Field Reports: Why National Holdings Replaced SonicWALL with OpenDNS Enterprise

This week we’re very excited to share with you that one of our new customers is the leading independent advisor and broker services company National Holdings (NHLD). In this edition of Field Reports, we look at why they chose to replace their SonicWALL solution with OpenDNS Enterprise.
Before switching to OpenDNS Enterprise the company’s network was plagued by bottlenecks, inefficient malware protection, and inconsistent Internet performance across its 13 locations. They went in search of a lightweight and less complicated way to filter Internet traffic, with hopes it would speed up their network and provide an improved approach to malware protection.
NHLD selected OpenDNS Enterprise for a variety of reasons. First, an easy-to-setup trial of the service proved that it does exactly what it claims. Second, multiple features including Block Page Bypass, customized block/allowlists and email notifications make Web filtering management and reporting a breeze. Third, because Web filtering categories and malicious domains lists are updated in real time through the cloud, the NHLD IT team no longer has to worry about spending time on software upgrades or manual updates. Finally, OpenDNS Enterprise allowed NHLD to add a scalable layer of proactive Internet security for a very low total cost of ownership.
William Silliman, CTO for NHLD, had this to share: “OpenDNS Enterprise is the ideal platform to accomplish Web filtering and malware protection as the DNS-based service has little-to-no installation requirements for all our systems. We went from a Web filtering solution that was cumbersome and slowed Internet services to a solution that works at the speed of the Internet.”
Silliman and his team are thrilled with the speed, ease, and reliability of OpenDNS Enterprise. The switch has allowed the company to more efficiently allocate its valuable IT resources as well as properly manage and secure the company’s 13 locations. Silliman tells us, “OpenDNS Enterprise just works. In addition to freeing up my IT team’s time, it has also lowered our blood pressure. I always recommend it.”