Cisco DNA Center vs Huawei eSight comparison

Cisco and Huawei are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Cisco is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0, while Huawei is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.7. Cisco holds a 29.7% mindshare in NMA, compared to Huawei’s 5.6% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 72% of Huawei users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 41 Cisco DNA Center reviews

7,007 Views
4,089 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Huawei eSight

Read 10 Huawei eSight reviews

1,066 Views
785 Comparison Views

72% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

Huawei eSight

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Huawei eSight and Cisco DNA Center are competing in the network management solutions category. Cisco DNA Center appears to have the upper hand with its comprehensive features offering superior functionality at a justified price point.

Features: Huawei eSight provides multi-vendor support and efficient resource management while offering cost-effective solutions. Additional features include hardware alarms and real-time location monitoring. Cisco DNA Center stands out with advanced automation, analytics capabilities, and seamless device management, including a centralized software-defined access network and robust wireless assurance.

Room for Improvement: Huawei eSight could enhance its customer support services and simplify its interface further. Its integration capabilities with non-Huawei products also require improvement. Additionally, expanding its security features would be beneficial. Cisco DNA Center might simplify its configuration options for less experienced users, increase integration with non-Cisco devices, and enhance its training materials to assist new users in mastering its features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco DNA Center offers a streamlined deployment model and excellent customer service, facilitating smooth implementation and support. Huawei eSight presents competitive deployment options but does not match the level of service experience provided by Cisco, impacting the ease of implementation and ongoing support quality.

Pricing and ROI: Huawei eSight is noted for being cost-effective, providing upfront savings and promising ROI, making it appealing to budget-conscious buyers. Cisco DNA Center, though with higher setup costs, delivers long-term value through its extensive feature set and operational efficiencies, promising better ROI over time based on its comprehensive functionality.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. Huawei eSight Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Huawei eSight

January 2025

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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 DNA Center

Ranking in Network Management Applications

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (16th), Network Automation (2nd)

Huawei eSight

Ranking in Network Management Applications

8th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (34th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 29.7%, up from 27.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei eSight is 5.6%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal

Senior Network Engineer at Inside Global

Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features

The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

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Gary Strydom

Desktop Analyst at Transnet

Used to monitor devices and provides the hardware alarms feature

Huawei eSight has helped me overcome many monitoring aspects of the hardware. From a single view, I can monitor all the hardware. Instead of logging on to each piece of hardware and monitoring it individually, I can monitor them from one single point. I would recommend the solution to other users because it provides a single point of view of the hardware. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"DNA Center is scalable."

"The product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health."

"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."

"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"

"The most valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is the AI (Artificial Intelligence) that provides us with valuable information."

"Automation is another key highlight. With automation, you can automate everything through a single port."

"The product's most valuable feature is the visual representation of the switch's front panel."

"It offers automation, security enforcement, analytics, and integration with other Cisco technologies, making it a key driver for efficient network operations and compliance with security protocols."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"Huawei eSight provides businesses with monitoring capabilities of network devices across your network."

"I like that it supports all our Huawei devices. Unlike other network monitoring tools that monitor Huawei devices, it provides more details when it comes to monitoring or management. We can get complete details about the devices, and management is also simple."

"We can scale the solution."

"eSight allows me to monitor and solve any problem in the backbone and any switch in real-time."

"We use Huawei eSight to monitor devices like Wi-Fi controllers, LAN switches, and routers."

"One of the most beneficial features of Huawei eSight is its simplicity and ease of use."

"The most important features are alarm management and the visualization of the health of our network devices."

"I like the real-time location monitor or RTLS feature. It is similar to the monitoring feature in Cisco Prime."

More Huawei eSight pros

Cons

"An area that needs improvement is the integration with other vendors."

"Technical support could be better. The price could be better, and it could be more stable."

"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."

"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."

"The solution’s security side could be improved."

"When it comes to deploying wireless fields, integrating defaults into the DNS interface can be challenging."

"The tool's IoT integration should be better."

"What I want to see in Cisco DNA Center in the future is more support for other platforms so that you can manage third-party products, such as Fortinet."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"eSight has many features and options, but sometimes, we feel that it should be more advanced, like Cisco. It would be good if they can enable some automation part in eSight. Most of our customers want automation in their network. They don't want a dependency on everything. That's why the automation part must be improved in Huawei. It will be beneficial for customers. Cisco has different products, and there are multiple products for monitoring, automation, etc. In the software-defined network, Cisco has ACI, and VMware has NSX. Such options must be there in Huawei to move to a software-defined network. Unlike Cisco, in the case of eSight, there is only one product. I am not aware of any other product. It would be good to enhance it with at least some automation options so that we can use it effectively in the campus network or big data center environment. When I implemented this Huawei solution, I faced some limitations in particular areas like wireless scanning. This is another part that they can improve. Wireless reporting option is not as effective as other monitoring solutions. For a particular use case, if a customer is asking for some reports, sometimes they are not 100% satisfactory. The reporting structure must be improved."

"Something that could be improved is the lack of integration with Cisco switches. In the next release, I would like to see better reporting."

"The solution needs to improve it's user interface to make it more modern and stylish. They need to design proper menu positions, features, etc. Right now the layout is complicated."

"The variety of license types should be made simpler as, at present, it is complex."

"It is not a very flexible product."

"The solution and the operating system come separately. It would be easier if we did not have to deploy anything. A bundle feature would be better."

"Huawei eSight should work on the option to have the email notification working on Office 365 Exchange."

"This solution could be improved by offering monitoring for all devices and not only Huawei devices."

More Huawei eSight cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."

"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."

"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."

"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."

"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."

"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."

"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."

"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"The price is very expensive."

"Its pricing is better than any other Huawei product. Some products are cheaper in Huawei, and some products are cheaper in Cisco. Cisco has more benefits and options than Huawei if you consider different network environments."

"Pricing depends on the competition. If your competitor is like Cisco, then Huawei is much more competitive when it comes to pricing."

"The pricing for Huawei eSight is reasonable, especially with the base license and incremental licenses for additional devices. However, the variety of license types can be a bit complex. We used to sell eSight but switched to another solution, so we're not actively trading it anymore."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing. The pricing depends on which features you use and can become expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?

I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?

One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process. The time required for downloading and installing packages during upgrades is too long, often taking around ten hours. This is a significant i...

See all answers

What do you like most about Huawei eSight?

We use Huawei eSight to monitor devices like Wi-Fi controllers, LAN switches, and routers.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Huawei eSight?

Huawei eSight should work on the option to have the email notification working on Office 365 Exchange.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Huawei eSight?

We use the solution to monitor the hardware environment of our data center. We mainly use Huawei eSight to monitor the devices. It assists in monitoring our devices in terms of utilization and moni...

See all answers

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 28% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

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Cisco DNA Center

January 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

December 2024

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Also Known As

DNA Center

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Cisco

Huawei

Overview

Cisco DNA Center offers a comprehensive platform for network automation and management, providing detailed analytics, enhanced security, and streamlined operations for both wired and wireless networks.

Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco infrastructure to deliver efficient network automation and management, helping organizations improve network visibility, security, and control. It supports AI-driven analytics and automated workflows to enhance operational efficiency and reduce errors. Challenges include compatibility with third-party systems, steep learning curve, and complex deployment. Its interface facilitates centralized control, vital for troubleshooting, policy management, and configuration management, with support for zero-touch provisioning and SD-Access.

What are the key features of Cisco DNA Center?

Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into network health with AI-driven analytics.
Centralized Security: Integrates with ISE for comprehensive security management.
Automated Device Management: Simplifies device provisioning and configuration transfers.
Wi-Fi Analytics: Offers deep insights into wireless network performance.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Streamlines new device deployments with minimal human intervention.
Scalable Segmentation: Efficiently segments network traffic ensuring security and performance.

What benefits should users consider?

Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces potential errors and streamlines workflow.
Enhanced Security: Integration with Cisco ISE bolsters security capabilities.
Network Visibility: Comprehensive dashboards and analysis tools enhance monitoring.
Troubleshooting: Real-time monitoring aids in identifying and resolving issues swiftly.

In sectors such as healthcare, finance, and retail, Cisco DNA Center is utilized for its ability to enhance security and compliance, manage large-scale networks, and provide detailed analytics for better operational decision-making. Its support for location tracking and policy automation ensures efficient network management across diverse environments.

Huawei's eSight is a unified software suite for planning, operating, and maintaining complex enterprise ICT infrastructure from global, converged networks and data centers to multimedia and video communications that includes the facilities necessary for delivering performance and IT services. eSight provides a platform that supports infrastructure and devices from third-party providers, to develop custom management applications and improves O&M efficiency.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Marina Bay, CITIC Pacific Mining

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Huawei eSight

January 2025

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