IT Manager at BADEA
Real User
Offers great backup inspection, filtering and load balancing.
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability of the solution is good."
  • "Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."

What is our primary use case?

Our company can't survive without having a proper firewall, so our primary use case of this solution is to gather a network spy meter of our organization.

What is most valuable?

The features I find most valuable is the backup inspection, the filtering, and the load balancing. I am also impressed by the antivirus feature that gives us two controls over the viruses - one is from the parameter and one on the endpoint.

What needs improvement?

Since I have only been using this solution for a month, I haven't noticed anything yet that needs to improve. So far I can only say that the pricing could be better. But it is a trusted company belonging to Airbus, so it has a good reputation.

One thing, though, is that not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month. That's the only issue we have faced until now. So this issue should be fixed in the nearest future, because one cannot just buy a hundred appliances if you have to wait to activate all the features while you paid the full amount. So I don't know why that is the case, but the technical team said that it's the norm.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using this solution about a month ago on premises.
Buyer's Guide
Stormshield Network Security
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Stormshield Network Security. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has been very stable so far. I am not sure how stable it would be if we got online training material for it or if there is an official curriculum for it. But my first impression of the Stormshield firewall is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is good.

How are customer service and support?

We've gone through a few formalities to get our license. Until now we have been on a training license for three months. Not all the fields are activated yet and they said it will take about a month. 

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

We used Gateprotect and FortiGate Fortinet but we switched to Stormshield when we decided to upgrade.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. There is a team in Sudan an a local team from Stormshield, so they have a very good set of engineers and they took care of all the requirements. Within an hour we had everything configured and up and running.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at other options too, but we found that Stormshield was booming so we got it instead. We decided to get Stormshield instead of upgrading the solution we were using at the time. 

What other advice do I have?

I will definitely recommend this solution to others. It is a good firewall and it has a good reputation. We do not have many choices but for the time-being this is one of the most successful deployed firewalls in Sudan. My rating for this solution is eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network and Server Engineer at AMiFN
Real User
Good performance and an easy-to-use GUI, but it needs a sandbox and the technical support needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution is quick and easy to configure."
  • "This is not a next-generation firewall."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for the security of our local network.

What is most valuable?

The performance of this solution is good.

This solution is quick and easy to configure.

The Web GUI is easy to use. It is clear and I have had no problems with it.

Stormshield is easy for administrators to use.

What needs improvement?

The technical support for this solution needs to be improved.

This is not a next-generation firewall.

The VPN portal needs to be improved, although it functions.

This solution does not have support for a sandbox.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We used to have more bugs and crashes, and trouble with the Anti-Spam feature, but the solution is now ok.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have between one hundred and one hundred and fifty users.

The users' devices include Wi-Fi, phones, and computers. We also have five servers on the network. All of our users are end-users.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support for this solution in Poland is not good.

I have been in touch with them by phone and by email. Their response time is not quick.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of this solution is easy. The configuration is quick and easy.

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

The price of this solution and the price of support are ok. They are not expensive. Support is paid on a yearly basis.

Purchasing additional options is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

This is a solution that is stable and not expensive, but it is not a next-generation firewall. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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Stormshield Network Security
March 2024
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PeerSpot user
Consultant at a tech consulting company
Consultant
It provides reports of which internal machines may have security issues by passively monitoring traffic, but it has no multi-master clustering for scaling.

What is most valuable?

  • Very good Web user interface
  • Reports about internal machines needing security fixes
  • Simple clustering

How has it helped my organization?

Tells me which internal machines could have security issues by passively monitoring traffic and spotting un-patched systems.

What needs improvement?

Being more cost effective. I went with a pair of Watchguard M300 recently when buying a new firewall cluster for our own use because it was way cheaper than NetASQ/Stormshield N700 while being faster, and it offers true multi-master firewall clustering if needed.

For how long have I used the solution?

3+ years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Not really.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

None.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No multi-master clustering.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Very good. Because of their presales support helping me with initial setup, I decided to go with NetASQ in the first place. Support after the sale has been equally good as well.

Technical Support:

Excellent.

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

Cisco ASA. Their GUI was OK for most things, but when I had to start messing with CLI, GUI was no longer safe option to use.

How was the initial setup?

A bit more complex, because I turned on man security features. For simple packet filter it would be way easier than with Cisco.

What about the implementation team?

Both. Vendor helped us a lot during preparation and initial setup. Very pleased with their technical expertise.

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

Lower prices for the entry level boxes. Competition is not bad at lower prices.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is a partner with the local distributor of NetASQ on other products.
PeerSpot user
Technical Director
Real User
Enables us to block and prevent attacks but the interface could be more user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks."
  • "A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use is to protect the company's IT infrastructure.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks.

What is most valuable?

All of the features are valuable.

What needs improvement?

The pricing could be improved. For me, in terms of the solution, what they currently have is enough. A more user-friendly interface would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

Enables us to block and prevent attacks but the interface could be more user-friendly

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. We have about 25 people. We don't use the antivirus solution, we just use the firewall. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is okay.

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

We did not previously use another solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was okay. It was not too complex. It was normal. There's only one admin, which is me. It only takes one person, me, to maintain.

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

We license on a yearly basis. It's expensive. At the moment, there aren't any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I'm still evaluating, but I have looked at pfSense and Check Point software.

What other advice do I have?

The product is continuously being used every day. I use quite an old interface for this, and I don't know what the current version is like. I would rate this solution a 7 out of 10 because from time to time there are some little issues that I don't understand.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Professioan Services Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Deploying the router mode is fine, but when deploying the bridge mode we had problems.

What is most valuable?

Netasq Seismo is valuable.

What needs improvement?

