OPSWAT MetaDefender NetWall vs Owl OPDS-100: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

OPSWAT MetaDefender NetWall

Enterprise and mid-market teams protecting critical OT infrastructure from IT-sourced malware will get the most from OPSWAT MetaDefender NetWall because its hardware-enforced unidirectional data flow eliminates the attack surface entirely, not just monitors it. The combination of support for industrial protocols like Modbus, DNP3, and OPC with multiscanning across 30 antivirus engines and deep CDR file sanitization covers both the OT/IT boundary problem and supply chain risk simultaneously, addressing NIST GV.SC and PR.DS priorities that most network segmentation tools leave incomplete. Skip this if you need bidirectional communication for remote diagnostics or if your OT environment runs predominantly proprietary protocols that MetaDefender hasn't certified yet; unidirectional gateways are a design choice, not a limitation to work around.

Owl OPDS-100

Enterprise and mid-market security teams protecting critical infrastructure from lateral movement will find the Owl OPDS-100's hardware-enforced one-way data transfer uniquely valuable when network segmentation must survive active compromise. The 1U form factor and physical data diode design deliver the PR.IR control maturity that pure software segmentation cannot guarantee, especially in OT environments where the cost of failure justifies appliance-class hardware. Pass if your throughput demands exceed low-to-moderate rates or if you need east-west microsegmentation across hundreds of internal pathways; this tool is built for perimeter hardening and critical asset protection, not general-purpose network slicing.