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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.3
Cisco ISE support is praised for expertise but criticized for slow responses and inconsistent quality, especially with complex issues.
No sentiment score available
Customer service for Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security varies, with reports of both effective support and inconsistent quality.
I rate the technical support as one out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.5
Cisco ISE requires improved integration, usability, and performance, with enhanced features and efficiency for better user adoption and experience.
Sentiment score
4.8
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security requires improvements in MDM, desktop support, technical assistance, licensing, network protection, and feature gaps.
They are very poor in asset classification and should focus on improving the preauthentication profiling, especially for NAC use cases.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco ISE is scalable for enterprises but requires proper design, planning, and hardware considerations for efficient deployment.
Sentiment score
8.3
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security scales easily for organizations of all sizes, offering flexibility and efficient license processing.
Factors like architecture, business nature, and legal limitations such as GDPR affect it.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Cisco Identity Services Engine pricing is competitive but complex, with tiered licensing and additional costs potentially impacting smaller businesses.
No sentiment score available
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is cost-effective with comprehensive features, valued pricing, and provides bulk licensing with extended plans.
Making large organizational costs significant.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Identity Services Engine is stable and reliable, with occasional update and scaling challenges, and generally effective support resolution.
Sentiment score
8.6
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is highly stable, effective, and reliable, with users experiencing minimal outages and consistently rating it highly.
The stability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is poor for certain use cases, like authentication.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco ISE provides robust network control, seamless Cisco integration, and enhances security with policy management, zero-trust, and BYOD support.
Sentiment score
8.3
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security excels in file security, productivity, integration, and user-friendly collaboration, offering strong identity features and centralized management.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is very good at device administration.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
140
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (1st), Cisco Security Portfolio (1st)
Microsoft Enterprise Mobili...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
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 29.2%, down 31.6% 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

Rohit-Joshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to ensure that any machine that comes into the network is patched and secure
Posturing is the most valuable feature. There are other tools available that can do some of their other features, like network authentication. The posturing was something because of the nature of the industry that we are in. There are people who go outside for work. Their machines are at times not in the network, and not patched properly. We don't know when they're going to come back, whether it is in a good state, whether it has antivirus, whether it's installed on those machines. Posturing is something that we have made our baseline policy that whenever a machine comes back to our network, it should have a certain level of the operating system and a level of security and antivirus installed. We couldn't have done this posturing without Cisco ISE. This is its greatest feature. It does help me to detect and remediate my network. It enables me to detect any external threat that comes to my network and remediate. If a machine comes into my network that does not qualify per my baseline policy, I have a policy that the machine gets redirected to where it can be patched and remediated. I can ensure that it is fully patched and secure. The entire idea of having ISE is to enhance cybersecurity resilience. The zero trust architecture was coined by the cybersecurity team itself. It was a task given to us in the infrastructure space to see how we can bring resilience into the cybersecurity network and ISE was the solution.
Dheen Jaabir - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Pharma/Biotech Company
7%
 

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: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.