Steelhead and Peplink SpeedFusion offer WAN optimization and networking solutions. Peplink SpeedFusion appears superior due to advanced features, ease of deployment, and positive user feedback, despite Steelhead's affordability and support.
Features: User reviews highlight Steelhead's strength in data compression and optimization but less flexibility in configuration. Peplink SpeedFusion is praised for seamless failover capabilities, multi-WAN support, and high-speed performance, making it more attractive for diverse networking needs.
Room for Improvement: Steelhead users report challenges with scalability and integration with newer protocols, while Peplink SpeedFusion users desire better logging features and reduced complexity in advanced configurations. Steelhead needs to address technological adaptability, whereas Peplink SpeedFusion requires refinements in user control features.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Users find Steelhead relatively straightforward to deploy but cite mixed experiences with customer support. Peplink SpeedFusion garners praise for an intuitive deployment process and responsive support team, making it preferable for companies prioritizing quick setup and reliable assistance.
Pricing and ROI: Steelhead is generally more affordable with lower setup costs but delivers a slower return on investment. In contrast, Peplink SpeedFusion, though initially more expensive, justifies its cost with robust performance and faster ROI, appealing to buyers with long-term investment potential.
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 | 2.2% |
| Peplink SpeedFusion | 4.1% |
| Other | 93.7% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 4 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 1 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 7 |
| Large Enterprise | 14 |
Peplink SpeedFusion offers robust LTE connectivity, a virtual VPN concentrator on AWS, and seamless WAN disconnection handling for efficient communications, making it ideal for large organizations.
Peplink SpeedFusion is essential for connecting branches to headquarters through SD-WAN, enhancing site-to-site connectivity, and ensuring stable file transfers. Supporting dual ISPs for load balancing, SpeedFusion offers network resilience and is favored for VPN capabilities, often using Balance hardware models and cloud-based fusion hubs.
What key features does Peplink SpeedFusion provide?Peplink SpeedFusion is widely implemented in municipal offices, enhancing collaboration and communication across buildings and vehicles. It ensures uninterrupted video and audio broadcasting, stabilizes operations for internal applications, and efficiently manages redundancy across different locations by leveraging dual ISPs for optimal load balancing.
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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