  • Management interface (GUI)
  • IPS engine
  • Log management

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the UTM for 15 months.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Always, especially in the in-line mode (bridge mode). It sounds like it should be easy to integrate on an existing network, but this is not true as the product was not functioning as expected/designed.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Always as it unexpectedly reboots. The product is not stable at all, difficult to configure and manage.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have never had the chance to deploy more than two units or in a large environment.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

They need to have people that are able to communicate efficiently using the English language. Before working with Netasq, I used to deal with Fortinet a lot, and there is no way that you can make any sort of comparison.

Technical Support:

Above average.

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

Fortinet, Dell SonicWall and Check Point because these products offer a wide range of features that are not available with Netasq.

How was the initial setup?

The router mode works fine but this was not the case with bridge mode.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

What was our ROI?

It's average.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, which was a big mistake but the management decided at that time to go with Netasq since there was no existing distributor in Middle East region.

What other advice do I have?

I don’t recommend this product at all. Go with Fortinet, Juniper or Check Point unless you don’t have the required budget then Netasq or any other low grade UTM might be enough for you.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user352776 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user352776IT Division at Lais s.r.l.
Consultant

i see now the topic is under ver 7 and 8.. netasq is in version 9 .. maybe a fw upgrade can help

See all 2 comments
it_user1169598 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reseller
Provides full network control, good performance, protects against vulnerabilities and other threats

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for network security, to deploy controlled users, and to prevent the network from attacks.

The deployment model we are using is on-premises.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution permits me to control everything in the network including, users, Wi-Fi, access, Kuta for users, and load balancing.

It has also taught me how to deal with users with vulnerabilities, the good side and the bad side of the solution, and how to control users from anywhere.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are the URL filtering database. It is great and contains all internet categories.

The interface has great scalability. I can turn them into what I want including hybrid, bridge, or into a router mode.

The security has no back doors. It's more secure than other solutions and the hardware performance is also better than others.

What needs improvement?

The pricing of this solution needs to be decreased.

Authentication needs to be improved. If any user out of my domain wants to authenticate, he can't because the captive portal is not compatible with many browsers, like Google Chrome. This is a big problem that we are having with the captive portal. It needs to be improved.

Also, security policy needs to be more straightforward and easier.

In the next release, I would like to see the Security Policy simplified. It has a few features, like, Filter-NAT, URL filtering, and SSL filtering, but it would be nice if there were a way to combine the features in one tab or to create a setup wizard for this option.

I would like to create a Filer-NAT rule to decrypt or to block some sites with HTTPS and HTTP. I think that there is a way to combine them using a wizard to create the rule.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable.

We have five hundred users, and six of them are technicians.

How are customer service and technical support?

I am from the Middle East and they are in America. I contacted them twice and they were very helpful. They helped me to test the situation.

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

Previously we did not use another solution. This was the first one.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not complex for me, but it was for other technicians who were using the firewall. They need time to understand how the firewall is used.

The deployment took about two days to complete and deploy correctly.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was done by myself. I am the technical support in Egypt. I have been told by other agents that they prefer to work with me and no other agents.

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

You can choose between a standard license and a premium license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing, we evaluated FortiGate. It was lower than Stormshield by almost double.

We chose to go with Stormshield because it is well known on the market, just like Apple and Samsung. Most are aware of this solution and go with it.

Also, it has task managing, and I haven't seen it in any other solution.

I did a comparison between FortiGate, Sophos, and Stormshield. The result was that Stormshield was better. It is stable and it has great hardware performance and security features.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise others to buy an extended license for this solution. They will benefit from Kasperky Antivirus, the extended control option, and the vulnerability manager. It's a great tool for IT.  

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
PeerSpot user
it_user1055949 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Director Europe at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Reseller
Protects our company's IT infrastructure to easily block any programs from attacks but the interface could be more user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks."
  • "Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for Stormshield Network Security is to protect the company IT infrastructure. We don't use an antivirus solution from them. We just use the firewall.

How has it helped my organization?

This product has improved the way our organization functions. I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks.

What is most valuable?

Everything with Stormshield Network Security is valuable.

What needs improvement?

The main area of this product that has room for improvement is pricing. Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive.

For me, what they currently have with features is enough. Maybe because I use a quite old interface of this, the price and a more user-friendly interface could be improved.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stormshield Network Security is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Stormshield Network Security is scalable. We have twenty-five users. All end users are some kind of employees. For administration, it's only me for deployment and maintenance.

This product is currently being used every day.

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

Stormshield Network Security was the first firewall that we implemented.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not too complex. It was normal.

What about the implementation team?

We are a reseller of the product.

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

Our license for Stormshield Network Security is on an annual basis. It should be less expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We were choosing between pfSense and Check Point.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate this product a seven because from time to time there are some little issues. You don't know what is going on.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
PeerSpot user
it_user221880 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Leader IT at a pharma/biotech company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
An application firewall would be useful but groups can be created with IP services, subnets and network masks in one.

What is most valuable?

The firewalling as we can create object groups and apply a rule to this group. You can have IP services, subnets, and network masks in the same group.

How has it helped my organization?

Filters and URL filtering helped us to optimize our bandwidth.

What needs improvement?

An application firewall like other next generation firewalls have. We still haven't implemented Stormshield. I hope it'll be better for this part.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for eight years, and we're currently migrating onto StormShield.

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 technical support?

Customer Service:

9/10.

Technical Support:

9/10.

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

Eight years ago, we were using an old 3Com firewall.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward and it's done though a user-friendly console manager.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

  • Checkpoint
  • Cisco
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user352776 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user352776IT Division at Lais s.r.l.
Consultant

stormshield v2.2 is a great product, if your fw is an u250S you can upgrade to stormshield firmware, if is only u250 please contact your reseller for a tradeup

Buyer's Guide
Download our free Stormshield Network Security Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Stormshield Network Security Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.