RathinVaidya - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President (Technical) at Shaligram Infotech LLP
Reseller
Great antivirus software that's very easy to deploy and very user friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "Easy to deploy and user friendly."
  • "Could have a more simplified functionality for users."

What is our primary use case?

It's primarily for on-premise firewall functionality and functionality of internet lines.

What is most valuable?

The appeal to our IT team is that this is an easy to deploy, user friendly, and easy to work with solution that includes antivirus software.

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see a more simplified functionality for our customers. We also had a negative experience with the sales team of Sophos, which offered a three-year renewal to our customer. We'd suggested one year, keeping the customer's cashflow in mind and Covid. The result was that it affected our credibility with the customer. These are some of the irritants in the sales policy.  

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for four years. 

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Sophos XG
March 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have deployed it for 100 users to date, so it's quite scalable. We mainly work with small and medium size organizations. 

How was the initial setup?

The implementation is straightforward. It depends on your environment, and the number of users as well as the complex rules you're making. That aside, it is easy to deploy.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Chairman at BASL
Real User
Excellent integration with the Sophos firewall and has a user-friendly interface
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the fact that it can self remove malware and do updates on the cloud via Sophos Central."
  • "On reports, they sometimes give a summary, but it lists different users as unknown. There are times that I really want to know which user or which IP is causing a problem."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution as my endpoint firewall and at the same time, I use it for load balancing and spillover.

What is most valuable?

What I like the most is the reporting. 

The integration with the Sophos firewall is brilliant. I don't need to be physically present in the office. I can monitor everything from Sophos Central. That is a great feature and it's one thing that I really appreciate about the solution.

I like the fact that it can self remove malware and do updates on the cloud via Sophos Central.

The interface is good.

What needs improvement?

Although I enjoy the reporting elements of the solution, it can still be improved. I still can't drill down. There is some information that I would really, really like to see, but I still can't access it.

On reports, they sometimes give a summary, but it lists different users as unknown. There are times that I really want to know which user or which IP is causing a problem. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for ten months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There is something that have observed and I don't know what exactly the problem is. Right now, from my ISP I'm supposed to have unlimited bandwidth, but I observed behind the firewall my bandwidth seems low. I'm not exhausting what I have from my ISP. I've checked the TOS and there's no limit. When I spoke with one of the resellers they said that they too had experienced it before and that probably I should restart the device.

That they observed that the clients that restarted had their internet service improve. I don't think that is a good solution. I don't want to have to restart my device to have the internet service improved.

I've checked the setup. I even checked with the reseller, who told me everything is okay. I've gone for XG training. Even after the XG training, I've gone back to look at my setup. I can't see anywhere the bandwidth is being shared. I'm not sure if it's the device itself, but I've checked everything.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is okay. We have about 200-250 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support can be improved upon. There are times that I've had some issues that I've tried escalating in technical support and it takes a while before we really get it resolved. 

Once I was getting a particular malware from an unknown source on one of my servers which was behind the firewall. I asked their support why. Later they advised that I should install Intercept X for servers on that particular device. I was confused about how it was behind a firewall; the firewall should be able to detect which system is getting infected. The system doesn't really go to the internet and nobody browses on it. The only thing I could imagine that could cause it was a Windows update. If it was from an update they least it should have been able to say, "Okay, it was from this particular update that this malware was filtered in."

Out of ten, I would give their service a five.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The solution we were using previously was Cyberoam.

The Cyberoam device was about five years old and had started malfunctioning. It wasn't giving us the output it had previously provided. At that time, Sophos had already bought Cyberoam. We had the option to either upgrade the OS to a Sophos OS or to a Sophos device.

We decided to go for a Sophos device since the Cyberoam device was already problematic.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

I used a reseller to assist with implementation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay on a yearly basis. 

We have Sophos XG, but we also have Intercept X for our endpoint and recently we just deployed Intercept X for the servers. I've not done a calculation of the costs of all three to know what my yearly maintenance costs would be.

What other advice do I have?

Once you have basic networking skills and firewall management it's easy to set up. With Sophos Central, I think it's a good solution for any IT department.

I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

As it is now, the solution is good, but I believe that there's still room for more improvement. I still believe the reporting could be improved. Sophos, from my experience, seems to affect my bandwidth. I didn't set any limit, so I don't know where that is coming from, but it's something that we've noticed with the XG.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sophos XG
March 2024
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PeerSpot user
Technical Support Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Reseller
Stable, scalability, but performance needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The installation is easy. There is a wizard that can be used for a single connection making it simple and if you have multiple connections you can configure it manually."
  • "The solution could improve by making the graphical interface better and increasing the performance."

