Progress ShareFile vs. SonicWall NSA Series

Progress ShareFile has been a great tool for sharing files. When you send to outside people they get an easy link to click on to download the needed files. On the sender side you get options to have the person do things logon to get the file, just enter a name and email address, or just click on the link and download. There are hooks to use other tools to scan for personal information like SSN or credit card numbers. Many of our users use email to send and store emails. They have found that clicking on a link to get a file adds a bit of complexity but many have learned how to adjust to the change.

Incentivized

SonicWall NSA is best suited for small to mid-size companies or small to medium K-12 school districts. It's less appropriate for larger businesses and schools. This is due to their ease of use and well-rounded feature set but lacks in advanced configuration, performance, and reliability.

Incentivized

• I think that one of ShareFile's greatest strengths is its ease of use. With the outlook plug-in sharing large documents is so quick and easy.
• I also like the security and control that is provided for who can access the documents and tracking the changes within them. I think it does well at protecting information that leaves the company.
• I also think the website is well organized and easy to use. It was very easy for us to implement and train our employees on the proper use of the website and software.

Incentivized

• Relatively inexpensive compared to some of the higher-end products, like Palo Alto Networks.
• Easy to set up, as the SonicWall NSA interface is consistent across all models.

Incentivized

• Users grow quickly (each client gets a separate account). Automated pruning would be nice.
• I'm not aware of integration with Office365 online (only the outlook app). This could make it harder for some users.
• It would be nice to have something that auto-scans emails and attachments for PII and would require Sharefile for those emails.

Incentivized

• Ideal with smaller businesses. Would have to examine for more complex needs of larger businesses.
• Scalability might be an issue for super large organizations.

It's a highly effective and secure storage system, has robust workarounds for serving the various equipment limits of our users, meets high security requirements of HIPAA standards, significantly reduces our needs for producing paper trails.

Incentivized

Some of the clunkiness in the user interface and the processing of documents could be made more seamless. However, once you get over that learning curve, it's straightforward enough. The API for integrating external systems is well documented, and the support crew is great at getting you over the rough spots. There's nothing bad about their system, just a few things I thought could be more elegant.

The usability takes a bit of training, like any firewall, but I've found that showing even Tier 1 helpdesk how to do basic things has been easy. We have entry-level IT technicians performing white-listing, IP entries, VPN access and LDAP functions, to name a few tasks. The menus in the GUI are pretty straight forward.

Incentivized

The software has never been down when I needed to use it.

Incentivized

Easy to use, easy to integrate with Outlook. I only gave it a 9 because I have found that sometimes it does not play nicely with Outlook and can slow it down. But, when that happens (not frequent), I restart Outlook and all is well again

Incentivized

Typically the support is very knowledgeable and interested in following an issue until it is fully resolved. I have not had any issues working with their staff as they are all polite and easy to communicate with. If the first or second level tech does not fix the concern then it is escalated until we get to someone who can close the case.

Incentivized

Most of the time, calling SonicWall NSA Support, you get an expert who can help resolve your issues. RMAs are pretty easy once they determine there is an issue with the hardware. Support is available 24x7, which makes emergency calls easy. The only downside is the support engineers may have thick accents; however, their expertise more than makes up for any language barriers.

Incentivized

Good documentation for the API. With a little help from RS tech staff, any competent programmer should be able to integrate RightSignature with an existing system in a week or three. That help is easy to get as well

ShareFile offers more professional level services, and doesn't constantly "run out" of space, forcing you to upgrade to continue. When doing a cost comparison, the competitors may seem cheaper at first, but by the time you add on the features to make it comparable, the pricing is as much, if not more, than what we're paying for ShareFile. The access control level is better with ShareFile, so we chose to stay with them.

The SonicWall NSA is a lot more fluid and much less clunky than a Watchguard firewall. The Watchguard is ok for a small business-- you can buy them at retail outlets. But as you can see above, this model of Watchguard Firebox has been discontinued. The NSA classes are a more high-end and functional business-class firewall.

Incentivized

I am a one person office. I have no idea how this software would scale to a larger office.

Incentivized

• All of our clients and consulting engineers find ShareFile easy to use, thus complementing our business.
• Our staff also find ShareFile intuitive, accessible, and easy to use, making it an ideal, everyday indispensable desktop tool for everyone in our company.
• ShareFile can be linked to our firm's primary website as a placed for private use. We haven't found need for this yet, but might in the future.

Incentivized

• It is a firewall appliance at an affordable price compared to other firewall vendors.
• It is reliable and thus, allows our business to operate without any hiccups.

Incentivized