it_user297111 - PeerSpot reviewer
Epic Client Systems Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It provides email alerts to the End User Computing team when endpoints have been compromised, but it would be nice to have AD integration.

What is most valuable?

  • Comprehensive threat analysis
  • Network access compliance'
  • Ease of endpoint management
  • Low resource utilization

How has it helped my organization?

It provides email alerts to the End User Computing team when endpoints have been compromised, and enables network remediation for unknown endpoints.

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see them include direct integration with Active Directory.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for five years.

Buyer's Guide
Sophos Network Access Control
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos Network Access Control. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

Their customer support is really good and so is their documentation and knowledge base site.

Technical Support:

It’s excellent, at one point our licensing lapsed and they still helped us with a complex virus outbreak.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously used McAfee and evaluated Kaspersky, we switched from McAfee to Sophos because of price and features.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward, server deployment was easy and policy creation and templates were easy to setup with selection items from a list.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house, just read the documentation and check the knowledge base, most of the issues that you’ll run into are documented.

What was our ROI?

The return on our investment was huge, mostly due to the time saved in managing thousands of physical endpoints.

What other advice do I have?

Test your remediation policy thoroughly before instituting it house wide.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Works at Inertia holding group
Real User
Great stability and performance
Pros and Cons
  • "Sophos' technical support is great, very fast and responsive, and they always know how to fix the problem."
  • "An area that could be improved is the information about licensing, which is fairly confusing at present."

What needs improvement?

An area that could be improved is the information about licensing, which is fairly confusing at present. I've also had some issues with disabling ports.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with this solution for almost six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Network Access Control provides great stability and performance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Sophos' technical support is great, very fast and responsive, and they always know how to fix the problem.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise anybody considering using this solution to go for it. I'd rate it as nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sophos Network Access Control
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos Network Access Control. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Network Engineer at kamla raheja vidyanidhi institute for architecture
Real User
Scalable and reliable but needs more than one access point
Pros and Cons
  • "The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price."
  • "In order to provide better management, it would be ideal with they offered better plugins for their firewall."

What is most valuable?

There is good documentation that helps to deploy a new wireless access point and a controller in a very easy way.

The initial setup is very easy.

We've found the solution to be very reliable.

The scalability is quite good.

Technical support has been very good so far. 

The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price. 

What needs improvement?

We would like to be able to implement an access point range. There are a number of clients we have at one time and only one access point.

In order to provide better management, it would be ideal with they offered better plugins for their firewall. 

The solution could always offer better security.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've only been using the solution for one year at this point. It hasn't been that long. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable and very reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches and the solution does not crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

A company can easily scale the solution If it needs to. The scalability is very good.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've been in touch with technical support and they are very helpful. they respond in a timely manner. We are quite satisfied with their level of attention. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I'm also familiar with Ruckus and Aruba.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not too complex and we did not find it to be difficult. The solution is easy to set up and deploy. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution requires us to pay an annual license fee. I'm happy with the pricing. Basically, we negotiate the pricing and they provide for our needs.

What other advice do I have?

We're just a customer and an end-user. We're an educational institution. We don't have a business relationship with Sophos. 

We are using the Sophos Firewall model number XG 310. The Access Point model number is 740.

The client has many options when it comes to solutions like this. Other options include Ruckus and Aruba. 

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. It's been okay.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
CEO at MARVIV SRLS
Real User
Top 20
Great scalability, stability and performance
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability of the system and the performance of the system and the solution's most valuable features."
  • "The solution could increase the integration with other platforms or other systems. This would be very useful."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use the solution to manage all of our devices.

What is most valuable?

The scalability of the system and the performance of the system and the solution's most valuable features.

What needs improvement?

The solution could increase the integration with other platforms or other systems. This would be very useful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for more than three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is quite scalable. We have plans to increase and to distribute the system into other departments internally within the company in the near future.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is good. There is a chat system that is very useful and it's quite easy to receive support on different questions through it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

For on-premises I used a different solution but it's not so easy to compare the solutions because they are both on a different level. We used a Bitdefender-like private solution, but this solution is not really comparable. With Sophos, you have data control also on their hardware interface because the system is completely integrated with the infrastructure of the company. And the private solution doesn't provide the same level for infrastructure. This feature is not so easy to make a one-to-one comparison.

How was the initial setup?

If you have the correct knowledge base, the initial setup is not complex. Deployment took less than a week and took about three people. For maintenance, we only need one person to manage it.

What about the implementation team?

I handled the implementation myself apart from one section that was related to the hardware, but mainly for the integration with the other devices internally to the company. In this case, I needed to have a person with more expertise in charge. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing is on a yearly basis.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate other options before choosing Sophos.

What other advice do I have?

We're a Sophos partner. We tend to use both deployment models. Mainly, the hardware is on-premise, but all the management is on the cloud. For me, it's a better way to use this solution.

The system right now covers all my needs and it's very comfortable to work with.

For those considering implementing the solution, they need to be sure to have a complete overview of the system at the beginning. They need to know how they want to solve the need and the problems that they have. Everyone should start with an overview from the top.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Integrates endpoints and firewall: Endpoints missing a patch will be disconnected from the network
Pros and Cons
  • "What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices."
  • "What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."

How has it helped my organization?

If there is an infected system, the firewall will alert me and we can actually take that system off the network and isolate it. The Sophos people will resolve that issue and then bring the system back to the network.

