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Owner at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 10
Apr 5, 2021
Flexible, reliable, and has great performance
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the valuable features of the solution is its flexibility and it performs great."
  • "The configuration should be easier in the solution."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use of the solution is used for testing the core banking customer function.

What is most valuable?

One of the valuable features of the solution is its flexibility and it performs great.

What needs improvement?

The configuration should be easier in the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used the solution for approximately five years. 

Buyer's Guide
Cisco IOS Security
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco IOS Security. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not had issues with the solution stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have approximately 450 customers database at this moment using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

There is technical support for the solution but it is not localized. It would be beneficial if there would be localized technical support in India.

How was the initial setup?

The installation of the solution is difficult because it requires trained CCNA engineers. 

What about the implementation team?

The solutions deployment required a three-person technical team.

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

It is necessary to pay for a license in order to use the solution. It is on a yearly basis and the price is high. 

What other advice do I have?

I will continue using the solution because our customers demand it.

I would recommend the solution to other users. 

I rate Cisco IOS Security a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1256787 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Dec 23, 2020
Easy to use, easy to set up, and offers excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very user-friendly and easy to deal with."
  • "It would be ideal if the solution had more capacity."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution as a VPN concentrator. It's the main VPN concentrator for all remote connections.

What is most valuable?

The compatibility is high with many open protocols. We use it for Radiant. We use it for any kind of network access protocols as well. 

The solution is very user-friendly and easy to deal with. We find working with both the Command-Line and the Viewer very, very straightforward.

It's quite stable. We find it more stable than other options.

What needs improvement?

It would be ideal if the solution had more capacity. Right now, we are almost hitting the maximum capacity of the product. If they could provide more capacity for the same product, that would be great.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for over ten years. At more than a decade, it's been a long time.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is extremely stable. We find it much more stable than other options. It doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't issues with glitches. It is completely reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Currently, we have over 7,000 users that utilize this solution.

We do plan to increase usage in the future.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very, very good under Cisco. It's one of the other advantages of using their product. They are very helpful, responsive, and knowledgeable. We've very satisfied with the level of service they provide to us.

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

We previously used Juniper. Juniper has improved a lot over the last little while, however, we still prefer Cisco.

How was the initial setup?

I was not part of the installation process. That was handled by another team entirely. That said, they didn't take a lot of time to get everything up and running. It was, if I recall correctly, less than one week to put it up and test it and make all the configuration adjustments. Deployment was fast and it's my understanding that the whole process from beginning to end was straightforward.

We only needed two people and they were able to handle both deployment and maintenance. They are engineers.

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

I don't know the exact licensing costs. It's not something I deal with directly, and therefore I don't have any access to the information in regards to pricing and payments.

What other advice do I have?

We're just a customer and end-user. We don't have a business relationship with Cisco.

We're using the latest version of the solution in our organization right now.

We use both cloud and on-premises deployments, however, currently, we tend to use more on-premises deployments.

I would recommend the solution. Overall, I would rate it at an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cisco IOS Security
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco IOS Security. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
JavedHashmi - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Reseller
Top 5Leaderboard
Aug 13, 2020
Good performance, documentation, and support but is lacking a few features
Pros and Cons
  • "The hardware is pretty stable. It's also a very good product performance-wise. Initially, it wasn't mature like a firewall and there were other leaders, but now they have included almost all the features of next-generation security. Basically, it's a good product to work with."
  • "I would love it if it has a link-by-link feature, integration with Unified Threat Management (UTM), and load balancers. They haven't got any link-by-link feature right now, which can be a very attractive option. This link-by-link feature can also be made available for Cisco's UTM firewalls. The link-by-link feature is available in some of the other firewalls. Currently, integration with UTM is missing. Cisco IOS Security also doesn't have the load balancers and a few things that need to be done to get a good UTM firewall. Normally, other firewalls have UTM. As a next-generation firewall, it's good, but as a UTM, it has to do some work."

What is our primary use case?

We basically use it for security. It can be used as the internet as well as the data center security firewall.

What is most valuable?

The hardware is pretty stable. It's also a very good product performance-wise. 

Initially, it wasn't mature like a firewall and there were other leaders, but now they have included almost all the features of next-generation security. Basically, it's a good product to work with. 

What needs improvement?

I would love it if it has a link-by-link feature, integration with Unified Threat Management (UTM), and load balancers.

