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Viptela NIM-8-1GE-SFP - expansion module - Gigabit SFP x 8

Mfg # NIM-8-1GE-SFP CDW # 5299174

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  • 8-1GE-SFP
  • Gigabit SFP x 8
  • Expansion module
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This item was discontinued on October 06, 2022

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Viptela NIM-8-1GE-SFP - expansion module - Gigabit SFP x 8 is rated 4.10 out of 5 by 21.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Reliable and has multiple SD-WAN options What is our primary use case? Cisco SD-WAN is predominantly used for the zero-touch deployment, centralized dashboards, and live monitoring of tunnels and the links. It's also used for software image management. This solution is deployed on the cloud. What is most valuable? One of the most valuable features is that they have multiple SD-WAN options: you have Meraki for simple management solutions, you have Viptela, and you have the option of having any type of WAN interfaces. Presently, you can also have a single combined solution for both WAN as well as for voice, so you can have a voice bundle as well. These are major unique points of this solution. What needs improvement? This solution could be improved with a simpler implementation process and licensing model. As for additional features, maybe from a security perspective, it could have more features built into the SD-WAN itself. Rather than going and integrating Cisco with some other solutions, it could have one single SD-WAN solution with more advanced user security features. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with this solution for 15-20 years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability and performance of Cisco SD-WAN are really good. It's a reliable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? This solution is easy to scale. Cisco has multiple options: it has Meraki SD-WAN, which is a simplified version. It can be suitable for any retail or small- to medium-sized customers. For large customers, we have Viptela, which is for customers who need more control on their traffic. This solution is suitable for any type of customer. How are customer service and support? I have contacted technical support, but it wasn't specifically about SD-WAN. Cisco's tech support is wonderful—they have a good support team and they have a Customer Experience team as well, where they completely focus on the customer environment. There are dedicated resources available for large customers, and the Customer Experience team supports customers from the same cycle, as well as implementation, so in that way, it's really good. How was the initial setup? The implementation process is complex because there are multiple touchpoints and initial configurations that we need to do in order to get the setup up and running. For example, opening a lot of firewall ports. Overall, it has multiple components to manage—there are multiple controller components where we need to do the configurations to get it up and part of the architecture. Compared to a few other OEM solutions, it's a bit complicated because there are multiple controller elements. For example, vBond: I have to do some specific configuration to it and need to have a public IP for it to be part of the architecture. Then we have vManage and vSmart—three, four components are there which have to be managed, which is why we have to do specific configurations for those. All the control elements can talk to each other, which is why it's a bit time consuming. Even in the cloud, you have to make some changes to your existing setup so that it can be part of the SD-WAN architecture. What about the implementation team? We implement this solution for customers. We are a Global Gold partner of Cisco, so we consult, design, implement, and provide support to customers. We're an SSP as well, so we also offer maintenance services. We can provide standard maintenance services of supporting only the hardware, or if a customer asks for full managed services, we can deploy our engineers either on the customer side or remotely. We have a NOC facility, from which we can provide remote support. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing is fair, and it's on par with the market vendors. But based on the competition, Cisco could work on the pricing, go deep on discounts and provide more commercially viable solutions to customers. Which other solutions did I evaluate? Some similar SD-WAN products from different vendors are Silver Peak, Steelhead Riverbed, Fortinet, VMware, and VeloCloud. Frankly, I've only been working with Cisco, but Silver Peak seems to be good too—I heard that they're doing well in the market. Otherwise, I know about these products and have seen how they work in webinars and trainings, but I haven't really worked on any products apart from Cisco. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco SD-WAN a ten out of ten. To those considering implementation, my advice would be to understand your current infrastructure better. What exactly is being implemented, currently, and what use cases are you looking at? Having a thorough understanding of the existing infrastructure would really help to decide which option to go with: either the Meraki SD-WAN or Viptela. Have a thorough understanding of how your infrastructure currently is, connectivity, how the architecture is, which applications you use, and which use cases you're looking at. These things are helpful to know before choosing and implementing a Cisco solution. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-01-09T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Scalable, simple implementation, and good support What is our primary use case? I am using Cisco SD-WAN for access to the internet. What needs improvement? Cisco SD-WAN could improve the integration with the cloud. For how long have I used the solution? I have used Cisco SD-WAN within the last 12 months. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is a stable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability of Cisco SD-WAN is good. We have approximately 2,000 people using the solution and approximately 25 of them are engineers. How are customer service and support? The support from Cisco SD-WAN is good. How was the initial setup? The setup of Cisco SD-WAN was easy. