Anyone using Sophos XG or Surfprotect (pref Quantum)?

[CyBeRkId2002]

As title, is anyone using either of these two filtering platforms? We are currently deciding between two ISPs and want some real-world experiences. If anyone would be happy to have a very brief 2 minute chat about how you find them in the next week or so that would be great, PM me your number, and when is the best time to talk.

 

Cheers, and thanks very much in advance!

 

Michael

[round2it]

we use surf protect quantum here.

 

I would say go with exa as they have been nothing but fantastic the connection has been perfect with no downtime since install.

 

 

 

the support is amazing they know what they are on about.

 

you can setup different filtering per security group for example we only allow 2 people access to social media sites and it is all done by security group

 

have a chat with mark at exa he has been great and he will answer all of your questions

[synaesthesia]

We're using XG and extremely happy with it so far, the reporting has a little way to come but the filtering & security package provided (this is via Wave9) has been fantastic.

[AlanD]

We're using XG and extremely happy with it so far, the reporting has a little way to come but the filtering & security package provided (this is via Wave9) has been fantastic.

 

...while filtering is important....it is monitoring and reporting that we are asked to do by the prevent strategy....and chances are you will want it to automate sending of such reports to different year heads....preferably under headings such as bullying, radicalisation, self harm etc....and needs to be good at "seeing" search terms.

 

I'd also be looking carefully at how it would integrate with your wireless - probably with radius authentication for any BYOD and captive portals for shared devices with a timeout.

 

...and I'd be getting one on site to test....and telling them that smoothwall had given me a better price to get them to give you a good deal.

[synaesthesia]

All easily doable indeed. Can't say my last experience with smoothwall was a good one, overly complicated, reporting works but christ it's like sieving through excrement to find a nut.

[ictgoodpractice]

When was Quantum launched please. We have basic surf protect and only just been told by our EXA supplier that it exists. Seems from this that is has been around for quite a while?

[Wave9_Lee]

When was Quantum launched please. We have basic surf protect and only just been told by our EXA supplier that it exists. Seems from this that is has been around for quite a while?

 

Hi there,

 

if you're still trying to decide and want more info, drop me a PM or email, happy to help.

[mavhc]

I'm using Quantum, it's pretty good, syncs AD to their server via a powershell script, had to alter it for ldaps stuff.

 

The portal is pretty good too, except for checking what classification a domain currently had sometimes hangs the chrome tab, also it's not that smart about www. and . being the same site, and can classify them differently.

 

Filtering options are great, got some IPs with no filtering (VoIP server), and others with AD filtering, Admin/Staff/Students/Students with youtube access. Just add them to an AD group and wait 10 mins for sync.

 

The classification is the main issue, I get sites that need classifying being stuck, goes to the please wait page, and takes hours to get to the page. No one else really notices as they don't go to brand new sites.

 

Often the classifications are wrong. Also there's no timed policies, can't enable games between 10:30 and 10:45, had to hack around that, and there's no easy way to give a pupil who's finished their work early access to games, or a trusted pupil to access youtube for the rest of the day, no page to go to where a teacher and input a password to swap to a slightly less filtered group

 

Not used much else though, so no idea how it compares.

 

Overall it's pretty good, but compared to the actually fibre connectivity, which is excellent, it's the worst part.

[localzuk]

When was Quantum launched please. We have basic surf protect and only just been told by our EXA supplier that it exists. Seems from this that is has been around for quite a while?

Officially launched June 2018 - with emails sent out to customers (we received at least 1, plus several before the launch email about its development). It was in "early release" for some customers before that date too.

[CyBeRkId2002]

I was the person who originally posted this question. We went with Quantum in the end and are now 18 months down the line. Couldn't agree with the comments of mavhc!

 

Product is ok, but definitely the weakest part of the bundle they offer. We have gone through some extended periods where things would not re-categorize correctly, was ignoring new custom keywords etc. but fortunately it has been pretty solid for the past 6 months or so, so no major complaints. Support has been hit and miss, but having been through 4 suppliers in the past 12 years this seems like a constant.

 

Would still definitely recommend EXA and now use them across the trust, are trialing the VOIP solution in a couple of sites (few teething troubles but seems like a good competitively priced product for primaries and not particularly complex installs) and are beginning to setup site-to-site VPNs.

[mavhc]

Do you get the problem with it taking hours to categorize new sites sometimes?

[CyBeRkId2002]

Not 100% certain. I know we had an issue where it wouldn't recategorise them full-stop (I think).

 

Fairly sure that has now stopped and it re-categorises after a couple of refreshes but haven't had one for a while to confirm one way or the other.