Illumio vs ShieldX comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Illumio
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
4th
Ranking in Microsegmentation Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (14th)
ShieldX
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
19th
Ranking in Microsegmentation Software
10th
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (47th)
 

Featured Reviews

CH
Jun 28, 2022
Great auto policy writing and good mapping with an easy setup process
Right now, we are using a non-production, 21.2.3 version. In production, we are in 19.3.6, which we are going for an upgrade on the weekend, which will be 21.2.30. Right now, the deployment is on-premises. The roadmap is to go to a SaaS product with Illumio, however, right now, it's on-premises. It is being used for on-premises, however, we are thinking to make use of the cloud as well, using the CloudSecure product. We like the solution. It's light. It doesn't take too many resources. For anyone to implement the product, it's pretty straightforward and simple. It's also very effective. It's very quick and very flexible to implement. That's the thing I can advise - just to implement this product and try it out. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
BT
Nov 25, 2018
Allows us to develop security policies using the language of our internal customers, and to migrate faster to cloud
The primary features are being able to isolate and segment workloads, both within our data center and in the cloud, and to get visibility into what the applications are doing. The application visibility is the most important feature for us at the moment. The reason that it is so important is that we are migrating a lot of workloads from a legacy data center to a new data center, and that ability to have visibility into the application flows allows us to build the rules and policies for the newer data center. The Adaptive Intention Engine is fantastic. It allows us to develop security policies using the language of our internal customers. It's machine-learning applied to security workflows. That allows us to much more easily construct the policies that will protect those workflows. ShieldX also enables us to migrate to cloud environments faster. That is an important part of it for sure because it takes the exact same policies that we would apply to our on-premise environment and enables us to simply apply them to the cloud. It becomes one policy for both on-prem and for the cloud. It gives us a lower dollar-per-protected-megabyte than a traditional firewall, but it's also consuming fewer resources in our network environment because we're not having to send our traffic out of the virtual environment just to send it back in. It also helps with lower maintenance costs.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The features that I have found most useful is the ability to centralize all the rules and then distribute them across various locations. However, I've encountered challenges related to tagging policies, which can be complex to devise. It's a matter that requires careful consideration and stakeholder involvement before implementing such policies."
"The most valuable feature of Illumio Adaptive Security Platform is monitoring. When I have no requirement from the other application, I can use the web block traffic to build."
"The solution helps to maintain logs and monitor activities. It also helps us with access management. The tool helps us to secure organizational data that include files."
"The Explorer allows you to know the traffic between source and destination."
"The flexibility of the solution is its most valuable feature."
"The product provides visibility into how the applications communicate and how the network protocols are being used."
"The solution is easy to use."
"It has helped us to understand internal network visibility and firewall policy implementation. We use the product to simplify firewall policy implementation."
"The most valuable feature is the automatic scaling. With its microservices, it scales both up and down, depending on traffic and throughput."
"We were able to see what devices are talking to each other, giving us more visibility."
"It has helped us tighten our security posture. Now, staff can only access things that they should be accessing."
"The Adaptive Intention Engine is fantastic. It allows us to develop security policies using the language of our internal customers. It's machine-learning applied to security workflows. That allows us to much more easily construct the policies that will protect those workflows."
"The UI was also one of the huge selling points. My web development manager was blown away with the detail and the granularity that you can get out of the UI. It is a very strong and informative UI, with the amount of data it provides."
"ShieldX has been designed from the very beginning to work well in cloud environments. It understands autoscaling, automation, and auto-configuration. These are the things which are important in today's operating environment."
"...It takes the exact same policies that you would apply to your on-premise environment and enables you to simply apply them to the cloud. It becomes one policy for both on-prem and for the cloud."
 

Cons

"Some of the features that can be improved is offer additional guidance on creating an effective and risk-free tagging policy would be highly beneficial."
"The solution is very basic and doesn't do anything other than the orchestration of layer four endpoint firewall rules."
"The product’s agents don't work very well in OT environments."
"Illumio Adaptive Security Platform could improve by supporting more operating systems. For example, Cisco and Apache appliances."
"I would like to see better data security in the product."
"It requires a low-level re-architecting of the product."
"The customer service is lagging a bit. It could be better."
"The interaction we've had with the support team hasn't been ideal. Technical support should be improved."
"I would like better reports and in-depth reporting."
"With any kind of tool like ShieldX, where you're in the cloud instead of a traditional firewall, you're using CPU resources in those environments to provide the protection. So there's a cost associated with CPU resources. I'm pressing upon them to make the product much more efficient and use less CPUs to do the same thing."
"They need to be consistent in performance and capabilities over time, given the fact that this is new and I want to see where this goes in the next year or so. As the vendor continues to evolve and add future functionality, we want to make sure that we are still keeping up with the integrations, etc. Time will be the key factor here. The proper support for some of the latest technologies, Docker containers, etc. They need to keep up with threat landscape, so we will see how the security get layered. This is what we are going to be keeping an eye on."
"There should be a bit more customer care, with regular review meetings on it or regular reports. It would be nice to have a quarterly or biannual review of what ShieldX has blocked."
"We are having some issues with their LDAP and integrating it with the Active Directory. We can't seem to set it up."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a subscription needed to use Illumio Adaptive Security Platform and we pay every three years. Overall the solution is expensive."
"The product's pricing is around 10,000-15,000 USD. The pricing is on a yearly basis."
"Security policies are now applied as applications are going up. Because it's automated, we don't have the three to four week delay. The insertion of applications in the cloud for us dropped from an average of three to four weeks to a couple of days."
"We are very happy with the pricing and licensing. It's about getting a site-wide license. One of the challenges that we've had with our previous vendor had been the cost of licensing."
"For other security professions who are looking for something which is low in cost that does microsegmentation, they should look at ShieldX. It might not be the big name out there, but it does everything that you are looking for in microsegmentation at a very low price."
"ShieldX also enables us to migrate to cloud environments faster. That is an important part of it for sure because it takes the exact same policies that we would apply to our on-premise environment and enables us to simply apply them to the cloud. It becomes one policy for both on-prem and for the cloud."
"ShieldX ensures that we can have the separation needed for our environment to avoid drastically increasing the cost on the licensing side. From this perspective, it's been very positive and helpful."
"For a three-year deal we paid £55,000 plus tax... But, and this is a big "but," this was over two years ago. ShieldX had only just hit the market. We were the first company in Europe to buy ShieldX."
"We are actually expecting our costs to drop in the coming year, but it is just a matter of the licensing expiring. That is going to happen in the next six months or so. Then, we will start to see a decrease in overall spend."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud and Data Center Security solutions are best for your needs.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Wholesaler/Distributor
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
The features that I have found most useful is the ability to centralize all the rules and then distribute them across various locations. However, I've encountered challenges related to tagging poli...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
The product's pricing is around 10,000-15,000 USD. The pricing is on a yearly basis.
What needs improvement with Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
Some of the features that can be improved is offer additional guidance on creating an effective and risk-free tagging policy would be highly beneficial.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

Illumio Adaptive Security Platform, Illumio ASP
APEIRO, ShieldX APEIRO
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Plantronics, NTT Innovation Institute Inc.
Iowa State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Illumio vs. ShieldX and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.