WatchGuard Network Security from and SME market perspective
November 20, 2021
WatchGuard Network Security from and SME market perspective
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Overall Satisfaction with WatchGuard Network Security
We use WatchGuard in bastion, point-to-point VPN, and internal segmentation roles. We also use WatchGuard WiFi AccessPoints with offensive capabilities and RADIUS for AD secure login for secure office WiFi. Use is at the whole organization level and office organizational levels to provide internal network segmentation.
- WebBlocker is very good (used to block known bad or inappropriate for work sites)
- Firewall function is very good and easier to manage then other vendor products
- Relatively easy to manage the firewall products
- VPNs can be problematic - tends to be hit or miss with miss requiring quite a bit of work sometimes.
- AD integration is not as good as we want and we have introduced Ubiquity WiFi access points in some offices as a result.
- The offensive feature (detects counterfeit WiFi attempts and jams them) needs improvement. If used on an Access Point that is supporting users, brief WiFi outages occur. The solution is to use dedicated WatchGuard Access Points in Offensive mode (i.e. these APs do NOT support users).
- In recent years, the management of licenses and renewals has become a bit more complicated than in the past for multi-year contracts.
- We use a number of vendors both within our organization and with our clients and WatchGuard products tend to be easier to manage and support.
- We do not need to spend a lot of time dealing with WarchGuard like some other products.
- Easy to integrate into our SIEM (AlienVault)
- Lower learning curve (e.g. Cisco and some of the other enterprise class firewalls)
One of our group companies is a reseller but we also partner with local resellers in some markets.
We were an early adopter of the so-called unified firewall appliance - the combination of features provides value. We use Office 365 for email so some of the features bundled with WatchGuard are not applicable to our company.
For SME and smaller organizations, WatchGuard is a very good fit. Larger enterprises can benefit, but it depends on the scenario which firewall we would recommend or implement. For instance, compared to Cisco enterprise products, WatchGuard is easier to use and manage - but the Cisco products offer more capabilities. I would place WatchGuard and Barracuda on a similar footing but I like the management interface for WatchGuard better. Ubiquity, SonicWall, and Zyxel I would consider for smaller offices and smaller SMEs. WatchGuard holds its own in medium and large SMEs with better ROI.
Do you think WatchGuard Network Security delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with WatchGuard Network Security's feature set?
Yes
Did WatchGuard Network Security live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of WatchGuard Network Security go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy WatchGuard Network Security again?
Yes