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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs NetIQ Identity Manager 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)
NetIQ Identity Manager
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (9th), Identity Management (IM) (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and NetIQ Identity Manager 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.
NetIQ Identity Manager, on the other hand, focuses on User Provisioning Software, holds 4.4% mindshare, down 5.8% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC)
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rohit-Joshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 3, 2023
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.
SYAMSUL SALAM - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 11, 2023
The product is affordable and easy to use, but the technical support must be improved
The solution is used to manage SSO and login for internal applications The product enables detailed user management. The product is easy to use. Our users found it easier than Microsoft Identity Manager. The solution must add more configurations. There are different types of user identity in…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The profiling model included is the most valuable feature."
"Assisting a larger number of users in gaining access and guiding them through the process of getting on Cisco ISE has been seamless."
"Among the most valuable features is TACACS."
"SGTs are valuable because they make it easy to enforce policies, instead of pushing them across all the other platforms."
"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."
"The interface is pretty easy to use."
"It's scalable."
"It's flexible and stable. It's been good as a standard environment to run."
"NetIQ does not have a limit on the number of users."
"The most valuable feature of NetIQ Identity Manager for identity synchronization is the ability to provide users with all necessary access on day one through automated provisioning, facilitated by approval workflows."
"The access request management has improved significantly in terms of its user interface. What sets it apart from competitors like SailPoint is that it's an event-based solution rather than schedule-based. That's a key differentiator."
"I like the eDirectory feature."
"The most valuable features are Password Reset Alerts, Password Sync, and SQL connectors."
"It's a very flexible tool, so you can synchronize multiple sources of data and you have multiple connections to various kinds of systems."
"The main value lies in the simplicity of implementation, as well as its customized look and feel."
"The most valuable feature of this solution has been the ability for us to integrate a lot of external systems, and the automatic transfer of a lot of identity information. Additionally, the customization is very good."
 

Cons

"The product is expensive. It would also be a good add-on to have some machine learning."
"Some of ISE's features need to be more agile. For example, we couldn't integrate our data because Cisco needs your data to be in its own format."
"Cisco could improve the GUIs on their hardware."
"The interface is a little bit complex."
"When I work with customers to do my knowledge transfer, they're really overwhelmed with the navigation of the product and the number of things you can do with it. From a user interface standpoint, Cisco could focus on making certain tasks a bit more guided and easier for customers to walk through. That is, a user-friendly interface and streamlined workflows would be great."
"The upgrades could be better. Every time we try to do an upgrade, we have problems. It's a pain."
"An area that could be improved is the agent. The challenge now is that agent and most of the computers have changed. They could think about agent-less deployment."
"The installation is not straightforward, it took us approximately one month."
"There's no huge thing missing, because it's already comprehensive. Now and then, however, there might be a minor issue."
"The solution architecture is somewhat complex. For some components, the necessary resilience is not inherent."
"It needs some modern features. They should improve and modernize their management interface. It has been created over years and by different persons. You can see different applications, different management consoles for different things. There should be an integrated interface."
"The integrations must be made easier."
"The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring things for smaller customers."
"The interface is old and outdated, and the design software seems archaic."
"NetIQ Identity Manager could improve by updating the user portal, it is out of date."
"We have another system that is using the SAML system, and we also integrate with Active Directory only. If NetIQ Identity Manager can integrate directly, we would not need to use the Active Directory directory."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fair for what it does."
"Licensing is a disaster. It's a mess and I hope they fix it soon."
"Hardware appliances are expensive...Now moving to DNA-styled licensing, we have subscription-based licensing for everything. I hope it will continue to be fair, but we will have to wait and see."
"The Essentials licensing is reasonable, but I would like the Premier version to be perpetual instead of a subscription."
"It's damn expensive and the licensing is terrible... If you have perpetual licenses on 2.7 and you upgrade to 3, you are forced to go with Essentials. That is one of the issues that I'm seeing with my clients now."
"It's an expensive solution when compared to other vendors."
"There are other cheaper options available."
"The price for Cisco ISE is high."
"The price of the solution is a bit high and could be reduced."
"Micro Focus is flexible when it comes to price. The cost varies from customer to customer. There are no additional costs, though. Everything is included."
"The solution is quite affordable."
"You just need to be aware that the more systems you connect, the more license fees you have to pay."
"It would easily help them in getting more market and more customers if more consultants knew about their software. If they could keep it free for schools for teaching purposes, it would be good. I had to pay myself to get it and use it for training. Their competitors are giving it for free. I had to pay for it myself. They are losing market to their competitors."
"I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being low price and ten being high price. It is significantly more cost-effective than the major players in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
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 do you like most about NetIQ Identity Manager?
The most valuable feature of NetIQ Identity Manager for identity synchronization is the ability to provide users with all necessary access on day one through automated provisioning, facilitated by ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Identity Manager?
The pricing depends on whether we buy the solution as a service or a license. The license is expensive. If we buy it as a service for a large number of users, it is the cheapest tool we can get. Th...
What needs improvement with NetIQ Identity Manager?
The tool is used mostly in big systems to understand what is happening. There are not many technicians who know how to use the product. The vendor must provide an easier console for configuring thi...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ISE
Novell Identity Manager
 

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
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