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? There is a monthly subscription to use this solution. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco SD-WAN a ten out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use? Microsoft Azure Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-04-09T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Stable and customizable but configuration could be simplified How has it helped my organization? Some clients resist switching to new technology and they're also afraid of problems with compatibility and the layout of the NOC. The NOC must change because nowadays new things are happening, but I believe that the beauty of SD-WAN is the vEdge. So for the customers that are afraid of new technologies, we can install the vEdge without spending a lot of money. It's just a virtual machine over there. You can do it on Cisco CSR or even ISR. So we deploy a new branch or similar branch with this technology and show them. Then they're not afraid of it. It's very easy. Now, vManage is coming. So we have the analytics team, we have all the GUI interfaces so you can create a policy and now deploy it anywhere or you can define it. I believe everything is very easy for the people who want to work with it. Technologies are not new. Just the name changes. VPN is the same as VRF, which is the same as Tenant, but the way they're playing with this technology is very different. The method of management is different. I believe that if I show clients what is happening with vManage— the interface, the analytics how you can integrate with them—they will be in love with that. Mostly what I have done is to define and elaborate for them the differences between two solutions, and point out the advantages like visibility and easy management. In the end, but they agree to move to SD-WAN But I believe that most of the customers are still afraid of SD-WAN because they rely on old solutions. And the old solution was great and working for many years, so they are afraid of the new solution. With vEdge, we have a great way to attract them to make them feel comfortable upgrading everything into the Cisco SD-WAN. What is most valuable? The best feature is SD-WAN's automation capabilities. I believe many customers don't care whether we use VPN, or that use color or mGRE. When you're talking about management of, for example, a DMVPN solution or MDI solution, what is the option? So we have to go to a bug-by-bug report, like for example, NSRP to show these things. With vManage, we can see everything. We have a graph that we can click on and it helps us to remember better. Another good feature in the HCI is the integration of a health monitoring system. Other solutions like SDx are all the same. They have an integrated health monitoring system. So if you are deploying a data center, the options aren't really that great. But this integrated health system in HCI in vManage or even SD-WAN in the vManage is helping a lot. And also Customizing SD-WAN is very easy because you can define two colors. You can define two different operators. You can deploy a partial mesh, a full mesh, or hub-and-spoke totally differently. If you want to do this on a DMVPN solution, that's really hard. Also, things like Quality of Service in mGRE environment, in my opinion, are very hard because when you are dealing with mGRE, you have one tunnel at the hub and a different tunnel at the spoke. So what if I want to limit the traffic in my hub at the spoke? Because I have one tunnel, all the branches will be affected if I implement a limitation or restriction. So that's why we have advanced technology, like adaptive quality of service. With SD-WAN, the QoS is much easier because it is separate from the VPN. The very beauty of SD-WAN is the separation of the plane. Right now, there are different planes. Compared to other solutions, the whole thing is totally changed. Rebound and vManage came into play as well as the new protocols like PnP. I started to convert most of the solutions from regular DMVPN into SD-WAN because we have the capability to define our VPN or define our color and customize by making a full or partial image. What needs improvement? In the next release, Cisco should focus on simplifying the configuration of SD-WAN. SD-WAN has a lot of room to grow. If you compare vEdge and something like Cisco CSR, you'll see the difference. Because vEdge is natively from Viptela, it is a little more complicated to set up an SD-WAN compared with an ISE device like CSR or ISR, or ISR 4000. You have now two different configuration spaces like iOS, and then some commands and styles are Viptela. So this is the thing that Cisco should work on. For how long have I used the solution? I've spent a lot of time on it. I started with version 17 when SD-WAN first came out. I continued using the product after Cisco acquired Viptela because I really love Cisco. I followed everything Cisco-related since I was 18 or 19. I got my CCNP in 2003 and my first CCA in 2011. So I spend all my time on Cisco systems. Right now, I have more than 32 certificates. I recently passed the CISSP. I also have more than 20 certificates that have expired, like Cisco Sales Expert, Cisco ASA, VPN, and several old things. What do I think about the stability of the solution? SD-WAN is 100 percent stable. If you use the suggested operating system, all the Cisco solutions are stable. According to the Gartner Magic Quadrant rating, I believe Cisco was No. 1 three years ago. Now it is No. 2 or 3, so I believe that they could improve more. And many customers have used DMVPN or VPN solutions for many years, so those solutions are also extremely stable. How was the initial setup? it is very easy to deploy the whole solution. I have a customer with VoIP and data. For most of the data, the hub and spoke are enough, but for IP telephony or collaboration like chatting or video conference, they need to have a connection between spokes —between branches together — but not for data. With SD-WAN it's very easy. I think vEdge is much easier to work with when you compare it to Cisco CSR. Most of the people I know prefer to use ZTP or Zero Touch Provisioning, but it depends on the type of customer. With some customers, ZTP maybe is not the best solution. They should know what's going on. And if you try to configure SD-WAN on a solution like ISR 4000 or CSR, and you compare the same thing on vEdge, you will see that the vEdge is very straightforward. I believe in CSR and ISR 4000. There are some glitches. It's possible that you will get a little bit confused, but you have followed the instruction. You have to do it very carefully. Then you make the connection vManage and everything is done. What other advice do I have? I would rate Cisco SD-WAN seven out of 10. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-09-30T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Scalable with good visibility but needs native connectivity into the major cloud providers What is our primary use case? The solution is primarily just for software-defined WAN or WAN edge solutions. We use it to connect to data centers. What is most valuable? All the features that they have in there have been great. The solution offers good quality of service, visibility, connectivity, and security. It's all of that stuff that makes it good. That is what's required. Cisco is finding its footing in that area, and they're getting better. For our team, the installation is pretty straightforward. The solution can scale. We haven't had any issues doing so. What needs improvement? The quality could always continuously improve. For example, we've had stability concerns in the past. Native connectivity into the major cloud providers would be ideal. Often, the solution does require a specialized team to come in and assist with the initial setup. Technical support could be more helpful and responsive. For how long have I used the solution? I've been dealing with the solution for three or four years at this point. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution could be more stable. There are issues that they've had to deal with. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The solution seems to be scalable so far. For all the opportunities we've been involved with, it's been good and we haven't hit a wall. How are customer service and technical support? We do deal with technical support from time to time. Their tech support could be better. We are not 100% satisfied with the level of service they offer. How was the initial setup? For us, the implementation is easy, as we are trained to handle it. The product usually requires somebody like us to come in there and help customers through this. Deployment times vary depending on the client and the environment. It depends on how big, the opportunity, how many sites, how many branches, et cetera. All of that stuff comes into play. What about the implementation team? We assist our clients with the implementation process. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I can't speak to the costs associated with the product. We get involved with just the installations, that's all. What other advice do I have? We're a service partner. As implementors, we install all versions. Usually, however, when we get involved, it's always the latest version that we are installing. I'd advise users to understand what they're getting. It's a good idea to probably do a POC to see it and make sure it meets all the requirements that the company is looking for before buying in completely. I'd rate the solution at a six out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2021-08-28T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Well-document, easy to deploy, simple to manage and use What is our primary use case? We are a solution provider and SD-WAN, Cisco's software-defined wide area network, is one of the products that we work with. At this point, only one of our clients has implemented this solution. They are a bank that has redundant links in their branches. What is most valuable? The most valuable features are manageability, scalability, and simplicity. What needs improvement? We have had some problems with the licensing model, and it is something that should be improved. Specifically, Cisco has some bugs regarding licensing that they need to resolve. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco's SD-WAN is a stable product. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? This is a scalable solution. Our financial client has approximately 200 branches. How are customer service and support? This was our first implementation of this solution and we didn't need to contact technical support. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have used Citrix SD-WAN as well, although I have very little experience with it. How was the initial setup? The process is well documented and the installation is easy. In our team, we have four people on the team to implement SD-WAN. The length of time required for deployment depends on the environment. For controllers, it takes between two and three days to deploy. For individual branches, it depends on the situation. What about the implementation team? We have an in-house team of four people for deployment and maintenance. What other advice do I have? Overall, this is a good solution and I recommend it. The only complaint I have is that I would like them to resolve the problems with the licensing model. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-02-08T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Provides good user experience, improves load-balancing, and instills confidence in cloud-based solutions What is our primary use case? This technology, in my experience, has a better adoption in companies where the concern for security in platform issues and data privacy is high. The reason for this is the data is protected with encryption systems, and that functionality is audited to meet certain standards. This is in the context of SaaS because that is where I want to take customers. My option is the cloud with pay-per-use and better cost conditions. Also, companies with large IT departments and a high number of engineers have many reasons to use it. How has it helped my organization? This solution has allowed us to implement much more flexible payment models than the current ones. As such, we can better plan the budget that is needed for technology. In addition to this, it has prompted us to see the cloud differently. We now look with more confidence since the orchestration is SaaS, which is why we do not see a compelling reason to avoid