and non-critical data or some labeled traffic can be transferred by the SD-WAN network. I think it's a very important direction for digital transformation."
"The security should be improved."
"The VPN feature is relatively new. It came out two releases ago, and they're still fixing that up."
"The smaller units lack a lot of functionality."
"I agree that Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform is not mature enough yet."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are many vendors in the wireless market that offer better pricing, solutions, and management skills compared to Juniper."
"Juniper Contrail Networking is low-cost for small and medium-sized businesses. Cisco and Palo Alto solutions are more expensive."
"It is not very expensive because of the white box support. Its hardware is much cheaper than other products. With the support for x86 and white box, it is one of the most cost-effective platforms that are currently available."
"We provide subscriptions for our customers on a yearly, not monthly, basis."
"Price wise, it's more expensive than is the competition. I would give pricing a rating of three out of five."
"It is neither cheap nor expensive. I rate the pricing a five out of ten on a scale where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"I find Versa a little more expensive than VMware in terms of remote access and secure web gateway elements."
"While I cannot provide too much commentary on the price, I feel it to be fair for the moment."
"The price is expensive but it makes sense for the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Retailer
11%
Construction Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Juniper Contrail Networking?
Juniper Contrail Networking enables the utilization of tier-two appliances and the creation of virtual networks or appliances. This is facilitated through the use of filtering devices. Additionally...
What is your primary use case for Juniper Contrail Networking?
We use the solution to host many services for multiple clients. We aim to transition from hosting Cisco clients to utilizing virtual appliances. Therefore, we intend to virtualize their infrastruct...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Contrail Networking?
Juniper Contrail Networking presents a distinct alternative for those encountering issues with vendor solutions. Consequently, individuals who may have previously hesitated to explore OpenStack sol...
What needs improvement with Versa Titan?
So far, none of my customers have delved into much detail about Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform's threat intelligence capabilities because it's more of a focus on manufactu...
What is your primary use case for Versa Titan?
I'm in sales, so I'm a seller for Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform. I usually recommend Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform for manufacturing and small ...
 

Also Known As

Contrail Networking
Versa FlexVNF, FlexVNF, Versa Titan
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lithium Technologies, Orange Business Services, Cloudwatt, Symantec, Cloud Dynamics, CloudSeeds
CenturyLink, RCN Business, Colt Technology Services
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