Bitdefender GravityZone combines multiple security services into a single platform to reduce the cost of building a trusted environment for endpoints.
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Trend Micro Apex One
Score 8.5 out of 10
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The Trend Micro Endpoint Security platform Apex One (formerly OfficeScan) provides antivirus and malware detection, and endpoint visibility. The product suite can be extended with associated applications that cover mobile endpoint protection, endpoint encryption, as well as network and server vulnerability protection.
It just works. I have seen multiple viruses and malware get past other antivirus software like TrendMicro, Webroot, and Kaspersky. Bitdefender GravityZone always catches what others miss. It has a very light footprint when it comes to system resources. The centralized management console is nice, but I prefer the console before they redesigned the UI.
Before Trend Micro OfficeScan we used Symantec Endpoint Protection and although it was very easy to deploy and to update agents it couldn't find a virus if you pointed it out with a neon sign. We were always getting hit with different viruses but since we migrated to Trend we no longer have that problem. Trend has definitely been preventing those kind of outbreaks successfully.
Once installed, Bitdefender [GravityZone] runs silently in the background with little to no need for user interaction.
The cloud-based console provides for easy computer management and deployment.
Bitdefender [GravityZone] is extremely flexible, with a policy-based system wherein different profiles can be created (i.e. a policy to deactivate the firewall, a policy to allow for admin control on a machine, etc.) and pushed out to individual computers.
Computers can be grouped into different categories, with different policies automatically deployed to each category.
Bitdefender [GravityZone] is relatively resource-light and runs well even on lower-end computers.
The product has two important aspects, centralized console and an agent which is typically installed on every machine. When the product is installed on a dedicated server then all computers can readily get updated while in the same network (provided the agent is installed on every machine). This helps the machine to avoid any kind of virus attacks.
Even if the machines are not in the same network where the console is being run it can directly get all updates from the Trend Micro server directly and the machine is still protected. Hence, it is not necessary that users have to visit the office or internal network to get the update, once the agent is installed on the machine then they can get the update from anywhere as long as the machine has access to the Internet.
Once the agent is installed on the machine the users can themselves do a full scan and even check the logs themselves.
Who do I ask? This is my chief complaint is once the initial licenses were purchased through Bit Defender, there was no one to contact that could help navigate some of the initial questions I had with regard to specific policies to implement for our file server. The parent web site is, well, hard to navigate when one is trying to "learn" the system.
The second issue is in increasing the licenses. It took several days for the parent company (by contact and phone) to inform me that they could not increase the licenses and I would have to go through a private vendor. There was no intent to connect me to a vendor or provide a vendor list until I asked specifically. YET I continue to get email from the parent company reminding me to pay an annual fee for the licenses purchase through the private vendor. The parent company can see the number of licenses yet did not sell them to me.
Gravity Zone Dashboard, while excellent for those who have experience, is not particularly intuitive for those who have never used it. There does not seem to be a lot of documentation for those responsible for implementation.
Only thing I would have to say that's negative is the reporting aspect. Basic reporting is good but still lacks some details. This is a problem with many of the software vendors I have encountered in the past as well. Reporting is still much better than most.
It works. I rely heavily on my vendors to provide a product that works, is easy to implement, and that they support. As well as be a decent value for the money
It is very easy to stick with a vendor year after year, and it is also easy to see the faults in a product and want to change. This is the first time I have renewed with an antiviurs provider as others have been less than ideal and caused issues where there were none before, so while it isn't perfect, it is the best of the bunch currently and I am hopeful that it will continue to improve in future versions.
The console is easy to use, but has grown to have a lot of functionality. The only challenge is that all functions (even disabled and not installed ones) are shown. It would be great if only the functions that are active would be visible.
Support is an area Bitdefender has always struggled with. While their products work great, the GravityZone dashboard is very technical in nature. If you aren't IT inclined, it could be difficult to setup. While most times support is helpful, we tend to work with them over email because of their very thick accent, they are hard to understand over the phone.
It has been difficult at sometimes, the support people at one point told me that they couldn't tell me information about OfficeScan because it was knowledge that was passed down from engineer to engineer. The issue was that if you used the msi for the install any further installs would require the msi to have the same exact name or else the install fails and corrupts the install. This information is not listed anywhere on trends website. Support kept trying to get me to use the exe for installs instead, but we use SCCM and msi's work better. We had to write a script to come up with a solution so that we could uninstall the software and install the new software. Trend did provide the technical expertise to help with the script and had us work with one of the developers in order to resolve that issue. So they did fix their screw up but it took a while and several complaints.
We were a Kaspersky shop for years. Kaspersky was a resource hog and it didn't even block half of what was thrown at it. We had more outbreaks and more end-user complaints in a year of Kaspersky then we have had in almost three years of Bitdefender.
For me, Trend Micro Apex One with its low performance is the best option at the time to buy a solution like this, with its flexibility through on-premises or saas deployment options you can choose the option that best fix to you, has an advanced automated threat detection and response against an ever-growing variety of threats.
The ROI for Bitdefender is hard to quantify except that it requires very little maintenance time from our staff.
We've spent no time troubleshooting user complaints or issues from users, so it has been a big time-saver over our previously used anti-malware software.
Bitdefender's customer service is usually pretty good and also very responsive, so I don't have to wait by the phone or to keep checking email to resolve a problem--although our issues have been mostly informational and not a problem with functionality.
Since the product is a full suite of protection rolled into a single product, we've seen ROI through cost reduction and simplified management. And while we haven't measured performance, one would logically assume that systems will perform better with a single product installed vs several.
While we haven't measured performance, one would logically assume that systems will perform better with a single product installed vs several.