introducing more services in this format. We plan to stop investing in physical or virtual infrastructure, reducing our dependencies on data centers where we host services. What is most valuable? When we talk about SDN technologies, we are referring to user experience or customer experience. The complete solution is designed based on the services and the experience that we need our users to have with them. This product offers the ability to utilize all of the access available in the market. Importantly, it does not affect the quality of the application. The best feature of this technology that is available to us is the ability to do better load-balancing. This is thanks to the deep inspection of the packets and of course, the forwarding of packets based on the application. What needs improvement? I would like to see features related to security compliance, including a view of compliance with standards. With this, I should be able to do an audit of my SD-WAN network. In addition to having a network with an application-oriented intention, I would like to have a network that is oriented to security standards. I am only referring to the WAN network because with this, we can begin thinking about issues of virtualization. For example, access to SD-LAN where we can bring security policies with the user. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with Cisco Viptele for three years and more with the first version, Cisco IWAN. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Releases and updates/upgrades for the software in each component are not simple to configure. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability is great when you have a mature template for configurations. How are customer service and support? The Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) service should be quicker to provide answers. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? Prior to this, we used Cisco IWAN. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is a little complex, especially for those with little experience in SaaS. What about the implementation team? We used the Solution Support Partner Program (SSPP) from Cisco. What was our ROI? The ROI for this product in my organization is 18%. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? This is not a cheap option but if you move from Capex to Opex, I expect you should have lower costs. I am talking specifically about Managed Services License Agreement (MSLA) model. Which other solutions did I evaluate? Fortinet is a solution that is a good option that is low-cost and much simpler. Meraki is another good choice for some customers. What other advice do I have? In summary, this product is very strong when you need complex topologies to match the complexity of your services. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-02-07T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Beneficial AI, good interface, and easy to use What is our primary use case? We are using Cisco SD-WAN in the public sector and it is deployed in a hybrid infrastructure. What is most valuable? The most valuable features in Cisco SD-WAN are the QoS, AI, and simple interface for users to access. What needs improvement? There should be more security features in the hybrid and on-premise deployments of Cisco SD-WAN. The cloud has most of the security features. The AI is good, however, they can improve on it. The endpoint flow from the router to the data center needs to have consistency. Cisco doesn't have a solution for all the devices for the customer. We need more support for all kinds of devices. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for approximately four years. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco SD-WAN an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Hybrid Cloud Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-03-18T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Excellent support, highly reliable, and scalable What is our primary use case? Cisco SD-WAN is used to establish a wide area network, a WAN for LAN, WiFi, and support. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for approximately 15 years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is a highly stable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability of Cisco SD-WAN is great. How are customer service and support? The technical support from Cisco SD-WAN is excellent. How was the initial setup? Cisco SD-WAN is not as easy to deploy as the Meraki and FortiGate solutions. The zero-touch deployment could be a lot better. The deployment and initial setup are complicated and could be better. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Cisco SD-WAN is more expensive than its competitors. What other advice do I have? Cisco SD-WAN is a great solution and definitely worth the investment. I rate Cisco SD-WAN an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-03-16T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Simple to install, stable, scalable, and has excellent support What is most valuable? Cisco SD-WAN is a very good product. It is difficult to highlight one specific feature. What needs improvement? We don't have any issues with this solution other than the price. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with Cisco SD-WAN for a couple of years. We have recently upgraded to the newest version. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is a stable product. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is a scalable solution. We have many users in our organization. How are customer service and support? The technical support is excellent. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have worked with VMware products, but not with SD-WAN. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is straightforward. It is easy to install. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The price is high. What other advice do I have? It's a good product, it's stable, and has good support. I would rate Cisco SD-WAN an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-10-04T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Scalable, stable, but not competitively priced What is our primary use case? We use it for network services. We use them as edge network devices, edge network routers, and firewall routers. What is most valuable? We looked at an SD-WAN service and Cisco was a vendor that provided termination of those services. We bought it and it met the specification. Cisco Viptela solution met the specification for our network. What needs improvement? I would recommend better-integrated management. Some of the other vendors have moved to integrated management platforms. Better analytics and operational consoles with a deployment configuration that can work easily across the network. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for over five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is pretty good. We have been reasonably happy with it. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability is fine. The issue has not been an issue of technology, it's been one of price. How was the initial setup? It was straightforward. What about the implementation team? We had a vendor and it was not hard. We took a while to get the templates, but not that long. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Cisco SD-WAN is a good product, but as I said earlier, it's not priced competitively. There is nothing wrong with the product, but it is not as good as what you can buy from other vendors for a lower price. It depends because it's bandwidth-based licensing. It depends on how much bandwidth you put through it. Other products on the market do not have any licensing for bandwidth and that is one of its cost issues. What other advice do I have? We will be migrating to a different vendor. I would rate Cisco SD-WAN a six on a scale of one to ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-07-12T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Has encryption and central management features, but customizations are time consuming What is our primary use case? Some of my customers are replacing their legacy solutions with Cisco SD-WAN. What is most valuable? Encryption, which is native to the solution, is a valuable feature. Also, central management, onboarding of devices, QS, and routing applications are all okay. What needs improvement? All of the configurations are based on templates, and we need to spend a lot of time doing the templates. It's good because that means that all of the configurations will be equal in the network. However, we need to spend a lot of time implementing the templates and doing the customizations. For how long have I used the solution? I've worked with this solution for about a year. It's a cloud solution. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is a stable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is very scalable. How are customer service and support? The technical support was okay. How was the initial setup? SD-WAN is very difficult to implement, but nowadays, most solutions are difficult to implement. On a scale from one to five with one being the most complicated and five being very easy to implement, I'd give Cisco SD-WAN a rating of three. It is not difficult to maintain. What other advice do I have? You should prepare to spend a lot of time with the design and implementation of the solution. The design in the cloud is difficult to do because you need to have all the connectivity in place to reach the cloud. It's very easy to spin up an instance of SD-WAN in the cloud, but the connectivity from on-premises systems to the cloud is sometimes difficult to accomplish because of the security features the customers have in place. It's not easy to establish connectivity from the enterprise network to the cloud. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Cisco SD-WAN at seven. From a network perspective, it's a very good solution, but the security features could be better. It's not easy to manage security using Cisco SD-WAN. It's not clear; the solution is not related to security and is more related to planning and networking. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-08-22T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from A solution with great application routing and good stability How has it helped my organization? The integration to the LAN could be improved. It should be an end-to-end solution, not only on the WAN side but also on the LAN and wifi, so a full end-to-end solution. What is most valuable? The integration of Layer 3 and application routing is great. What needs improvement? The technical support is a bit slow. Regarding additional features, it would be good to have a fully integrated solution with the Meraki solution, leading to a seamless Cisco solution. For how long have I used the solution? We have been using this solution for about six years. It is deployed on-premises, and we are using our own management. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is good. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? I think the scalability fits the customer requirements. The number of staff required for maintenance depends on the complexity of the network and the number of sites. A single part does not cover it, so we have about 20 staff running our network services. How are customer service and support? I rate the technical support a seven out of ten. They are good but not very innovative, and the feature requests take too long to implement. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We use different solutions like Viptela, VeloCloud and Versa. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was complex, and it was completed in-house. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I am unsure about licensing costs. What other advice do I have? I rate this solution an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-08-07T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Beneficial environment compatibility, scalable, and reliable What is most valuable? The most valuable feature of Cisco SD-WAN is its compatibility and integration with the rest of the infrastructure. What needs improvement? Cisco SD-WAN could improve on the ease of integration, the configuration should be easier. At the moment the process is more command line based and it would be better if it was able to be done through an interface. In a feature release, Cisco SD-WAN could add more features for wireless SaaS-based solutions. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for approximately two years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability of Cisco SD-WAN is good. How are customer service and support? The support sometimes is delayed. They could improve their response times. They are knowledgeable about the solution but you have to reach the correct person. I rate the support from Cisco SD-WAN a three out of five. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral How was the initial setup? The initial setup of Cisco SD-WAN is not overly complex, but there should be a good understanding of the configuration and setup. There are many technical commands for the process that one should be aware of. I rate the initial setup of Cisco SD-WAN a three out of four. What about the implementation team? We used a third-party vendor help to implement the solution. What was our ROI? Overall, we are receiving a better financial cost advantage using Cisco SD-WAN than what we were using before. I rate the ROI of Cisco SD-WAN a four out of five. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The price of Cisco SD-WAN could improve, it is expensive. The cost of the solution is approximately 30 percent higher than competitors. I rate the price of Cisco SD-WAN a two out of five. Which other solutions did I evaluate? There are other competitors in the market that work well, such as Fortinet. The best solution is determined by its ability to handle a use case. There is not one overall best solution, there are suitable use cases for the different vendors. If a customer is looking for a solution for a large enterprise, then I would recommend Cisco SD-WAN. However, if they have a small setup for a small business setup, Fortinet is better. It is integrated well with all the security features. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco SD-WAN an eight out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-09-05T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from It helps our company implement centralized telephony What is our primary use case? Cisco SD-WAN provides centralized telephony for our company. What is most valuable? The most useful feature is centralized telephony. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for about five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is scalable. How are customer service and support? Cisco needs to improve the technical support for this solution. I rate Cisco support eight out of 10. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive How was the initial setup? Deploying Cisco SD-WAN wasn't complex, and it took about one month. What other advice do I have? I rate Cisco SD-WAN 10 out of 10. I recommend it. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-09-10T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Secure, performs well, and the technical support is helpful What is our primary use case? The primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN is secure segmented traffic. Cisco's micro-segmentation products are being used. What is most valuable? It is very simple to deploy. It's a point-and-click type of deployment, so it's fairly simple. What needs improvement? They have taken away our ability to do what we are good at, which is working on the CLI, the interface right on the router. They have limited the commands so much that troubleshooting is nearly impossible. They should work on their troubleshooting, in my opinion. They should do a better job of allowing more troubleshooting on local devices. There are a few things on the roadmap. It is more about the specifics of how the product works than extra features. Some things don't work in the product that they are working on. It is quite good, in my opinion. It is very good. For how long have I used the solution? We are currently in the process of fully deploying our Cisco SD-WAN, which was formerly known as Zetella but is now simply Cisco SD-WAN. We started the deployment two years ago. We are working with the latest version. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is a stable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is very scalable. We have approximately 15 users. How are customer service and support? We used Cisco support to assist us with the deployment, and they made it very simple for us. If I had to do it, or if we had to do it ourselves, it would have been extremely difficult. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We attempted to use Cisco IPAM a few years ago. It was extremely difficult to install and even more difficult to maintain, to the point where we just scrapped it and deleted all the VMs because it was so difficult to install and maintain. We have F5 in the environment, and I used to be an administrator for F5. We used GTM as well as LTM. I don't actually maintain them in this role, but in a previous one, I installed and maintained LTM and GTM. I have also used Riverbed's Suite product. SteelHead produces acceleration products. In addition, they have a software suite that manages end-to-end traffic. You can see the flow from beginning to end. I worked with SteelHead for five years. We removed this solution because we disliked it. We haven't had it in a few years, but I don't recall the last version we had. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was fairly complex, but we used a third party. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? It is expensive. I don't have exact figures, because we have an enterprise agreement, we basically pay one lump sum for a variety of products. If one is the cheapest, and five is the most expensive, I would rate the pricing a four out of five. There are additional expenses, such as hardware. What other advice do I have? I would strongly advise hiring third-party solutions for this. Definitely outsource the initial installation and let them guide you in the right direction. Do not try to reinvent the wheel. If you find the right company, they will have done it a hundred times before and will be able to retrofit it to your specific request and needs. I would rate Cisco SD-WAN an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use? Other Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-09-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Gives good ROI but setup is complex What is most valuable? Cisco SD-WAN's most valuable feature is the ease of transition. What needs improvement? Cisco SD-WAN's smart account stuff could be improved. People still think they're using traditional licenses, so customers need a lot of education on using SD-WAN devices, especially on the smart/virtual account side. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using Cisco SD-WAN for about two years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN's stability is good - I haven't found any issues at the operational level. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN's scalability is good. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was complex and required us to plan ahead. If you don't have an in-house design team or outsource to a third party with expertise, the setup will be difficult. What was our ROI? It takes some time, but Cisco SD-WAN gives a good ROI - for example, we have had some savings in terms of transport. What other advice do I have? I'd advise anybody thinking of implementing Cisco SD-WAN to learn the smart and virtual account setup and the staging and installation process very clearly. This isn't just a case of buying a license or device and installing it, you need to create a lot of stuff, so you need to understand the technology before buying it, at least in a test lab or non-production environment. I would give Cisco SD-WAN a rating of seven out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-09-08T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Flexible load sharing in the fabric and cloud connectivity with the capabilities to expand What is most valuable? The load sharing in the fabric and the cloud connectivity are both pretty flexible. The solution offers us the correct field mechanisms. The solution is stable and reliable. It can scale according to our needs. What needs improvement? While the environment itself is not a bottleneck, the dependencies and the provisioning and the different parties involved altogether form, complexity and introduce limitations. The initial setup is really complex. For how long have I used the solution? We've been using the solution for two years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is really great. It's definitely reduced downtime. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? For us, the solution scales well. We are far away from its limits. That said, we are not, let's say, a very big company. How are customer service and support? Technical support has been good. They are helpful and responsive. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We did not previously use a different solution. We had a fairly traditional wide area network without any sophisticated connection options. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is not straightforward or simple. It's very complex. I'm not sure how many staff members are needed for deployment and maintenance. What about the implementation team? We did outsource the initial setup. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I'm on the technical side. I have no idea what the price is and don't deal directly with licensing. I do know that this is an all-in deal, meaning there aren't extra fees associated with the cost. What other advice do I have? We're basically an end-user interacting with Cisco on this, however, the final responsibility is with our ISP. SD is an enterprise tool and you should not use an ISP for implementation. Better to use an NSP or do it yourself. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-06-03T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great application control and bandwidth monitoring but problems with clustering mechanism What is our primary use case? Cisco SD-WAN is primarily used in the banking industry in Pakistan for bandwidth development and application control. What is most valuable? Cisco SD-WAN's best features are the development of network links, application control, and bandwidth monitoring. What needs improvement? Cisco SD-WAN's clustering mechanism needs to be improved. If there are more than five milliseconds of latency time between installations of the VM manager, the cluster automatically breaks down. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using Cisco SD-WAN for a year. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Cisco SD-WAN is very easy to scale. How are customer service and support? Cisco's technical support is very good, and they're one of the few companies that provide local support. If we face any problem, they respond to and resolve it within three to four hours at most. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I previously used Forcepoint, but they have no local support, which means we had to wait much longer to get resolutions to our issues. Cisco's knowledge base was also better. How was the initial setup? The initial setup wasn't easy, and I would rate the setup experience as two out of five. What about the implementation team? In the first phase, our partner implemented the solution, but afterward, we managed it by ourselves. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? For 600 links, the license for Cisco SD-WAN costs us US$250k a year. In Pakistan, we have the option to get this solution at a more discounted price. What other advice do I have? I would give Cisco SD-WAN a rating of seven out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-06-29T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Cooperative support, stable, and secure What is most valuable? Cisco SD-WAN is highly secure. What needs improvement? We had some issues with Cisco SD-WAN but somehow we troubleshot it and things are going well. The issues have not been a large problem. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for approximately 18 months. What do I think about the stability of the solution? When we have had power outages for a few hours we have had no issue with Cisco SD-WAN coming back online and functioning. What other advice do I have? The technical support is good from Cisco. When we have a problem we notify Cisco and within a day or two, they will have solved the situation. They are very cooperative. