Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Reviews

We use the solution to do a lot of proof of concept to evaluate the deployment, manageability of the solution, application availability, scalability, and cloud. These include secure cloud security integration with Umbrella and software-defined cloud interconnect (SD-WAN) use cases. We also evaluate end-to-end segmentation use cases.

In general, Cisco SD-WAN is a scalable tool that simplifies network management. It can be a great way to transform a legacy network into a more standardized one, which can help reduce operational issues.

Over time, a regular network with different point solutions can become very complex. There are different vendors for WAN, LAN, cloud security firewalls, etc. Each device may be configured separately, and each region may have its own IT team with its own way of working. All of it has created silos over the years. If you want to make a change or a rollout, It takes a lot of time to do a risk and impact assessment because there are hundreds of teams and hundreds of devices. Every device and no team or no region has a similar type of configuration. There is no useability. There are no template extensions. Every device is configured differently depending upon the liking of the individual who has done it on the first go. 

However, with Cisco's SD-WAN, when you manage it through a central dashboard, you use templates, etc. You build that standardized configuration or discipline, for that matter, and you maintain it.

You have a common policy repository, and standard template, and use one template to configure 50 devices or one. If you have 100 similar devices, we do the same thing, which is very easy. It'll be too extreme, but it'll be far easier to understand that if I work 100 branches, this is how the branch organization will look. If I have 50 medium-sized branches or a corporate office, this is how the configuration will look.

The solution gives an immense opportunity for standardizing the network configuration. It reduces mean repair time, mean deployment time, and uses and predictability in operation. This will also improve your first-time deployment because the network is more predictive. Since I've been in the industry for 20 years, every time you make some change, you are 90% expecting one or the other surprises, which you'll have to deal with during the maintenance window. 

Cisco enhances these aspects by providing an opportunity to make networks simpler. Simplicity is crucial for multiple family networks, and Cisco ensures improvement without unnecessary complexity.

The cloud environment, including cloud security integration, is very valuable because of the many API integrations with the SD-WAN. This includes monitoring tools, ThousandEyes, and the programmability aspect.

In the transition from Viptela to Cisco SD-WAN, there have been very huge revision cycles in the last three to four years. This does not happen for a stable product. Still, it is because Cisco has been migrating from one vendor and merging into their own operating system and making a lot of additional development beyond what is required. This has made it tough for enterprise-level integrators cannot find downtime to keep up with the upgrades. Cisco is working to stabilize the product, which will likely be much more stable in the coming years. So, I would like to see revision cycles to be more stable.

Another area of improvement is the licensing and pricing model. The Cisco SD-WAN licensing model needs to be simplified. There are currently three types of licenses: enterprise agreements, individual licenses, and DNA subscriptions. This can confuse customers, requiring a dedicated person to determine which type of license is right for their organization.

Although Cisco is working on many features, the general usability of the templating mechanism should be improved to make it easier to use and understand. The various GUI elements are different, as in Cisco Vault. If I migrate from a CLI to a GUI model for managing devices, the GUI is still more like Viptela. The GUI should be more aligned with the Cisco CLI regarding terms and concepts. The tools need to be more intuitive to use.

I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for five years or more. We initially started with V19.2 and are currently using V20.9.

I rate the stability an eight out of ten. So, it's very stable.

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten. It's fairly scalable unless you have the regional fabric aspect of a large network. So it's fairly scalable. 

Most of our clients use this solution. We are engaged with about nine out of ten clients; we are involved in that. They fall between medium and enterprise businesses.

It's an evolving technology with lots of changes happening and releases. So, it's the shared load of support requests that's causing the issues. But otherwise, Cisco Tech is very helpful. 

However, they might be offloading tech support a little too much, which sometimes results in situations where we do not receive the expected level of technical support and the right quality of technical support due to the outsourced model. They were already outsourcing, but now, with additional vendors outsourcing, it's causing some confusion.

Neutral

I would rate my experience with the initial setup a seven out of ten, with one being difficult and ten being easy to set up because there are two situations.

If it is deployed on-prem, the setup is a little complicated. It was not tough for me, but for a new company, it would be tough.

The setup is easy if cloud deployment is for small, medium, and a few large companies. Setup becomes a little complicated if you have an on-prem deployment and other use cases, especially for banking, financial, and government.