What is our primary use case?

Our customers use Sophos XG as a firewall.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by making the graphical interface better and increasing the performance. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Sophos XG is good.

Most of our customers are small to middle-sized businesses.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support we have received from the partner has been good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use Sophos XG, Fortinet, and Palo Alto solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is easy. There is a wizard that can be used for a single connection making it simple and if you have multiple connections you can configure it manually.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Sophos tends to have less performance compared to Fortinet, and Palo Alto solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sophos XG a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
CTO at Kingsway Hospitals
Real User
The great interface and security are key features
Pros and Cons
  • "Good security and a good interface."
  • "Content filtering could be more effective and efficient."

What is our primary use case?

I'm the CTO of our company and we are customers of Sophos. 

What is most valuable?

I've found that the valuable features are the interface and the security, both are really great. 

What needs improvement?

The security of the solution could be improved by making it more intuitive and it should have a background reputation service for classification of websites for content filtering. It's a service which defines the type of websites enabling me to do my content filtering in a much more effective and efficient way.

They really need to include some kind of a client app for mobiles so that firewalls and all the metrics can be accessed directly on the phone; some kind of administrative application on the phone, maybe on an iOS or Android.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for over four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution, it's a nice robust firewall. We love using it. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable, we have around 700 end users and 10 technical people on staff. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We are satisfied with the technical support but having said that, we didn't need much support because the menus and all the online documentation is self-explanatory. There was no failure so we didn't have to actually log a call with Sophos. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't previously use another solution before implementing Sophos. We chose it by specification and the reputation it has in the market.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a little complex because of the kind of configuration that we were looking at, the way the firewall had to be configured was slightly complex. We carried out the implementation ourselves and it took a maximum two days. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution but would suggest that before buying any firewall, it's important to assess your expectations and then match it with the specification. You will not be disappointed if you do this.

I would rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Information Systems Infrastructure Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reseller
Local support and good training, but the wireless controller and scalability can be better
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the firewall, inbound, and outbound modules the most. The VPN feature also works well. It is very easy to configure rules in Sophos XG. We have got local service here in Zimbabwe from Sophos, which is something that I like a lot. We have got good local support, and they come on-site when we have any challenges. Sophos provides a lot of good training all around Zimbabwe. They are quite dominant here, similar to other solutions like Fortinet or WatchGuard."
  • "When you are using it as a controller for the wireless access points, it doesn't perform well. It is not suitable for the public cloud. It is more suitable for enterprise data. It is not really the equipment for cloud data centers. I am looking for a data center firewall."

What is our primary use case?

I am using it for unified management.

What is most valuable?

I like the firewall, inbound, and outbound modules the most. The VPN feature also works well. It is very easy to configure rules in Sophos XG.

We have got local service here in Zimbabwe from Sophos, which is something that I like a lot. We have got good local support, and they come on-site when we have any challenges.

Sophos provides a lot of good training all around Zimbabwe. They are quite dominant here, similar to other solutions like Fortinet or WatchGuard.

What needs improvement?

When you are using it as a controller for the wireless access points, it doesn't perform well.

It is not suitable for the public cloud. It is more suitable for enterprise data. It is not really the equipment for cloud data centers. I am looking for a data center firewall.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for more than five years. I started with Cyberoam, which was bought by Sophos.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable. I have managed to secure my network. It has been good so far.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is not so scalable. If you want to upgrade, you have to buy another appliance. I don't see so much scalability. You can only change a port from 1 gigabit to 10 gigabits. There are other solutions like Fortinet that are more scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their support is good. We get local support from them.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment took two days.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is flexible. Sophos looks at a country's economy and offers flexible pricing. This is how they have managed to penetrate the market.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend it. It has good support and training.

I would rate Sophos XG a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Architect of solutions at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
User-friendly security with quality disk encryption but lacks on-premise deployment options and firewall rules could use improvement.
Pros and Cons
  • "Sophos offers great disk encryption, anti protection, and the interface is very user-friendly."
  • "I would like to next release to be able to support on-premise deployment. The construction of the rules within the firewall could also use some improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to secure the computers within our environment.

What is most valuable?

Sophos offers great disk encryption, anti protection, and the interface is very user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

I would like to next release to be able to support on-premise deployment. The construction of the rules within the firewall could also use some improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for about two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution, I have not had any issues in regards to stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution. We have about two hundred users in our company.

How are customer service and support?

