Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) vs Symantec Identity Governance and Administration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco ISE (Identity Service...
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
138
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Symantec Identity Governanc...
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (9th), Identity Management (IM) (20th)
 

Featured Reviews

Vergin Mansour - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 3, 2023
Improved our security resilience and helped to consolidate different applications
The one main thing that it can improve on is the GUI. As the newest addition to the team, I struggle a little bit to get around it just because it has so many features. This is an amazing thing but the downside of it is that it's not as friendly to figure out which feature does what and how to get to it. You have to go through a lot of menus to figure out what you need. Although it's fantastic, it's full of different options that are endless, it does get a bit hectic for new users to get comfortable with it. It's taking me a while to figure out all the features and options.
DS
Apr 18, 2023
Good product with stable use cases
I've used it to manage users, create and update, delete users, change passwords, and assign and change rules. Those are some of the most important cases The most valuable feature, in my opinion, is the option to deploy this solution as a virtual appliance. It's an easy and fast way to deploy the…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The core point is that Cisco ISE is the same globally compared to FortiAuthenticator. Whether I deploy in China, the US, South Africa, or wherever, I'm can get all the capabilities. It allows me to directly integrate with 365, and from a communications point of view, that is a good capability."
"It's keeping our company safe from rogue devices connecting to our network. From a security standpoint, there's peace of mind knowing that every device that connects is a good one."
"I've had no issues with scalability. I started using it on two campuses, and now I'm using it across the country and scaling it across subsidiaries in other countries."
"There is good integration with third-party systems like antivirus patch management, MDM."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco ISE is its seamless integration with the switches and the entire suite, enabling wireless access and smooth client information retrieval."
"[One of the most valuable features] is just the ease of use. It's pretty simple to set up certs that we can add to our clients to make sure that they connect properly, [as is] whitelisting Mac addresses."
"When we use ISE, one of the helpful things is that I can go through the dashboard and get every step along the way of how a device was authenticated. If it's failing, why did it fail? Why is it unauthorized? If there's an error, what is the error and how can I fix that error? If it's something that, if they should be passing, why are they failing?"
"They provide you multiple ways to achieve security, not only on-prem, but also when you have remote and guest workers. Especially post-pandemic, a lot of our customers have remote workers. So, it has been really helpful."
"The most valuable features are role-based access and identity provisioning, which allow a single point of user access to multiple places."
"​It has improved our user management. It is definitely streamlined​."
"Streamlines user access, consolidates applications."
"It's a very useful tool that has improved our client's security, from day one."
"There are many valuable features within the solution. The product is easy to customize. It’s also highly secure."
"Self-registration and self-service password management are valuable features. The role modeling feature is also very useful. It allows you to model your enterprise role."
"Provisioning engine (on the back-end, separate from front-end components, that's part of layered architecture)."
"Out-of-the-box the product has a lot of opportunity for configuration and sophisticated identity management capability."
 

Cons

"The solution can lag somewhat as we have a large database."
"Some of the reporting could be improved."
"The price could be better. I would like to see more integration with third-party solutions in the next release. This is because many of my clients don't have Cisco."
"The upgrades could be better. Every time we try to do an upgrade, we have problems. It's a pain."
"Documentation is probably the worst part of the software."
"There is room for improvement in CLI. Most things are done through the GUI, and there aren't many commands or troubleshooting options available compared to other Cisco products like switches and routers."
"It is too complex. It should be easy to use. We are not such a big team. We only have three engineers to work with this, and we don't use all of the functionality of the product. Its range of functionality is too wide for us, and this is the reason why we are thinking of switching to a more simple product. We have shortlisted a Microsoft solution. We have a big footprint for Microsoft products, especially in security. As a global strategy, we try to leverage to the maximum what is possible around Microsoft."
"They should improve the upgrades. It's not easy to upgrade the solution."
"The directory has room for improvement. Also, the dashboards and, in particular, the KPI dashboard that shows the current user’s information needs reworking."
"The support from Symantec Identity Governance and Administration could improve."
"Provisioning has a dependency on Windows.​"
"We would like to see integration with analytics. Also, for them to be more efficient regarding discovering and implementing new rules."
"The solution is not the best or the fastest available."
"A better information display for the approvals within the workflow would give them more information and the ability to comment back on a request as to why they're rejecting it. We've been telling them we'd like this improvement, and we hope to see it."
"They provide a framework to develop your own connectors. A connector is a piece of software that integrates with the solutions that are not a part of the support matrix. Currently, it is difficult to create these connectors in this solution. Other solutions, such as NetIQ Identity, provide a better way to create your own connector. Currently, there is no cloud version. It should have a cloud version."
"Integration capabilities with other solutions and formats, including JSON, could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you go directly with Cisco for the implementation it's very, very expensive."
"The pricing is complicated."
"There are other cheaper options available."
"Cisco ISE is not inexpensive, but the solution is well-built and worth the expense."
"Pricing and licensing are not my expertise. As far as budgeting is concerned, we run an ELA with Cisco. It's a part of our ELA."
"Its licensing could be improved. It used to be perpetual, but now they are moving away from that."
"Cisco is moving towards a subscription service, which would mean additional costs."
"Over the years, licensing has been confusing and complicated because there are so many different licenses for each different product and each different iteration of the product."
"Symantec keeps increasing the price. I rate its pricing a seven on a scale of ten."
"The product has a good price in competition with another product with the same solution."
"Compared to other options, CA products are not that expensive."
"I do not recall the approximate prices or licensing models, although I do so that it was priced per user number."
"The price is flexible for our existing customers."
"The price is based on the number of users."
"The connector is free, and bundled with the product."
"Pricing and licensing models are adequate and reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
23%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
27%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
What do you like most about Symantec Identity Governance and Administration?
The product’s most valuable feature is flexibility. It can be customized as per the customer’s requirements.
What needs improvement with Symantec Identity Governance and Administration?
The product works slowly while accessing cloud-native solutions. They should work on their ability to integrate with third-party vendors. Additionally, cloud networking features and Azure, AWS, and...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
CA Identity Suite, Symantec IGA, Layer7 Identity Suite, CA Identity Manager (CA IDM), CA Identity Minder, CA IAM, CA Identity Manager (CA IDM), CA Identity Governance
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
Acciona, Core Blox, DBS
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: June 2024.
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