Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
reviewer1804251 - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive - Coastal Operations at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Excellent support, highly reliable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "Cisco SD-WAN is a highly stable solution."
  • "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 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.

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head of IT Network Division at Panorinformatika
Real User
Feature rich, customizable, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found the solution's main features are its ability to be customized, network traffic classification, and has a wide range of features that can be set."
  • "The installation is not easy. If you have experience and it is not your first time doing the installation, it can be easier."

What is our primary use case?

When I was working at BT Telecom, we used Cisco SD-WAN for IP telephony.

In my current position in this company, we use this solution to classify network traffic and send the IP packets to the appropriate link.

What is most valuable?

I have found the solution's main features are its ability to be customized, network traffic classification, and has a wide range of features that can be set.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the solution scalable. We have approximately 10 clients.

How are customer service and technical support?

I was satisfied with the technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is not easy. If you have experience and it is not your first time doing the installation, it can be easier. Additionally, there are a lot of different parameters to set and you have to know exactly what the parameters do. From this perspective, it is not easy. There are a lot of possibilities to do fine-tuning with the SD-WAN settings.

If you were to set all the parameters all at once it would take a lot of time. It is best to fine-tune them over time. This is not a negative factor, having more options allows flexibility.

What about the implementation team?

I would recommend a system integration company that has the knowledge of how to operate the system to do the implementation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the solution is the only negative factor, it is much more expensive compared with the Cisco Meraki SD-WAN solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have evaluated Cisco Meraki SD-WAN.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Cisco SD-WAN a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Pre-Sale System Engineer SOLA & NOLA at Logicalis Latam
Reseller
Easy to setup, good support that is responsive, and integrates well with other Cisco products
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a complete solution with many security features."
  • "Customers require features that are secure for endpoints, on-premises, and for the cloud."

What is our primary use case?

We are resellers and integrators.

What is most valuable?

It's a complete solution with many security features.

It integrates well with other Cisco solutions.

What needs improvement?

Customers require features that are secure for endpoints, on-premises, and for the cloud.

We could provision Cisco Umbrella to respond to the security requirements.

They need to make provisions in the platform cloud with tools. In the cloud environment, it is very easy to enable the solution with Umbrella.

They should configure to provision other devices and many endpoints to deploy the SD-WAN with security.

I would like a feature included for the prevention and inspection of data to implement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Cisco SD-WAN for three years.

We are using the Viptela version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We had issues with the stability only one time when we integrated Viptella SD-WAN with Cisco Umbrella. After reading all of the documentation, we have not had any issues with the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cisco SD-WAN is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Cisco technical support is very good. They are responsive to my questions and send me all of the information needed.

They respond quickly.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are also using Meraki.

Meraki is more suited to small companies, whereas Cisco is more for larger enterprise companies.

How was the initial setup?

We have a hybrid deployment. We have clients who prefer the cloud and others who want an on-premises deployment.

The initial setup was straightforward. It was easy.

The time for deployment depends on the size of the company and its requirements. There are many factors. It can take two months to six months to complete.

What about the implementation team?

We have a team of five people. One project manager, two specialist engineers, and two basic engineers, who maintain this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Cisco is more expensive than FortiGate.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated Fortinet FortiGate for our clients. For customers, it is mainly a decision based on pricing and technical options.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it. Technical support is very strong and provides high-level assistance. They have knowledgeable technicians with engineers present.

Overall, it's a very good solution.

I would rate Cisco SD-WAN a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer848847 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Analyst at a real estate/law firm with 1-10 employees
Real User
A highly reliable solution for our web gateway and VPN
Pros and Cons
  • "The reliability is high and we have only had to restart it once or twice over the years."
  • "I would like to see a better, web-based interface to make changes to the configuration or to view statistics."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for our web gateway, VPN, and access control.

How has it helped my organization?

It is good enough to provide normal web access but it doesn't offer any add-ons. We plan to move away from this solution and use the cloud-based firewall that is managed by our provider.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the network routing.

The reliability is high and we have only had to restart it once or twice over the years.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see a better, web-based interface to make changes to the configuration or to view statistics. The main weakness of Cisco products is the user interface.

