Perimeter 81 vs. Smoothwall SWG

I'd suggest that Perimeter81 is recommended when you want something that is easy to administrate, with little maintenance, unlike a VPN/secure network that you host and manage internally. We've had incidents when there has been downtime at Perimeter81, which has effectively locked us out of some of our secure services (anything locked down via IP). They have made improvements to their infrastructure and it seems to have improved in recent months, but this is something to keep in mind for critical connections

Incentivized

Smoothwall SWG is very suitable in companies where there is a lot of staff and power to distribute the bandwidth by areas and give priority to the staff that requires better service. It's also well suited for business that require protection of their data and services as it is constantly monitoring the network and does not let them enter dangerous sites.

Incentivized

• Simple easy to read icon.
• You can hover over and see if you are logged in via the systems tray on your computer.
• Easy to switch between regions around the world.

Incentivized

• Real-time IP filtering is very favorable. That helps limit and restrict prohibited content.
• Elaboration of personalized reports of the activities or pages that users visit to make new blocking rules to the pages most visited by users that may damage the functioning of the servers.

Incentivized

• Customer support was lacking before, now seems better.
• Had much difficulty using Chrome as my browser to install the app.
• Increase the throughput speeds at time would be nicer.

Incentivized

• It is necessary for them to have more material or a community that can help expand knowledge about this software so users can use 100% of their tools.

Incentivized

In the beginning, it was a bit rough getting it to work and getting any kind of quality support from customer service. But recently they really improved their service and customer service. I believe they raise 100M in new funding which provides them the resources to make a better product with better tools and a better help desk.

Incentivized

Smoothwall SWG has many tools similar to pfSense but in my opinion I like the graphical environment of smoothwall swg more. It is more didactic and simple to use for new users. Also pfSense lacks the tools for monitoring in real time and the elaboration of reports that helps to perform statistics on sites visited.

Incentivized

• I think it is just a cost of doing business.
• I don't think the cost is too prohibitive.
• We also use it as an example of what a small cost can provide big protection for your security.

Incentivized

• This software helps a lot and is very economical, since it is free and it can be installed in equipment with low performance. That is of importance to companies with little budget or who are just starting out in the market.

Incentivized