They haven't got any link-by-link feature right now, which can be a very attractive option. This link-by-link feature can also be made available for Cisco's UTM firewalls. The link-by-link feature is available in some of the other firewalls. 

Currently, integration with UTM is missing. Cisco IOS Security also doesn't have the load balancers and a few things that need to be done to get a good UTM firewall. Normally, other firewalls have UTM. As a next-generation firewall, it's good, but as a UTM, it has to do some work.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with this solution for around 15 years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Cisco IOS Security is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's pretty scalable. The hardware is good, and it's scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

The main reason for going with Cisco is their support. They have very skilled people and a very good support structure as compared to many other companies. They invest heavily in support maintenance. 

We are pretty comfortable with Cisco technical support, but with the new acquisitions, they also need to ramp up their support. For the older Cisco IOS and other stuff, they have very mature teams, but with the new acquisitions, sometimes it takes time to do the transition up to that level. For example, when Cisco acquired Sourcefire for the firewall, it took some time for Sourcefire to act like Cisco's other products. So, support is good, but still, there is a learning curve involved with new acquisitions and their support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex when we compare it with some other vendors.

The setup is easy if you have good knowledge. As compared to the earlier types, it is very easy now, and the major stuff is graphical. It's pretty easy, and we don't need a lot of people, at least one to two people for backup are good enough to manage the firewalls.

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

Cisco IOS Security is for medium and large enterprises. When we talk about the price as well, it's more suitable for medium and large enterprises, but recently they included a few good SMB options. They have introduced a cheaper version of it in the last year with SMB option, which can be looked into for small enterprises, but it's more suited towards the large enterprises and medium enterprises.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We prefer selling Cisco firewalls. We also sell Fortinet. Because Cisco's presence in our country is very good as compared to Fortinet and Palo Alto, the local customers seem comfortable with Cisco.

When we talk about Cisco, definitely the hardware is more reliable and scalable as compared to others. The support is also pretty good. These are the two good things. Definitely, Cisco Firewall is all around pretty good as compared to Fortinet.

What other advice do I have?

We work with Cisco, and we top-rate Cisco firewalls to be sold and deployed. This is because they have good trading and expertise available. Cisco IOS Security is pretty reliable, and it also has really good documentation.

It sometimes requires a slightly higher technical expertise to implement all the features as compared to other firewalls. Therefore, users definitely have to be trained first to get proper knowledge. Definitely, IOS security is well-documented, and it's pretty reliable. I'd advise just to make sure that they have adequate knowledge. 

The learning curve is slightly longer because it's a slightly complex product as compared to Fortinet, but feature-wise, it's very good.

I would rate Cisco IOS Security a seven out of ten. It is a good product with scope for features such as link-by-link, integration with UTM, and load balancers.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
SeniorEn2e68 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engineer Data Center at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Aug 15, 2019
A straightforward initial setup with good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "Technical support for this solution is very good."
  • "In the next release of this solution, we would like to see support for the 100BT and 7000 models."

How has it helped my organization?

This has improved the way our organization operates very well.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the support that we get.

What needs improvement?

In the next release of this solution, we would like to see support for the 100BT and 7000 models.

We have experienced bugs in the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability of this solution at about eighty percent.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support for this solution is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed this solution ourselves.

What was our ROI?

There is a return on investment with this solution. 

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

The licenses for this solution are expensive.

What other advice do I have?

This is a good solution, and one that I recommend, but sometimes we have bugs.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Director Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Real User
Aug 6, 2019
Offers good security and is easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability of this solution is excellent."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case for this solution is internet security at the edge.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Cisco IOS Security gives us a level of trust at the edge as far as being the first line of defense for anything that's trying to get into our network.

    What is most valuable?

    The feature I find most valuable is that the solution doesn't really change from year to year. The basics are there and I have so much experience with it that it's easy to use. I also like the security this solution offers.

    What needs improvement?

    External threats are changing every day, so there are new features coming in. We're more into the command line interface rather.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Offers good security and is easy to use

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability of this solution is excellent. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We are very satisfied with the scalability of this solution.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The technical support is excellent. We've contacted the tech team a few times and the turnaround time was always almost immediately.

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

    We've always been using this solution and we haven't seen a need to change from it so we haven't looked at other vendors in quite a while because we are totally satisfied with what we have.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward and we did the deployment ourselves. We could go on the internet for any reference that we needed.

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

    We have to renew our license every three years.

    What other advice do I have?

    My rating for this solution is a ten out of ten because it does everything I need and it is easy enough to use. My advice to others is to definitely have it on their list of vendors to take a look at. I really recommend this solution.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Pre Sales Engineer at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
    MSP
    Aug 1, 2019
    Gives us better efficiency and is a secure option for platforms and gateways
    Pros and Cons
    • "Cisco IOS allows us to keep the same security features as our principal offices."
    • "I think setup could be one area for improvement, because sometimes we don't have people inside so we have to move to the place."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution to connect branch offices and keep the security on each one.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Cisco IOS allows us to keep the same security features as our principal offices.

    What is most valuable?

    We can access control lists and VPN tunneling.

    It gives us better efficiency.

    What needs improvement?

    I think setup could be one area for improvement.

    I would also like to see them add integration with cloud solutions like Umbrella, as well as some monitoring improvements. This would let us connect a new platform and cloud solution for a site.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Cisco's high stability is a well known feature.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is scalable. We can go to another platform and keep the same functionality.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I think we have great support from Cisco for this. I haven't used it personally, but I have heard good things.

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

    I think we used Firepower. We work specifically with Cisco.

    What about the implementation team?

    I think the initial setup was simple. We have a lot of documentation and a guide that we can follow.

    What was our ROI?

    Thinking about the ease of managing these platforms and the technical support that we have, we can avoid extra costs and investments. We've saved time allowing our staff to work on other things that have saved money overall.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice is that this is a very secure option for platforms and gateways using the Cisco IOS security feature.

    I would rate Cisco IOS as ten out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner.
    PeerSpot user
    Network Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Aug 1, 2019
    Has good routing features and is easy to use
    Pros and Cons
    • "I've found their network routing to be very good."
    • "I wish it would be more like the next generation firewall technology. There should be more selection between the application and filtering."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Cisco IOS for security prevention. It enables us to check the network.

    How has it helped my organization?

    I didn't think that they would put servers in the DMZ. It also protects us from hackers; we haven't had any issues with them.

    What is most valuable?

    I've found their network routing to be very good.

    It is also stable, has good scalability and is easy to use. 

    What needs improvement?

    I wish it would be more like the next generation firewall technology. There should be more selection between the application and filtering.

    I would appreciate updates to reporting, in terms of data entry.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using Cisco IOS for more than eight years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We don't have any issues with stability. Cisco is always stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is easy.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We have a contract with the representative of DEO support, not just Cisco. So we have local support. If we have any issue, they respond to us directly by phone.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was easy. There are step-by-step instructions, like many of their other products.

    What was our ROI?

    The solution is definitely valuable for us.

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

    The licensing is on a subscription basis, and it is fairly costly. I would prefer a one-time payment.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice is to take this firewall. It is really good. I would rate Cisco IOS as eight out of ten.

    The next-generation firewalls, like UTM, have paper-thin single boxes. They should follow the same projects, like the next-generation firewall. They have everything like 40GBs in a single box, along with filtering applications, like VPN and SSN. They also have reporting features.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user783219 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Product Manager - Wireless / IT Support Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
    Real User
    Jul 14, 2019
    Straightforward initial setup and good scalability
    Pros and Cons
    • "You can scale it when you need to."
    • "If they could increase the performance a little better because the device sometimes gets slow."

    What is our primary use case?

    Since we do system integration, we have a lot of clients we deploy. There is not really a single case to point to because we have multiple clients. It depends and can vary from customer to customer.

    What is most valuable?

    Defending the business processes.

    What needs improvement?

    If they could increase the performance a little better because the device sometimes gets slow. If they could increase the performance it would be great.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using this solution for between seven and eight years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution's stability is quite good. We have about six hundred users.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is quite good. You can scale it when you need to. As you go, you can scale it. It's quite scalable. It's quite good.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I haven't used technical support yet.

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

    We have been using this solution for six or seven years; we didn't use another solution before.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was very straightforward. It only took a couple of hours, it doesn't take long.

    What other advice do I have?

    In terms of advice, I would suggest others should use it. It is quite a good product, it is one of the market leaders. I believe it could be as good as other solutions. There are two things you require: one is support and the other one is credibility. Both are there with this product.

    I would rate this solution eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Cisco IOS Security Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: January 2026
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Cisco IOS Security Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.