What is most valuable?

Sophos has an endpoint side, a firewall side, access control, and a phishing side. It is an entire network security solution.

What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices. I also have visibility into my users, my servers, and into what is happening at all my gateways, as well as visibility on my switches. So it gives me a global view of my infrastructure.

The beautiful thing about it is that it has an integration between the endpoint and the firewall. So if any of my endpoints, systems like desktops or laptops, does not have an updated patch, it will be disconnected from the network.

What needs improvement?

What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high. I am a little bit worried about where Sophos is. A system with 4 GB would struggle. Even when it scans systems that have 8 GB, they struggle.

Also, one of the things that Sophos has not been able to tidy up properly — and I asked them about it — is that it would be nice if a person who is using Sophos on mobile devices could connect to the office using some type of multi-factor authentication. I would like to see a mobile app that generates a token inside our system and then it signs you into our network.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Sophos for a few years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale the product.

How are customer service and technical support?

Sophos support is okay because we have people here, Sophos technical partners, in Nigeria. We are not really dependent on Sophos outside the country. They are in UK, but we have not had to depend on them there to resolve many issues. We have asked them to help one or two times.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Sophos, including Intercept X which is their anti-virus software for endpoints. I would also advise, if you are getting Sophos, to make sure you upgrade systems from 4 GB to 8 GB and make sure you upgrade your systems from Windows 7 to Windows 10, so you will be fully protected.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Executive Information Technology Architect at LBE
Real User
Top 20
A stable solution that can be used for access control and network security
Pros and Cons
  • "Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything."
  • "It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices."

What is our primary use case?

Sophos Network Access Control is used for access control and network security.

What is most valuable?

Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything.

What needs improvement?

I last used Sophos Network Access Control for user access control. I expected the solution to combine all of the network devices in our organization. We sometimes have problems with the solution's configuration on other devices that are not listed. It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos Network Access Control for five to six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos Network Access Control is a stable solution.

I rate Sophos Network Access Control a nine out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our clients for Sophos Network Access Control are medium-sized businesses with around 300 users.

I rate Sophos Network Access Control a six or seven out of ten for scalability.

How was the initial setup?

I rate Sophos Network Access Control a four out of ten for the ease of its initial setup. The vendor consultant is not quite helpful, and we have to try other resources.

What about the implementation team?

It takes only one week to deploy Sophos Network Access Control.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I rate Sophos Network Access Control an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Technical Operations Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
MSP
Offers amazing Wi-Fi control and top-notch security
Pros and Cons
  • "The wifi control is fantastic and makes it very easy to administer."
  • "I would like to see mobile administration capabilities in the next release so that we can administer the device from a mobile device."

What is our primary use case?

Within our organization, there are roughly 450 users, using this solution.

Currently, I would say we're only using about 50% of the full functionality of the device. We definitely will keep using this solution in the future. 

What is most valuable?

The feature I love the most is probably the wifi. The wifi control is fantastic and makes it very easy to administer. The security is also top-notch. Since we've been using this product, we've not had any problems with regards to threats. I'm very happy with this solution.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see mobile administration capabilities in the next release so that we can administer the device from a mobile device.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos Network Access Control for three years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos Network Access Control is both very scalable and stable.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've only ever needed technical support once and we resolved the problem in about half an hour. I am very pleased with the customer support.

The customer support speed is good. The only problem I had was my time zone because I am in Africa and we don't have any local support in Africa. So the support I receive is always via Europe, so Internet access always causes some delays.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use Cisco; and before Cisco, we used Microsoft Proxy Server. We moved from Microsoft to Cisco, and then from Cisco to Sophos. We switched because Cisco was too expensive and complex.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very easy. That was one of the reasons why we selected the product — it's both easy and reliable.

I believe we deployed all three sites in just two days.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution internally — I did it myself. 

What other advice do I have?

I would absolutely recommend this solution, 100%. On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of ten. I think this is one of the best products I've discovered in the last few years. I love this product, I just wish there was a bigger footprint in Africa.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Security Analyst at a tech company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Very user-friendly, with good useability, but needs to offer better documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution offers very good visibility."
  • "The solution could offer more useful documentation."

What is most valuable?

The solution offers very good visibility.

The fact that it is a single management solution is quite useful. Whether it's on-premises or on the cloud, we're able to manage it centrally.

The solution is quite user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

We don't have much experience with the solution just yet. It's only been a few months. I'm not sure which features are lacking.

A few items are complex when it comes to handling the initial setup.

The solution could offer more useful documentation. 

We found it difficult to find metrics on the solution. They should work to make this more intuitive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with the solution for just about three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. I haven't seen any bugs or glitches. There haven't been any crashes. We can count on it. It's reliable. It's quite good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is very, very good. They use very light containers. It's not hard to expand if a company needs to. However, pricing is based on the devices themselves. If a company needs additional devices, it becomes much less feasible. A large corporation won't have trouble with this, but a smaller organization might.

How are customer service and technical support?

I don't have enough experience with technical support to really comment on their level of service. The solution is still new to us.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We're also using Cisco and Fortinet solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup has a moderate level of difficulty. Some things are simple. Others are more complex.

The deployment typically takes a week or two.

What about the implementation team?

I handled the deployment myself with the help of a team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is okay, but the cost of scaling can be expensive if a company must buy more devices.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. If the metrics were easier to find, we would rate it higher.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos Network Access Control Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos Network Access Control Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.