Re: Nokia IP platform Versus Netscreen Platform

[George Capehart <capegeo () opengroup org>]

David Pearl wrote:
> Paul,
>
> There have been a number of 3rd party articles on
> the two products...
>
> When I was evaluating fw/vpn for our network, I
> searched the web and found a number of articles on
> CommWeb, Network Computing, eWeek, Tolly
> Group, Network World, etc.
>
> What it boiled down to was security, performance,
> manageability, support, and of course, cost.
>
> NetScreen ranked high on all four counts.  Since both
> use Stateful Inspection, security was tight.  Although I
> ranked NetScreen a little higher because they use a
> non-commercial operating system that can't be
> purchased and therefore, reverse engineered to find
> the holes.

Are we advocating security-by-obscurity here?  Don't think for one
minute that those who are interested in cracking Netscreen can't
disassemble it and look for exploits.  I know nothing about NetScreen,
but if what you say is true, you've just given a very good reason *not*
to use NetScreen.

> Performance on the NetScreen is tops, bar none, due
> to their 3rd generation ASIC.  The Nokia boxes are
> really legacy-based PCs with CheckPoint software
> running on them.
>
> Manageability between the two is close due to highly
> intuitive web interfaces.  Both of them have global
> management options via Provider 1 and Global Pro.
> NetScreen also has built-in SSH and SSL for secure
> management.
>
> > From conversations with their support departments,
> they seem to be similar.  Checkpoint being better
> than Nokia (for obvious reasons), and NetScreen had
> a very capable set of staff as well.  Both companies
> have worldwide presence and well-developed
> channels.
>
> Cost.  Here's an area where they really diverge.
> CheckPoint/Nokia with their confusing licensing
> schemes and proliferation of software offerings made
> it a pain in the rear for complex deployments.
>
> NetScreen, however, does not have such licensing
> arrangements.  Pay for the boxes and support, and
> that is pretty much it...
>
> As far as H/A, both of them employ it.  My testing
> showed both of them performing fully stateful failover
> in less than one second.  I was became a little
> concerned when I was simulating a power outage by
> cutting the power abruptly and when one of the Nokia
> boxes experienced a software corruption and needed
> some support to be revived...  No such experience on
> the NetScreens and furthermore, they booted up very
> quickly...
>
> I hope this helps a little.  If not, again, there are plenty
> of third-party articles available on the web...
>
> Cheers,
>
> David P.
>
> > Hey...
> >
> > Has anyone seen a feature/performance
> comparison of the above two product lines,
> particularly in HA configurations?
> > Else has anyone done their own analysis they are
> willing to share?
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Paul Murphy.
> >
> >
> >
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--
George W. Capehart                               Phone:  +1 704.953.1209
                                                   Fax:  +1 704.853.2624

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