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Allows you to consolidate branch links but lacks flexibility in licensing What is our primary use case? We use this solution to interconnect our branches with the headquarters and interconnect other countries with the hub. How has it helped my organization? Before we deployed SD-WAN, we used to have at least two links per branch but could only use one at a time. Now we are able to use all the links together. What is most valuable? The best feature about SD-WAN is the ability to consolidate the links to the branch and load-balance the traffic. What needs improvement? There should be more flexibility in the licensing. In the next release, I would like Cisco to add all the troubleshooting tools from Viptela to SD-WAN. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using this solution for two years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? SD-WAN is very stable - once it's deployed, you can just forget about it, it runs by itself. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? This solution is very scalable - the only requirement is to add the licenses for the devices being brought on board. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was not very straightforward, but it gets easier the more deployments you complete. What about the implementation team? We used an integrator and Cisco themselves. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? When purchasing, there are so many features available that it's quite confusing deciding which to choose. And some of the devices force you to buy licenses you don't want. What other advice do I have? As far as deployment is concerned, either get Cisco Professional Services or an integrator to assist, as the person taking lead on deployment needs to have experience with the product. I'd give this product a score of seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-11T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great centralized management and nice interface but the pricing is high What is our primary use case? Typically it's used for connecting the hundreds of branches to multiple data centers and also the headquarters. How has it helped my organization? The mean time between the failures is much lower than was before. Also, the man-hours required are fewer. Overall, the user experience is better than before this solution. What is most valuable? The application link selection, I would say, is quite useful. The load sharing over the multiple links is great. We like the centralized management and aggregation aspects. Technology-wise, it's decent. The solution is pretty stable. You can easily scale the product. They did a new interface of Cisco SD-WAN. It's good. What needs improvement? They need to improve the licensing, definitely. It needs to be easier to license. It should also be much more affordable for a larger number of customers. This is one of the main issues when working with customers. When you want to offer them the solution, they really do not like the price. I would love to have better templating. It needs a more user-friendly interface. They need to add the features that help to configure and navigate the daily features. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It's stable enough. They hardened it to their operating system. It's not an issue. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It scales to a very high number, in terms of the hardware branch elements or hubs, or data centers, or even the cloud connection points. Scaling is not really an issue when it comes to Cisco SD-WAN. We currently have two customers on the solution. Right now, mostly, it's in the phase of testing to see how it fits the customer environment. They are considering growing in terms of the sizing and migrating all their traditional or legacy network to SD-WAN. How are customer service and support? Technical support is decent from the Cisco side. We have no complaints about their level of service. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We definitely worked with the other vendors, other competitive vendors. All of them have pros and cons. I have not switched from one vendor SD-WAN to Cisco. It's a relatively easy technology, however, it's not that easy to switch from A to B. We've worked with, for example, HPE, Aruba, and Fortinet. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is definitely not straightforward. It takes a lot of experience and knowledge to properly run up the system and clean up all the moving parts, and all the elements of the fabric. After that, the operation is easy. Operation is not that hard, however, to get there, the initial startup is not that easy. The deployment time depends on the scale, however, typically, the controller spins up after one or two weeks. That's not counting the high-level designs or lower-level designs. The deployment only needs one or two engineers, and then you might need one person to handle maintenance requirements. What about the implementation team? We are the partners, therefore we are the value-added resellers. So what we do, is to help the customers do the implementation. What was our ROI? The ROI is really good. However, it depends on the company. I can't really evaluate the ROI in general. For some, it will be very high, and for some, it'll be very low. It depends on what they do, and what their expenses are. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The costs to use the product are quite high. That said, I can't speak to the exact licensing arrangements. The most annoying thing is that you have to pay an annual subscription in order to operate the whole fabric. Regardless, the customer isn't getting the signatures or any updates. It's just for the functionality to continue as it is. It's also very annoying. This is not only for Cisco. It's true for others as well. Which other solutions did I evaluate? A solution we're currently considering right now is Versa. What other advice do I have? We are Cisco partners. It's a decent technology. If a company really wants to go with SD-WAN, Cisco is one of the greatest in this area, definitely. If they have the budget for that allocated, and the operating expenses are allocated for the coming years, then I would suggest going ahead and trying it. There is always an option to go back to the traditional networking when it comes to Cisco. Therefore, if you don't like SD-WAN, you don't have to throw away the hardware. You can keep the legacy or traditional connections. That's one of the benefits of having Cisco SD-WAN. I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-13T00:00:00-05:00

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