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Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Network Management Applications
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Bharath _Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides visibility and enables plug-and-play features, device onboarding
Most customers have heterogeneous environments. The main drawback of Cisco Catalyst Center is that it can only manage and monitor Cisco devices with a DNA license, specifically the Catalyst 9000 series. Customers often have mixed vendor environments, and platforms like Xtream offer vendor-agnostic solutions. While Cisco's DNA Center does have third-party SDKs that allow monitoring of non-Cisco devices, this approach isn't always practical. Additionally, Kumar mentioned the importance of segmentation, transitioning to SDA, and moving away from traditional VLANs and ACLs towards identity-based segmentation integrated with ISE. Therefore, it's more suitable for customers who primarily use Cisco solutions rather than those with diverse vendor environments.
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 architecture and the way Cisco designs it, VXLAN and Cisco Express Forwarding are some of the features I like."
"The integration of Cisco Catalyst Center is fine"
"Cisco performs well in the network space, especially in areas like switching, DNA Center, and wireless, where it is known for its stability."
"The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN are reliability and scalability."
"Cisco SD-WAN's collaborative features are unique and sustainable. I also like the protocols, which use two SD-WAN."
"The solution is good to use and easy to handle and manage from the centralized location or from the cloud."
"It is very stable."
"It is really easy to deploy and use. It is also easy to use for failovers and designing solutions. The rollout is really quick. It is easy to adjust and roll out."
"The solution has great scalability."
"The availability of services and combining different connections is most valuable."
"I like the feature that lets you transfer from old devices to new devices without changing the hardware and subscription."
 

Cons

"The only limitation is when integrating with other products due to Cisco's proprietary protocols."
"The main drawback of Cisco Catalyst Center is that it can only manage and monitor Cisco devices with a DNA license, specifically the Catalyst 9000 series."
"The deployment process is pretty complex"
"The UI has room for improvement."
"All of the configurations are based on templates, and we need to spend a lot of time doing the templates. It's good because that means that all of the configurations will be equal in the network. However, we need to spend a lot of time implementing the templates and doing the customizations."
"The cost is too high for certain countries, for example, those in Africa. The solution needs to be more cost-effective."
"I would like to see features related to security compliance, including a view of compliance with standards. With this, I should be able to do an audit of my network with SDWAN."
"When you buy the equipment, they should already put it into your cloud account. It should already be set up so that we can manage with vBond. We came across an issue where it wasn't resolved in the DNS. We are using Umbrella, so we need to create a VPN IPSec tunnel to Umbrella to enable the users to browse. I would really like to see an internal built-in firewall so that we don't have to go to Umbrella. This functionality might already be there. We are quite new to this solution, and we are still learning about it."
"This solution is expensive so pricing is a concern."
"It should also be much more affordable for a larger number of customers."
"The installation is not easy. If you have experience and it is not your first time doing the installation, it can be easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is expensive. The license limitation is there in terms of bandwidth. Basically, Cisco is always good in terms of performance and related things. However, if you want to have a license, for example, for 100 Mbps, they charge you because of their 100 Mbps. If you want to go without the license of 300 Mbps, it is a bandwidth license as well. This is not happening with other vendors. That is the reason why we moved away from Cisco. The bill gets a little bit high. I do remember that one time we were trying to increase the bandwidth for at least five devices, and the license got as high as 20-grand for five devices, only for the license. It was expensive for us at the time. Our company is not a big company, but it is a solid company. The price was very high, and we moved away from Cisco because of the price."
"Cost-wise, Cisco SD-WAN is comparatively high."
"80 percent reduction in WAN costs. There are no MPLS or P2P circuits left in the organization."
"There is a monthly subscription to use this solution."
"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."
"The pricing of this solution is very expensive."
"I give the price a seven out of ten."
"You can get subscriptions for three or five years."
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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
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
Cisco is average in pricing, neither too costly nor too cheap. It's like the iPhone of the networking industry.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
Catalyst is a very mature product. The only limitation is when integrating with other products due to Cisco's proprietary protocols.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
I work primarily for Catalyst, mainly in data center networks.
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

No data available
Cisco SD-WAN
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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