An Association is preparing to upgrade their firewalls at five locations around the United States. Each of the three vendor's RFP responses is in-line with the security and other requirements. Which…

Correlating industry research with RFP responses only validates vendor claims on paper without confirming actual performance in the Association's specific environment.

Creating a lab environment allows the security administrator to independently test each firewall platform under conditions that mirror the production deployment, verifying performance, compatibility, and ease of configuration firsthand. Empirical testing reveals issues that vendor-supplied RFP documentation cannot expose, such as throughput under realistic load or integration complexity with existing systems. This approach provides objective evidence rather than relying solely on vendor marketing material.

Benchmarking experiences with similar companies provides anecdotal comparisons but does not directly test the platforms against the Association's own requirements and network architecture.

Developing criteria and rating based on RFP responses evaluates vendor-supplied documentation only, which cannot substitute for empirical testing of actual product capabilities.