Vendors and alternatives

This is the part of the site where product names belong. Everywhere else they are the exception; here they are the subject, and what keeps the comparisons usable is that every product is put through the same six criteria in the same order: detection approach, coverage from Layer 3 to Layer 7, deployment flexibility, operational model, regional support and compliance fit, and five-year total cost of ownership.

Throughput and packet-rate numbers are labelled vendor-stated unless independently verified, because a single figure attached to a product family describes the largest model rather than the box you will be quoted. Every product gets a considerations paragraph — a comparison in which one appliance has no drawbacks is a brochure — and vendors are listed alphabetically rather than ranked.

These pages narrow a field. They do not choose an appliance: put the final two through a proof of concept that replays your own traffic, and get years one through five in writing before you sign.