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Cisco ACI vs Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 10, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco ACI
Ranking in Network Virtualization
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Networking (SDN) (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (4th)
Cisco Enterprise Network Fu...
Ranking in Network Virtualization
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Network Virtualization category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 46.5%, down from 47.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization is 0.8%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

Raj Metkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides scalability, ease of migration for future DC moves, multi-tenancy and programmability
Cisco's MSO (Multi-Site Orchestrator) or NDO has room for improvement. Cisco monitors ACI through a product called NDI. I find it very frustrating that Cisco has multiple monitoring platforms. It has DNAC for monitoring Cisco NX-OS, campus switches, and any other routers and switches you would have in the environment. That same thing does not work for Cisco ACI monitoring. MEraki cloudbasd platform for Meraki which will get extended to Campus monitoring, to be honest Cisco never got Monitoring 100% right from days of CiscoWorks to Prime to current platforms. To monitor and manage Cisco ACI, you need to have another platform called NDI and Cisco Dashboard Insights. What frustrates me about Cisco is that it never has a central, single pane of glass platform for all its solutions. It has one thing for Cisco ACI and another thing for campus switches. I would really appreciate it if Cisco came up with something centralized to monitor everything. I haven't thought about anything since the Cisco NDO is quite advanced, and you can deploy your cloud networking through it. I don't know how many people use it. I might explore it as my cloud orchestration tool in the future. We do a lot of cloud automation using our scripts like TerraForm, but I would like to see people using NDO more. We could have more case studies on how many people use NDO for their cloud orchestration. That might be a much easier journey for people when they move from an on-premises data center into a cloud and move from one cloud to another cloud. That is where I personally see an orchestrator being effectively used for multiple deployments.
Majdi Sabbah - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatile, offering flexibility and scalability
I rely on Cisco Enterprise NFV for various sectors like government, campuses, and hospitality. It is a crucial foundational layer that is mandatory before delivering other services The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard. It is easy to use and covers everything in one…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very easy to do the configuration after you know how to work with the product. It is global, so you change one interface, and changes are reflected on every switch."
"We use Cisco ACI for perimeter security and threat detection."
"The security component is its most valuable feature."
"The integration with vCenter means that when I create something on the network, it only has to happen one time instead of many times for our many virtual hosts."
"It scales very well. When you increasingly scale with it, it makes the product easier to work with."
"Virtualization and integration with VMware is the most valuable feature."
"Cisco ACI can separate networks with a buoy interface. That is the most valuable feature."
"It improves security and automation."
"Routing, switching, and wireless network security are the valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization."
"Scalability is not a problem."
"Network Security is one of the most valuable features of Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization."
"The support system that they have in place is very good and they are easy to reach."
"The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard."
"It is easy to manage, easy to maintain, and stable. If you set up everything alright, it will give years without any issues."
 

Cons

"It needs more features for integrating with third-party vendors."
"I would like to see the data center unification of Cisco ACI with Cisco DNA into a single platform to deliver the data center and campus sides."
"I would like to see a smoother transition from existing systems."
"One of the things that makes it a lot more complicated is the way contracts are handled in ACI. Contracts are like their own access lists. They can improve the setting up of contracts between devices a lot. It can be simplified."
"I would rate this solution a five out of ten. Not a ten because I don't have good training for this solution. I am now implementing Cisco ACI in the company. It's not 100% on the network. It's on 25% approx, more or less."
"Figuring out how to implement the product for clients is the area we struggle with the most every day. Perhaps an enhancement would be artificially intelligent solutions, but that would be further down the road."
"I would like to see more troubleshooting apps."
"I would like to see a lot more integrations with the rest of the Cisco portfolio."
"This is a software solution, which is less stable than a hardware solution by definition."
"It would be helpful if they offered modularized upgrades, such as additional memory or a faster processor."
"There is room for improvement in enhancing compatibility with other solutions and vendors."
"The solution's orchestration part could be improved."
"One of the things that can be improved is trimming all mobile numbers so that it aids in swiftly acquiring information for tablets or any necessary solution."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say the cost. The SDN hardware especially is much too expensive, specifically 799 and 9000."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you compare the licensing and total cost of ACI, it's cheaper than NSX because of the licensing fees. If you are going for full NSX features it will be too expensive, especially the next-generation firewalling feature."
"The price could be improved. It is expensive, but then again, it is Cisco. The price is worth what you pay for."
"The good thing about Cisco is that you can trade in your old products to replace them with ACI."
"The product is not cheap."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"We have seen time improvement using the product."
"The thing that I like the most from Cisco is the support and all the documentation that they have. We do have to pay for it though."
"Price is always an issue."
"Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization is an expensive solution."
"There is a separate charge for support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What do you like most about Cisco ACI?
The flexibility of adding new components with minimal impact on existing services running in the data center is a key benefit of this ACI-based solution.
What do you like most about Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization?
The most valuable feature is its user-friendly management dashboard.
What needs improvement with Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization?
There is room for improvement in enhancing compatibility with other solutions and vendors. Better integration capabilities could provide more value, especially in scenarios where a mix of solutions...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco NFV
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco ACI vs. Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.