Choosing the right network security solution is one of the most important decisions you will make for your IT infrastructure. With so many factors to consider when selecting the right product, it’s easy to lose sight of one of the most important goals: getting the best performance for your money.

Compare the WatchGuard Extensible Content Security (XCS) Solutions against competitors including Barracuda, Ironport, Websense, Proofpoint and Cisco.

WatchGuard versus Cisco. The old adage, “No one ever gets fired for buying Cisco” is showing its age. Cisco is not a true UTM: the ASA devices run either IPS or content security but not both. WatchGuard offers far more complete and in-depth security while still easily out-performing the ASA. View product comparisons here.

View details on how WatchGuard firewalls can strongly compete against Barracuda appliances.

Juniper’s lower end SRX devices lack some important features such as HTTPS inspection and integrated SSL VPN capabilities. The higher end ISG products are not even true UTM devices. They are limited to firewall, VPN, and intrusion detection and prevention. View more details on how WatchGuard firewalls can strongly compete against Juniper firewall appliances.

SonicWall touts “reassembly free inspection,” which essentially does only part of the job. Without reassembling packets, common fragmented attacks pass right through their security undetected. Despite the gap in security this creates, it indeed reduces the processing needs of their boxes. However, even with this “advantage,” the NSA products still can’t match WatchGuard XTM, which doesn’t sacrifice security for performance. View more details on how WatchGuard firewalls can strongly compete against SonicWall firewall appliances.