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Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software vs. Lightspeed Filter

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the core OS for the ASA suite. It provides firewall functionality, as well as integration with context-specific Cisco security modules. It is scaled for enterprise-level traffic and connections.N/A

    Lightspeed Filter

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/ALightspeed Filter (formerly Relay), from Lightspeed Systems in Austin, offers insights to help understand and maximize the use of 1:1 classroom devices, keep users safe and increase the educational return on technology investments. Lightspeed Systems aims to help users make decisions to enhance technology use, report up administrators, present to your board, reassure concerned parents, empower teachers, and direct students on appropriate use. According to the vendor, Lightspeed Filter powers…N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Priced per student device. Quote available upon request.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    87%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    42 Answers
    80%
    Delivers good value for the price
    4 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    67%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    67%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    41 Answers
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Lightspeed Filter
    Feature
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    8.9
    50 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Lightspeed Filter
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies7.932 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools7.931 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.433 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.446 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP8.448 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console9.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging8.949 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN10.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability9.649 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection10.046 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server9.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Score8.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (88 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.1
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareLightspeed Filter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Cisco ASA's are great for internal network connected access between a firewall and the central management server. And, for complex networks where high security requirements with overly strict compliance are necessary. For networks with limited connectivity to the core or for poor network connectivity these are not the best solution. There are other more stand-alone firewall's that do this better. These firewall's are a little more complex to set up to start with so significant knowledge of these devices is required to set them up and ensure they are best practice installed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    Lightspeed web filtering using the Chromebook Relay agent is amazing and does a great job for a cloud filtering solution. The reports that are available are great and can be customized and retains data for 90 days. Reports are easily shared with staff and/or parents for transparency and disciplinary reasons. The agent for Lightspeed (Relay) does not work well with OSX and works okay in Windows, but doesn't allow you to access local IP addresses in the web browser. There needs to be a way to bypass filtering for local network access. This can make it unusable in some cases.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • ASA is our VPN concentrator. The client and server are very stable and very easy to use
    • ASA also offers Intrusion Prevention, to an extent. This is also very useful for an improved security posture for a small company
    • ASA allowed us to scale very quickly. We could onboard clients, partners, and consultants and give them a great onboarding experience as well
    • Administrative costs with ASA are low. It's very easy to administer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    • Reduces bandwidth consumption.
    • Improves network performance.
    • It is compatible with a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
    • It can be implemented in both wired and wireless networks.
    • It can be installed in minutes and you can configure its settings with a few clicks.
    • Learning environments work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • The ASDM software is at times a nightmare to install because of different java versions[.]
    • [The firewall] could do with a power button, just to be able to do a hard reboot when needed[.]
    • It would be nice to manage the firewall via the web on port 443[.]
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    • It sometimes takes longer than expected for new filtering rules to apply.
    • Sometimes a site is blocked due to sub-sites or links, but it does not easily identify the source of the block if it is buried in the site.
    • They have several reports included, but it would be nice to create custom reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    To be honest there has been now great products out in the market compared to Cisco ASA. I beleieve Cisco has to do a lot of improvement in this area. The other defeiniete factors is the cost when it comes to renewals which is always a premium on Cisco products
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Lightspeed Systems
    It is unreliable and does not function as it is supposed to do so. As previously mentioned, there is a glitch when creating a block list.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    I generally have not noticed the outages, however since it's a machine it can malfunction, we need to implement the firewall infrastructure in such a way that it is highly available with device failure, region failure etc. Else any solution will be having the issues if they are not build with resiliency.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    The support is usually very good and gets back to you very quickly. However I had some instances of when two engineers will give me wildly different answers to what I thought was a simple question. Overall however I do rate the support highly and they are generally always very good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    It was quite a good one, how ever requires an expertise to deploy hence the SMB segment would be finding it difficult to implement this product. The one good reason is that there are lot of ASA certified engineers in compared to the other certified engineers. Hence this resembles positively on the deployment as you have quite a lot of experienced engineer on your deployment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    We were using [pfSense] before in our environment but we regularly facing difficulties over it due to software bugs & downtime. After implementing Cisco ASA, it resolved our availability issue & provides us a reliable solution with the best security features & easy to understand GUI.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    We were already a [Lightspeed] customer so the transition was seamless to Relay. Their support and team at [Lightspeed] are top-notch. We have been with Lightspeed for over 20 years and have evaluated on occasions other options and [ended] up back with [Lightspeed] each time. Their price point, ease of use, great team of engineers, and overall customer focus keep them on top in my eyes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Most network engineers have worked with ASA, so there is no need for re-training when adding or turning over staff
    • Current configs from older devices plug in easily, and are operational on larger devices if an upgrade is required
    • Many support options available
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightspeed Systems
    • Very costly per year
    • Does a great job with 1:1 filtering on Chromebooks
    • Safety Check checks student for possible self harm and alerts staff
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Lightspeed Filter Screenshots

    Screenshot of Relay dashboardScreenshot of Relay apps reportScreenshot of Relay blocked contentScreenshot of Sample Relay parent reportScreenshot of Screenshot of Classroom, free with Relay for a limited timeScreenshot of Screenshot of Classroom, free with Relay for a limited time