This solution would be improved with the inclusion of an ISA Firewall.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for five or six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. it does what it is supposed to do and is working fine.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would say that the scalability is pretty limited, although we don't have any issue with it because we only use the basic features. For example, we don't use dynamic routing. We have 50 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

The Cisco technical support is pretty good. They are easy to contact if you need support and they are pretty fast.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty bit straightforward, although it is a little bit hard because it is done through the command line. The web GUI is an old style and not really flexible.

It took us approximately one day to switch from our old solution. We don't use any of the advanced features so it was a simple migration for us.

What about the implementation team?

Our in-house team implemented this solution.

One person is suitable for deployment and maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay for the Cisco Customer Care support, which is a couple of hundred dollars. There are no fees in addition to this.

What other advice do I have?

This solution is only good for basic routing. I cannot map stuff to a network name because it is not linked to anything else. It is a standalone unit.

My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to familiarize themselves with the command line.

To summarize, the reliability is very high but managing it is a little bit inconvenient.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
TEDDY LLANO - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at Yssy
Reseller
Beneficial AI, good interface, and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features in Cisco SD-WAN are the QoS, AI, and simple interface for users to access."
  • "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."

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
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1672659 - PeerSpot reviewer
Design Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Simple to install, stable, scalable, and has excellent support
Pros and Cons
  • "Cisco SD-WAN is a very good product."
  • "We don't have any issues with this solution other than the price."

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
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1113966 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director de Arquitecturas at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Scalable with good technical support and an easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is quite simple."
  • "The security features could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for data centers with several providers. We also use the solution for branch offices. We have used it on 20 branch offices in one instance and the other instance has about 90 remote sites.

What is most valuable?

The security features are very good. We really like the application routing, for example.

The initial setup is quite simple.

The solution offers very good documentation.

Technical support is quite helpful.

The product is very scalable.

There are a lot of exciting features coming out very soon which we are looking forward to working with.

What needs improvement?

The security features could be improved.

The solution needs to offer better stability.

The product could have improved flexibility.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about thirteen months. It's been just over a year at this point, so it hasn't been too long.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution could have better stability. It's not ideal right now. It could be quite a bit better.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it should be able to do so rather easily.

We typically work with small and medium-sized organizations. I'm not sure if the companies we work with intend to expand their usage in the future or not.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support for the product is quite good. We're satisfied with the level of support we receive from them. 

The documents, manuals, and community support on offer are very good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex. We found it to be straightforward and easy.

The deployment took about six months for one project and a few months for another.

You need about four people for deployment and maintenance tasks.

What about the implementation team?

We tend to implement this solution for our clients if they require it of us.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't look at other options before choosing this solution.

What other advice do I have?

We're partners for Cisco. We're resellers and implementers.

For the routers, we are using versions 73.2 and 16.12.3. We use both cloud and on-premises deployment models.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would rate this product at an eight. We've mostly been quite happy with it.

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?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Owner at SCO`Scope Consulting Private Limited
Real User
Good brand recognition, very scalable and very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's brand recognition is one of the most valuable aspects of the solution."
  • "The initial setup could be a bit less complex."

What is our primary use case?

There are a few use cases. We work, for example, with a telecom that provides end solutions to end users across different countries.

What is most valuable?

The product's brand recognition is one of the most valuable aspects of the solution.

What needs improvement?

We've just started using the solution, so I don't know if there are any features that are missing. We haven't used it long enough to find any faults.

The initial setup could be a bit less complex.

For how long have I used the solution?

We only started using the solution a year ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. There aren't bugs or glitches. The solution is reliable. It just works.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have the technical knowledge on our side. We get very little support from Cisco, so we rely mostly on our own team.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use both Cisco and Juniper.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is complex. It's not straightforward. There's a lot of ways to configure it and they're not straightforward. There are two types of the solution as well, so a person would need to know how to deploy either one.

For us, the solution took two to three days to deploy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't know much about the pricing because, at present, we used some simulators to test the software for clients. The pricing does not always match up with what our lab predictions are. We give information to the customers, and we give them some knowledge about the products and we explain the differences between the different vendors, like Juniper, and other vendors small vendors like Altera Technology. Ultimately, the client decides which vendor they will go with.

What other advice do I have?

I'd recommend the solution. Instead of going to another vendor, it's best to go with Cisco, because Cisco has a level of longevity in the global market.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: consultant
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.