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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs FireMon Asset Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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 Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Network Management Applications
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (2nd)
FireMon Asset Manager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (13th), Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) (7th)
 

Featured Reviews

Igor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables secure and flexible branch connectivity with application-aware routing
The valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include its security policies and zone-based firewall that are applied to every site, as well as application-aware routing. Security is standard compliant, eliminating config drift that was prevalent before manual configurations. Application-aware routing offers flexibility in using different lines for traffic, depending on the policy implemented.
Chan Lung - PeerSpot reviewer
Works very well as a single platform for policy management and audit compliance
The dashboard clearly shows the policies of a network environment. We can see which policies are critical or are always being used. We can also see which ones are not being used or have not been modified in a long time. We can see all the ports that the applications are using. We have all this information in the dashboard. After deployment, FireMon Asset Manager automatically shows the network topology. However, the dashboard is pretty fixed. It is not flexible. If I need to modify the dashboard, I need the help of their customer support. FireMon has streamlined policy deployment across multiple firewalls, making it easier to quickly implement changes. It has also improved our ability to comply with audits and be compliant with PCI DSS and ISO 27001 standards. The efficiency of deploying policies has increased significantly. The information provided by FireMon Asset Manager is helpful in making an organization's environment secure. It makes customers look into their policies and see if they need to be modified.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"SD-WAN provides a range of common benefits, including cost reduction, increased visibility, and scalability"
"The deployment is quite simple and straightforward."
"So far, the feature that I like best is the policy configuration manager."
"The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include the DIA and its integration with Cisco Umbrella for DNS security."
"Cisco SD-WAN is valued for its operational efficiency and ease of operation."
"The first part that we like is that we can reuse certain hardware, which is a valuable asset. You can use hardware SKUs that already exist in the network. The second part that we like is the integration with the cloud and the measurement of the cloud's quality. These are the two values that this solution gives as compared to other implementations that we have seen."
"Cisco SD-WAN's collaborative features are unique and sustainable. I also like the protocols, which use two SD-WAN."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"It offers a single platform for managing firewalls of different brands and simplifies policy deployment and auditing. It helps push policies to different firewalls, and it also helps with policy auditing."
"The most valuable aspects of FireMon Asset Manager are its integrations and its ability to passively monitor the network for unknown assets."
"The most valuable feature is the change modules. Whenever there is a change in the firewall, it automatically reflects on FireMon."
 

Cons

"The cost is too high for certain countries, for example, those in Africa. The solution needs to be more cost-effective."
"It would be better if it provided more visibility. At present, we can't troubleshoot in real time."
"The user interface needs improvement. Users should be able to find various features faster without much tweaking."
"The product needs to have more understanding staff in their support team. The tool needs to provide support in every stage of deployment. We did not get the expected support from their team. The product is also not easy to use."
"There should be more security features in the hybrid and on-premise deployments of Cisco SD-WAN. The cloud has most of the security features."
"The process of onboarding the vSmart, vBond, and vManage should be improved to make it easier to manage in general."
"The initial setup could be a bit less complex."
"The solution is a bit complicated."
"It is not very good at monitoring the Check Point firewall, but it works very well with other firewalls such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco ASA."
"While passive discovery remains important, active retrieval of asset details would be valuable, and this functionality is starting to be implemented, as I've observed in recent updates but it is not fully there yet."
"The discovery process could be improved. If incorrect credentials are entered, it should give an error message. That would make our work easy rather than having to troubleshoot why the issue is occurring."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 cost of Cisco SD-WAN is high and has room for improvement compared to competitors such as Fortinet which has similar functionality."
"The costs are a bit on the high side."
"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."
"The license model is too complex with too many flavors and options. You might not be able to see it from an end user's point of view, but from a telco point of view, their license model is too complex. They should have a flexible license model. If you want to have good pricing, you need to buy it for a two-year, four-year, or five-year license immediately. Some other vendors have much more flexible license models."
"SD-WAN as a service is probably something in the neighborhood of $100 to $200 a month per location."
"The initial cost is quite significant, but the investment is worthwhile."
"Cisco is more expensive than some competing products."
"FireMon Asset Manager's pricing has been reasonable and has worked well for us from a licensing standpoint."
"FireMon is more expensive than other brands but justified by its comprehensive feature set. It includes several functions that might require additional subscriptions in other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
45%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
4%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 pricing for Cisco SD-WAN is rated eight out of ten, with some variability depending on the reseller discounts and the size of the enterprise. It is also relatively cost-effective for smaller bu...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
The main area for improvement in Cisco SD-WAN is the lack of documentation, which often lags behind the software releases. This is especially notable since Cisco acquired the solution and is still ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FireMon Asset Manager?
FireMon is more expensive than other brands but justified by its comprehensive feature set. It includes several functions that might require additional subscriptions in other solutions.
What needs improvement with FireMon Asset Manager?
We used FireMon Asset Manager only for the firewalls. It could not always discover, so we had to go in and add it manually. The discovery was not always consistent. At times it worked, and at times...
What is your primary use case for FireMon Asset Manager?
We used FireMon Asset Manager for 12 clients. We used it for firewall audits and rule changes.
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. FireMon Asset Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.