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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
139
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Microsoft Enterprise Mobili...
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is designed for Network Access Control (NAC) and holds a mindshare of 29.9%, down 31.4% compared to last year.
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), holds 0.7% mindshare, down 0.9% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC)
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
 

Featured Reviews

Adarge Ekholt - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 3, 2023
The ability to see what devices are online for a particular user helps a lot with our troubleshooting
Another big benefit for us is definitely security in terms of wireless user activity. We spent a lot of time looking at live logs and user logs to figure out where they've been in the network and in which buildings. We can get rogue granular with locations of where people are and where they're experiencing issues. We have definitely saved time since using ISE when it comes to building some of the policies around the types of users, like library users versus student union or even admin users. The policy building is complicated, but after a while, it's pretty straightforward in terms of repeatability of staff turnover, and things like that. It's not the learning curve that's hard for continuous maintenance.
Dheen Jaabir - PeerSpot reviewer
May 29, 2023
Seamless integration and easy implementation
Microsoft licensing has always been tricky. There have been several changes in the last quarter, such as the addition of a new SKU on top of the existing ones. The licensing can be messy at times. Apart from that, it's fine. One area where Microsoft lacks is network-level protection. Currently, it focuses on endpoint protection. However, with the shift to remote work, network-level protection has become less relevant since users take their devices home, and there is no physical boundary after COVID. So, investing in network equipment might not be as useful as protecting endpoints with features like EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and behavioral monitoring. That would probably be helpful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The biggest value of ISE is that it can get so granular with gaming systems, versus IoT and BYOD."
"The most valuable feature is AnyConnect Posture because it scans all the programs on the workstation and checks if the antivirus is up to date, as well as the cryptographic keys on our SSD."
"In terms of scalability, you need to factor in your licenses. With a virtual platform, the scalability is more than sufficient. We have over one thousand users."
"TACACS and .1X security are the most valuable features. TACACS acts for user control, so no one can authenticate to our network devices, and .1X is to validate that unauthorized devices are plugged into our network."
"For my use cases, the in-depth troubleshooting into why a client can't connect or why they failed, is very valuable. I can go back to someone and say, 'Hey, it's not my network. It's their certificates or user error,' or something else."
"The product is useful for device administration."
"Improves switch account management."
"We have multiple metal devices from different places that use management, so we need to know who would be accessing all those devices and what changes are being done to those metal devices. With Cisco ISE we have visibility of all the changes happening on those devices."
"The solution is very good at securing files. For example, if I forward a secure document, it's blocked from others, as I can send it with restrictions in relation to who can open it."
"The solution is scalable."
"Microsoft Mobility and EMS include Intune for Mobility, which provides mobile device management and mobile application management. With mobile device management, you can control the entire device in an organization."
"The solution offers excellent documentation that is easily available online."
"You can scale the solution up or down by department."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"A good feature that is present is MAM or Mobile Application Management. We can deploy this feature on the device, which is not managed by the organization. If I apply some security configuration on a personal device, the user would be really disappointed. What we do instead is that we give all access to the applications related to corporate and ask the users to use the application. We secure the application by putting the security features on the applications and not on the users' devices. This way, the users are happy, and we also meet our company's compliance standards. Then, everyone is happy."
"The product is a unified solution and you don't require to purchase tools from different vendors. The system analyzes behavior and activity and takes steps for protection."
 

Cons

"This product doesn't work in isolation."
"With the recent release of the solution, we had a bunch of bugs and we had to delay our deployment. Other than that, the solution is good."
"If Cisco could grant more control, the features could be more focused on network and security administration, reducing the need for integration with other components."
"Since we have started, we struggled a lot to implement this solution into our network, and we opened a case a couple of times. Up until this point, nothing else needs to be improved with this product."
"The pricing and licensing structure are not ideal for customers."
"Cisco ISE does not recognize devices and that is an issue we faced during its integration with our existing devices."
"Whenever we see the authentication logs, we can't see what device we're logging into... We can see who logged in, but we can't see the IP address of the device... I'm sure that's available. We just haven't figured out how to properly deploy it."
"It could be less monolithic. It's one huge application, and it does everything under the sun, so it's hard to deal with and upgrade and manage."
"Microsoft's feature management is based on licenses. Microsoft follows ethical licensing and hence do not restrict the use of it."
"The licensing can be messy at times."
"We did the deployment with the help of Microsoft's consultants. But sometimes, we found it difficult to educate the application developers to integrate."
"The licensing is quite expensive."
"The MDM part of the engine could be better."
"Technical support could be improved. Sometimes they use a third party that's not so knowledgeable in the product and that can slow down things a bit."
"There are certain shortcomings in the licensing model of the product where improvements are required."
"Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price for Cisco ISE is high."
"The pricing is complicated."
"It is fair."
"If you're not going through an agreement, it's very expensive."
"I don't know too much about the actual pricing on it. The licensing part is pretty straightforward. It's a lot more simple than some of the other Cisco licensing models. In that aspect, it's great."
"The price can be lower, especially for subscriptions. It should be a lot cheaper to have a wide range of customers. The price should be comparable to competitive products like Forescout or Fortinet FortiNAC. Forescout is cheaper for customers looking for a cloud solution."
"Cisco is moving towards a subscription service, which would mean additional costs."
"The price is a bit on the high side."
"We have to pay 10 dollars per user. I would rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten."
"The increase in the prices of the product might not be the actual problem, but things become complex with some new plans that were introduced by Microsoft recently."
"I would rate pricing at eight out of ten. It is a bit higher because of the security features that Microsoft provides."
"The solution is cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
The increase in the prices of the product might not be the actual problem, but things become complex with some new plans that were introduced by Microsoft recently. Initially, my company used to ha...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security?
Since Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security needs to deal with the competition from VMware and Ivanti, I visited PeerSpot's website to see how Microsoft can compete with its competitors. Microso...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Enterprise Mobility + Security E3, Enterprise Mobility + Security E5, MS Enterprise Mobility + Security
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
Mars, Whole Foods, Land O'Lakes, Dow
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Fortinet and others in Network Access Control (NAC). Updated: September 2024.
801,394 professionals have used our research since 2012.