

Steelhead and Huawei Enterprise Routers are prominent products in the networking market. Based on features and overall performance, Huawei Enterprise Routers have the upper hand, while Steelhead is noted for its deployment and customer service.
Features: Steelhead users value its WAN optimization, bandwidth efficiency, and reliability. Huawei Enterprise Routers are praised for robust security, extensive connectivity options, and high scalability.
Room for Improvement: Steelhead needs enhancements in integration capabilities, flexibility, and more detailed reporting. Huawei Enterprise Routers require improvements in documentation, technical support, and user interface.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Steelhead is recognized for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Huawei offers detailed configuration options and is seen as more complex to deploy with mixed reviews on customer service.
Pricing and ROI: Steelhead generally has lower initial setup costs and a decent ROI. Huawei Enterprise Routers have higher setup costs but users find the investment justified by advanced features and long-term value.
Without Steelhead, we would have spent much more on bandwidth costs.
I have no issues with technical support from Riverbed.
Steelhead's support is generally good for typical issues yet can be time-consuming during complex problem-solving across teams, particularly for Active Directory integration.
Riverbed's customer service and technical support would be rated an eight.
If a customer has 1 GB traffic, they will only be able to utilize 600 MB of traffic with Steelhead.
It allows us to maximize use from our MPLS providers by handling traffic efficiently across phased deployments.
If the power is unplugged from Riverbed, it goes into fail-to-wire mode.
It's quite stable and provides all necessary alerts if something is wrong.
Steelhead helps significantly with large data transfers.
Steelhead is very expensive, and the vendor should work on handling Oracle type of traffic better.
It would help if Riverbed could prevent such drastic impacts during updates.
It could still be useful in places with satellite communications, such as the south of Chile, or in the mining industry.
Buying the hardware initially is costly, but yearly maintenance and licenses are not as expensive.
Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country.
Steelhead provides real-time optimization with graphs and tables on real-time optimization, informing us packet by packet including port, source IP, destination IP, and destination port number.
Functions like acting as an NTP server, DNS, DHCP, and auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency.
Steelhead's most valuable feature is its ability to hash and send only the important parts of the information, avoiding the resending of data.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Steelhead | 2.1% |
| Huawei Enterprise Routers | 1.9% |
| Other | 96.0% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 13 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 8 |
| Large Enterprise | 5 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 7 |
| Large Enterprise | 14 |
Huawei Enterprise Routers offer advanced networking technology with seamless integration and efficient configuration, providing strong Wi-Fi coverage and GSM connectivity that caters to a broad spectrum of networking needs.
These routers are integral in engineering environments, providing NAT, VPN functionalities, and simplified management. Users benefit from their platform compatibility through non-proprietary command lines and appreciate their cost-effectiveness when compared to competitors like Cisco. Incorporating SRv6 technology, Huawei Enterprise Routers optimize network setups ensuring affordability and ease of deployment, making them an efficient choice for networking engineers.
What are the key features of Huawei Enterprise Routers?Huawei Enterprise Routers are employed by organizations across education, enterprise networks, and mobile internet services. They function in roles like main border routers, security layers, and SD-WAN solutions. Used in campus networks, data centers, and for long-distance fiber connections, they support client connectivity and networking objectives effectively.
Steelhead is designed to optimize WAN performance by reducing data load and enhancing network efficiency. It utilizes advanced data compression and caching techniques to improve speeds and manage bandwidth, crucial for cost reduction.
Steelhead offers enhancements in data throughput and network optimization with its ability to improve TCP and WAN efficiency. Organizations benefit from scalable data referencing and adaptive transfer schemes that simulate LAN-like speeds over WAN. Its monitoring features provide insights into network dynamics, although potential improvements are noted in areas like QoS configuration and handling encrypted traffic. Users also recognize challenges in upgrading, GUI design, and monitoring tools.
What are Steelhead's key features?Steelhead is widely used in industries like banking and distribution for optimizing traffic between data centers and ensuring efficient branch connectivity. It addresses latency problems, boosts application performance, and helps reduce data traffic. In environments with limited bandwidth, its features ensure critical data is prioritized, creating significant cost savings.
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