I have not needed to contact support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using ESET prior to switching to Sophos. ESET was a very simple solution that was unable to detect malware or ransomware. We had an attack and needed to switch to a solution that supported ransomware.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward and took about one week to complete.

What about the implementation team?

We used an integrator to compete the deployment. We have a contract with them so we do not need any in-house team members for maintenance. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution as it offers good protection.

I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Real User
User-friendly, good load-balancing functionality, and it's easy to manage
Pros and Cons
  • "The interface is very user-friendly and it's easy to manage."
  • "All of the options should be available when I renew my subscription for the year. As it is now, there are some limitations."

What is our primary use case?

We are a digital design agency. We offer services such as website design and development, mobile applications, and more. We use Sophos XG to protect our network. It is also used for reporting and load-balancing.

What is most valuable?

The interface is very user-friendly and it's easy to manage.

The load-balancing capabilities are good.

What needs improvement?

All of the options should be available when I renew my subscription for the year. As it is now, there are some limitations.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Sophos XG for between two and three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product and we use it on a daily basis.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not tried to scale this product.

How are customer service and support?

I have not had issues that required contacting technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple. It takes approximately one hour to install, create the policies, and deploy.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed it myself.

If there are any issues then I can fix them because I have the expertise.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The subscription costs approximately $300 yearly. I am satisfied with the price.

What other advice do I have?

Feature-wise, this is a good product.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Administrator at chegus infotech
Real User
Offers VPN functionality, has good monitoring capabilities, and IPS filtering helps secure our network
Pros and Cons
  • "Over the past two years, during the COVID pandemic, the VPN has helped us a lot."
  • "The interface can bit a bit more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

I use this product for my VPN. It links site-to-site between us and my client's VPN.

All of the users have a unique ID that they use to connect to the VPN.

The product also does site blocking based on the category of the website that the users are trying to access.

I can also use it to monitor all of the users' activities.

We use this in our physical environment.

How has it helped my organization?

During the pandemic, this product helped our employees connect with the office network. Security-wise, it provides IPS filtering, which is also quite benefiticial.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the VPN. Over the past two years, during the COVID pandemic, the VPN has helped us a lot. All of the users are able to connect with our office network using their own devices.

What needs improvement?

The interface can bit a bit more user-friendly. For me, it's still user-friendly and I don't find it difficult to use. However, the configuration should be more user-based. As an example, IPSec is complex and a little bit difficult to configure. If it were more like Microsoft Azure and the way their online configuration works, it would be an improvement. As it is now, I have all of the settings inside the device, so I can clone them and use them for customers. But, on the customer's side, it is difficult for people to understand.

Our Wi-Fi network is not working as well as expected.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Sophos XG since December 2019.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a product that we use every day. Without it, it is very difficult for us to work. I really like the reliability and the performance of the Sophos device, but I'm facing a few issues with my Wi-Fi networks. This device supports the Wi-Fi network, but it's not quite as good as we expected. I'm not sure why it is not working so well for me.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is quite a reliable device, even as we scale it. We have fewer than 35 people in the company that uses it.

How are customer service and support?

It has been a very long time since I have contacted Sophos technical support. It was very difficult to get connected with customer service. Finally, after reaching customer care, which was handled by Cyberoam, they helped me out and fixed whatever issue I was facing.

My customer care team is not in India, and this is something that we expected to have.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to Sophos XG, I was using the Cyberoam product. Cyberoam was acquired by Sophos. Aside from this, I don't have much experience with other providers.

How was the initial setup?

It is not complex to set up. Initially, it is a simple configuration but they should have default profiles available. For example, many companies only need a generic configuration. Even if it's just a static IP to get them started and then they can assign a default profile for all of the users inside the company.

Our initial deployment took between two and three days to complete. This included deploying a new server. In advance of beginning deployment, we spent one day gathering requirements. The Sophos part of the deployment only took between three and four hours.

What about the implementation team?

The initial deployment was done by the vendor and me together. We had an integrator to set up the rack, and they supplied us with Sophos. Most of the configuration was done by me because the integrator did not have enough time.

I also take care of the maintenance including the patching and updating. One person is enough for this. I used to have an assistant but now, I'm the only person that takes care of it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of this product is fine for me. For example, there are open-source solutions available on the market, but I trust Sophos. I know the vendors in India and I trust the product.

I paid approximately 57,000 Rupees ($750 USD) for three years.

What other advice do I have?

Personally, I like this product and I like the vendor. The platform is very good and apart from the wireless interface issue that I am having, working with this product has been a very good experience.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos XG Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
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Buyer's Guide
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