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Aryaka SmartConnect vs. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Silver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Aryaka SmartConnect

    Score9.8 out of 10
    N/ASmartConnect is an on-demand, fully managed and end-to-end SD-WAN connectivity service for enterprises, offering global, regional, and local as well as cloud connectivity. The solution connects branches, remote locations, data centers and cloud service providers, using Aryaka's SD-WAN platform.N/A

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/ABarracuda CloudGen Firewalls provides a wide range of security and connectivity features, including web filtering, NAC and SSL VPN and other features for remote access, as well as protection as edge devices and IoT security.N/A

    Silver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ASilver Peak's WAN Optimization brand and appliances were discontinued after the company's acquisition in 2020 by HPE. Similar capabilities are supplied now under HPE's Aruba brand.N/A
    Pricing
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsBarracuda offers prospective buyers a build and quote tool on their website.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Considered Multiple Products
    Aryaka Networks
    No answer on this topic
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Aryaka SmartConnect and Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and Silver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Feature
    Aryaka SmartConnect
    -
    Ratings
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    9.5
    11 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Silver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies00 Ratings9.710 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools00 Ratings8.510 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection00 Ratings9.49 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls00 Ratings9.810 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings9.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console00 Ratings9.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging00 Ratings9.411 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN00 Ratings9.710 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability00 Ratings9.99 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection00 Ratings9.88 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server00 Ratings9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
    Score9.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.9
    (15 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Aryaka SmartConnectBarracuda CloudGen FirewallSilver Peak WAN Optimization (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Aryaka Networks
    It integrates nicely with AWS (in regions other than China). The provisioning support is pretty good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    I would say a small business with a basic firewall and security needs would be a perfect fit for the Barracuda CloudGen firewall. I know that they soon end up leaving the NG models and are moving forward with the F series firewall. I think the F series is a much more difficult to manage device and doesn’t offer simplistic configuration or use and lacks cloud control so I don’t understand the move on Barracuda’s part to nix a great easy to manage the firewall. I do think that the NG line is maybe too simple for bigger businesses and would lack some main features that they would require.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    This is well suited when you need to deploy a virtual router to provide SD-WAN services across multiple sites. This works great for small businesses since they added firewall services. The price and feature set are also great for mid-sized enterprises due to the ability to manage multiple appliances with templates, central reporting, and ability to provide high availability of the appliances with VRRP.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Aryaka Networks
    • Relatively easily to implement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    • The management software is excellent. It make it much easier to manage the firewalls than some of the other vendors.
    • Watching real-time traffic is easy to do when trying to troubleshoot a users issues getting to a particular service.
    • Support from Barracuda has been excellent. We rate their phone and online remote support as being the best in the business.
    • We like the QoS and Traffic shaping of the NG Firewalls. They help is manage our limited bandwidth, so that business critical resources are available over lesser critical resources.
    • Integration with Active Directory makes it easy to identify users activities in logs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • WAN Acceleration.
    • Improves application performance.
    • Reduce bandwidth costs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Aryaka Networks
    • Support is very inconsistent, no real trouble-ticketing system when you have issues
    • Very expensive for what you get
    • Not much advance notification for maintenance events
    • Unclear if Aryaka connectivity into China meets Chinese M.I.I.T. laws
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    • Very complex and steep learning curve to get up to speed.
    • Multiple ways to configure for the same service or feature. Takes time to determine "your" customized build.
    • Interface can sometimes be clunky when trying to determine how it's organized or arranged. Again, steep learning curve.
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Managing more and more routers can add complexity with templates.
    • Documentation around internal routing protocol they use is confusing.
    • Boost add-on was oversold by pre-sales team and not helpful during testing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Aryaka Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    Easy enough to use and configure using the management UI. Reporting from the web filter is a little clunky, and not very user friendly. To be perfectly honest, once it's set up and running, there isn't a lot to do from the day-to-day side of things, which is not a bad thing.
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Aryaka Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    I could go on and on about how good Barracuda's support really is. I have yet to have a problem they didn't help me fix and I always learn something when talking with them. The story that best describes my overall experience with Barracuda's support is this: When I first put in the xSeries they had a problem with a policy route. There was a bug in the code and in the one situation I was it, it just would not work. I went up the levels of support and they couldn't fix it. Well, next thing I know I am on the phone with 2 of the guys that programmed the thing and they work out the solution in no time and get me going. That is support. That is what I have come to expect from Barracuda. If the tech on the phone doesn't know the answer, they do not stop until they find it. Grant it, I also have to admit I do not call support with every problem, I try to work it out on my own first as that is how I learn best, so when I do call support it is going to be complicated.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    They need to improve their Spanish communication.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Aryaka Networks
    We didn't really evaluate many other SDWAN providers as very few operate inside of China. Our alternative was to build VPN connectivity ourselves.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    Our Cisco firewall was always difficult to make any changes against. It had no user-friendly GUI interface. We were calling technical support most of the time whenever we needed to make any changes. The Barracuda CloudGen Firewall has a GUI interface which we are looking forward to getting better acquainted with as we move off of our old Cisco. Of course, Barracuda's technical support is always there and is top notch!
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    We currently have almost all Cisco Meraki and would have loved to keep the product portfolio the same. Silver Peak was far cheaper and offered far more features. A lot of our evaluation showed that NGFW offers SD-WAN but it is not a full-featured deployment. Silver Peak is by and large better at being able to use both links at once, offer failover, QoS, and central reporting.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Aryaka Networks
    • Enabled us to deploy infrastructure into new regions quickly
    • Cost of Aryaka connections (especially in China) is excessive
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    • We saved multiple thousands of dollars the first year out with the firewall in maintenance fees. We paid for the firewall and 3 years of service and still saved money.
    • The ease of management allows me to do my job more efficiently. I save a lot of time when doing my day to day job because I can get to my firewall virtually anywhere.
    • I feel a lot safer and my business more secure knowing that I have configured things the way they need to be and it was simple and not overly complicated.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • Able to get rid of MPLS
    • No more router hardware costs
    • Able to use both WAN links instead of one being only failover
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot