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Aruba Orchestrator vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Orchestrator
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
12th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (5th), WAN Edge (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Aneesh K - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting
Aruba has plenty of solutions showcased at this event. Perhaps they offer their firewall, which we are not currently utilizing—the LAN switching, ClearPass, and Wi-Fi. ClearPass is is still on-premises, but the switching, Wi-Fi, and security features are included. It has some capabilities, like automation intelligence, which they call AI operations. So it is helpful. Our time spent on troubleshooting will be significantly reduced with it. Another useful feature is that we can inquire about the health data from Aruba Central and receive the necessary answers. Aruba Central simplifies management. Yes, deployment will be much faster than on-premises setups, where you need many hardware gateways. With just an access point or minimal hardware, deployment will be quicker. Troubleshooting with it has also made it much more straightforward. A group of ten people should be more than sufficient to manage an extensive infrastructure. Aruba is providing better support. They are also improving their email services. They are up to market standards, so we choose to go with them. We were looking for a direct vendor, but they didn't meet our requirements. Aruba Orchestrator is meeting our current expectations and standards, so we are sticking with them. We don't have any issues because we have been with Aruba for many years. We don't mind moving from one vendor to another. We are simply transitioning from one rental type to another with Aruba. I prioritize enhancements in AI functionality over other features. There are several implementations, with AI being the primary focus. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
MOHAMEDELSHERIF - PeerSpot reviewer
Good centralization and manageability for edge routers but quite expensive
The setup is quite straightforward and the solution is easy to deploy. Deployment time depends on the size the customer or enterprise. Each customer has its own use case so it is difficult to give a time estimate. In any case, the work is straightforward with no obstacles or challenges.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has a single pane of glass view that allows you to see everything happening in your SD-WAN world."
"Aruba Orchestrator has notably reduced enrollment setup times from several hours to within an hour if prepared and planned."
"The technical support services are excellent."
"The product has reduced OpEx expenditure."
"The Business Intent Overlay is a great feature."
"The most valuable feature is optimization."
"The most important feature is WAN optimization."
"We had to deal with separate management models for Wi-Fi and switches. With Aruba Orchestrator, it's now a unified solution, making things much easier for us. We log in and manage everything from a single console. It provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting. The management process is much quicker and more streamlined."
"The most valuable feature is the application-level routing."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco SD-WAN is its compatibility and integration with the rest of the infrastructure."
"Configuration interfaces are quite easy and intuitive. Being a part of the Cisco environment, Cisco SD-WAN is quite straightforward."
"It is very stable with very good firmware."
"Cisco SD-WAN's most valuable feature is the ease of transition."
"The segmented traffic it provides is the best in the industry right now."
"Huge companies use SD-WAN. It is largely scalable."
"It's a complete solution with many security features."
 

Cons

"The solution can be improved by lowering the cost and making it more user-friendly for first-time users."
"The solution lacks sufficient security features."
"The management menu should be simplified."
"They could provide essential training to understand the product functionality."
"Aruba Orchestrator should implement dynamic certificate changes for security."
"The initial setup is complex, depending on the overall planning for the entire environment."
"This solution is expensive so pricing is a concern."
"It is expensive."
"Its license model needs to be improved. They always make the license model too complex. There are too many license models and too many options. They should have a flexible license model. They can improve a lot of things in terms of scalability, templates, and automation, mainly automation for onboarding a number of sites. If you want some new features, it can take quite a long time. If you want a feature and it is not yet developed, you need to have the support of the business units to have the feature developed. If the feature is not on their roadmap, it can take quite some time before you get the feature."
"The deployment is complex."
"Customers require features that are secure for endpoints, on-premises, and for the cloud."
"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."
"I would like to see a better, web-based interface to make changes to the configuration or to view statistics."
"The integration of Cisco SD-WAN with cloud solutions could improve. For example, if any of the applications are hosted in the Amazon AWS cloud we can use a virtual transit gateway for integrating Cisco SD-WAN."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think it is quite expensive compared to other vendors in the market because it depends on what kind of features you really want to acquire in the product."
"Aruba Orchestrator is free to use."
"I rate the platform’s pricing a five out of ten."
"The solution's licensing costs are yearly. It is not expensive, and I rate it around three to four out of ten."
"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."
"The solution is quite expensive so it is important to enhance its cost efficiency."
"80 percent reduction in WAN costs. There are no MPLS or P2P circuits left in the organization."
"I give the price a seven out of ten."
"The pricing for Cisco SD-WAN is more expensive than other brands or solutions, such as Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks, so it's one out of ten."
"The costs are a bit on the high side."
"We pay for the Cisco Customer Care support, which is a couple of hundred dollars."
"The product's license is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Educational Organization
44%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?
When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The product pricing is high. Fortinet is cheaper than Cisco. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
 

Also Known As

Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator, Unity Orchestrator
Cisco SD-WAN
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Orchestrator vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.