So, for all large specifics where you need a lot of security for banking and finance, we would go with on-prem deployment. But for others, we always suggest cloud deployment. So, with the controllers. So, that is the AWS, but that completely manages the Cisco. Therefore, we cannot state that it could be directed to Azure data because Cisco manages that. 

However, in other cases, when there's no specific cloud provider, we exclusively opt for clients. It entirely depends on what the client's workload is. Cisco is extending its reach to AWS, Azure, and Google, and perhaps in the future, there might be additional options. The major advantage is that Cisco can provide connectivity effectively. So, it doesn't really matter. We don't lean towards one over the other.

The deployment time for a proof of concept is typically 40-60 hours, but a full-scale deployment will vary depending on the size of the organization's network.

About 80% of the time is dedicated to data gathering and planning for any deployment. This step involves understanding the existing network vs. old transformation to understand the data-gathering process. 

Then, you create a high-level design for SD-WAN and discuss and explore different options, such as technology choices (fully managed, partially managed, peered approach), depending on the company's network profile, workload, and global or local footprint. These factors help to achieve a well-defined design. 

Once the design is approved, the next step is understanding the existing services and their hosting locations, whether on-premises, different sites, or cloud. A deployment plan is formulated to minimize downtime following a pilot phase to assess stability, a comprehensive deployment is executed.

The pricing is neutral. However, there is room for improvement in the licensing model. 

Take the opportunity to simplify your network while migrating. Since it is a new technology, and you do not simplify your network, you will end up in more complex situations than you were in the first place.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We are an IT integration company that implements this solution for customers and clients. We deploy the solution on-premises.

The solution is stable.

The solution is expensive and could be cheaper.

The solution is stable.

It is a very scalable solution. 

We have experience with customer service and support.

The initial setup is straightforward in a laboratory environment, but when we started implementing it in the field, we had some problems. We are deploying a pilot of the solution for a few branches.

We have seen a return on investment.

We have a subscription and a three-year license.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten and I would recommend it to others. 

Our Cisco SD-WAN use case involves implementing it for enterprise customers with multiple sites who want to connect it. This is achieved by turning on the product on the router or firewall.

There was a scenario where the product improved our network's efficiency. For example, we had a customer with a main office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who wanted to connect with their offices in Hanoi and Hong Kong. By using the product, we could establish a connection between all the IP sites, creating a local network between them. 

The tool is stable, and its troubleshooting capabilities are good. It helps us identify and fix any issues. It simplifies VPN setup for both side-to-side and multisite connections. This allows for easier data sharing between main and branch offices, creating a local network feel even for distant sites.

The most significant benefit we've realized from Cisco SD-WAN's application optimization capabilities is cost savings. Traditionally, businesses had to purchase expensive WAN or wide channels to connect their sites. However, with SD-WAN, they can utilize existing internet lines, eliminating the need for costly WAN.

The solution's integration with other products is good.

The product should improve its prices. 

Cisco SD-WAN is stable. 

The tool is scalable. My company has 20 customers for it. 

The impressions of Cisco SD-WAN's tech support have been positive. Whether from Cisco directly or through our service level management (SLM), the support is quick.

We can only buy three-year licenses, not monthly. The cost seems high for us, especially since we're in Vietnam, which isn't a rich country. But we still like the product because it is good.

I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten. We recommended Cisco products, including the Cisco SD-WAN, to our customers. If a certain product is not stable, we suggest switching to Cisco products.

Cisco SD-WAN has separate OMP routing. 

The solution is very costly. 

.I have been working with the solution for a year. 

The solution is stable, and you need good connectivity. 

Cisco SD-WAN is scalable. 

Cisco SD-WAN's support was good. 

Positive

You can get subscriptions for three or five years. 

You need expert engineers to handle Cisco SD-WAN. I rate it a ten out of ten. 

We use this solution to interconnect our branches with the headquarters and interconnect other countries with the hub.

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.

The best feature about SD-WAN is the ability to consolidate the links to the branch and load-balance the traffic.

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.

I've been using this solution for two years.

SD-WAN is very stable - once it's deployed, you can just forget about it, it runs by itself.

This solution is very scalable - the only requirement is to add the licenses for the devices being brought on board.

The initial setup was not very straightforward, but it gets easier the more deployments you complete.

We used an integrator and Cisco themselves.

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. 

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.

Initially, the primary use case was to lower costs, however, over time it has been to increase the availability of services according to the profile of the branches. 

Something very important is the security that this technology brings with it. We protect the data, we segment and give priority to what we need. In the same way, the possibility of being able to choose the underlay that I really need is great. Together with the type of service, the MPLS or Internet, is an advantage. In software-defined networks, the simplicity of doing things is its main characteristic.

It has allowed us to better understand the client's business. It breaks down a bit the traditional barriers of uptime and SLA and thus we are able to profile the branches in a better way.

Real-time traffic monitoring has become a fundamental tool for clients since it allows them to see what is happening in the moment and thus to be able to estimate trends or to project changes in a better and more assertive way.

The secure connection to the cloud is a gain when evaluating the traditional centralized internet links that generally exist in data centers.

Being able to see the traffic in real-time and know what application you are consuming, together with the possibility of taking your requirements directly from the cloud, has been useful.

Load balancing is a feature that allows us to take the best of our links and distribute the load intelligently, always with an eye on the end-customer experience.

Being able to prioritize, according to the applications, the exit and entrance of the traffic in a dynamic way, unlike the current quality of service that is rigid and static, is a tremendous advantage as it is done according to demands in real-time, so the customer experience is always the best.

It is transversal to all industries. What is important is to work on the costs of the solution.

On the technical side, manufacturer-independent solutions should be able to handle different topologies, simple or complex, and without having to invest more money in infrastructure or licensing.

What I also find should be improved is the possibility of really separating the software layer from the hardware layer since today the current offer is not well adopted by the service providers, which is why it does not reach the end customers. I understand this is an issue that directly affects the business goal of each manufacturer.

I've used the solution for five years.

The truth is that I started using an initial solution called IWAN, the intelligent network. It tried to take the best of current technologies and provide it in a network format. In my opinion, it did not achieve its goals.

It is not the cheapest solution on the market, however, without a doubt, it is one of the options that best handles complex topologies. Therefore there is a need to know more accurately what the client wants to do, what their applications are, what their flows are, and, after this consultation, define the best architecture and then choose the best manufacturer that obviously offers me a cost efficient option.

We evaluate the competition, however, within the same conditions, we wanted a dedicated equipment solution of bare metal, software, and hardware together plus the underlying layer.

This is a great solution.

Our primary use case is providing the servicing of this solution globally. Cisco is an experienced vendor, which is the main reason we chose this solution.

An area of improvement for this solution is reducing the complexity. Currently, the solution requires people who have a very good understanding of Cisco SD-WAN. 

For example, VeloCloud can be used and is easier to understand, but it has limited functionality. It is designed like a block box where the internal architecture is hidden. With Cisco, I can see the inner workings of the architecture. Therefore, it is necessary to have a good understanding of how the solution works in order make full use of it.

An additional feature that should be included in the next release of this solution is the ability to use a local area network (LAN) behind the domain name system (DNS) box. This feature would allow for better communication protocols to be put in place.

I have been using this solution for three years.

Since Cisco acquired Viptela, the stability of this solution has given problems since it is quite new. 

The scalability of this solution has given problems in the past since it is quite new. 

The customer service/technical support for this solution is very good.

The setup of this solution is both straightforward and complex. For example, the initial setup is simple, but the design and formatting thereafter is very complex.

The pricing of this solution is very expensive.

We would recommend this solution to customers looking to implement it on a global scale. We recommend the solution, not only because of the functionality or the technical support, but also because of the delivery of the solution, and the docking and upgrading capabilities.

We use the solution as a router.

Cisco is very secure and very fast, and its work is ongoing. They give the commands to what they want.

Everything is on one disk. I need to do anything from one end.

The solution could be cheaper.

I have been using Cisco SD-WAN for about two months.

The product is stable.

The solution is scalable. Over 600 users are using this solution.

Support is fast and customer-friendly.

The initial setup is complex and takes about 30 minutes to complete.

The tool is very expensive. It has a five-year subscription.

Cisco and Juniper are very costly.

Overall, I rate the solution a six or seven  out of ten.