We performed a comparison between Steelhead and Symantec Proxy based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two WAN Optimization solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Scalable data referencing is a great feature."
"The most valuable feature of Steelhead is its optimization capabilities."
"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."
"The connectivity to speed is the valuable feature."
"SteelHead works from the application. I use it to optimize traffic from Amazon. It is mainly used for customers who need to increase the traffic to 33K. For other users, it has been more of an operation."
"It is very easy to install the solution."
"The compression of Riverbed is very powerful. It can also handle large quantities of traffic."
"I find the most valuable to be the compression and exchange replication."
"It enables us to manage bandwidth for users based on their privilege levels. For example, if a user wants to use a certain application or resource, we can provide access based on their privileges."
"The most valuable feature is the caching."
"The product is very good, and the URL filtering database is great."
"It is easy to use, and it is stable and scalable. You don't need a large team for deployment and maintenance."
"What I found most valuable in Symantec Proxy is that it doesn't have any limitations. It also has a simple configuration, with only one window pane, unlike Zscaler, which has multiple window panes. Deploying the agent is also more straightforward in Symantec Proxy."
"The developer's assistance is valuable, enabling seamless integration which allows for a comprehensive view of categories, even if not certified by the link."
"Global Intelligence Network is the best feature of the product."
"We can address and rectify issues promptly, resulting in consistently positive outcomes."
"One area for improvement is related to monitoring and visibility."
"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"
"The application response time of the solution can be improved."
"They should include a network switch in a future release."
"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."
"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."
"Application response time and network performance could be improved."
"The solution needs to have alert notifications."
"One area for improvement in Symantec is the lack of a reporting server or dashboard integration with SIM."
"The tool’s reporting features must be improved."
"The platform's pricing needs improvement."
"Prior to the Broadcom purchase, every appliance was application based, but now they have one ISG device and on top of it multiple applications are running. It has a single point of failure. If your device goes down, all of the applications would be down."
"Symantec Proxy needs to include content management capabilities."
"Marketing needs improvement in Symantec Proxy, as it needs to catch up in sales here in the Asia Pacific region. Symantec Proxy licensing renewal also needs improvement."
"The solution could improve by having better documentation."
"Activating the SSL inspection is one of the challenges. We are currently moving to the O365 cloud, and one of the challenges is the performance when all of our users are connected to O365 by a proxy."
Steelhead is ranked 4th in WAN Optimization with 22 reviews while Symantec Proxy is ranked 15th in Secure Web Gateways (SWG) with 18 reviews. Steelhead is rated 8.2, while Symantec Proxy is rated 7.2. The top reviewer of Steelhead writes "Exceptionally stable and reliable but costly". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Proxy writes "A user-friendly solution with good technical support". Steelhead is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate, Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform, WAAS, Citrix SD-WAN and Noction IRP, whereas Symantec Proxy is most compared with Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway, Skyhigh Security, Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway, McAfee Web Gateway Cloud Service and Zscaler Internet Access. See our Steelhead vs. Symantec Proxy report.
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