What is our primary use case?
We use the solution internally in our company. We have multiple sites in the UK, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, and Egypt.
How has it helped my organization?
We had been using on-premises routers and switches, but faced connection problems. We also needed to take care of the on-premises environments.
With a cloud-based environment, we can rely on higher resilience solutions from Cisco. They are good at creating cloud-operated infrastructure. If we have issues, we can troubleshoot them centrally and it's really easy for us to manage services on the infrastructure side.
What is most valuable?
The routing service for NPLS called Layer 3-IP is fantastic.
What needs improvement?
If you lose connectivity to the cloud, it is difficult to establish connectivity between the hub and spoke.
We tried to implement VPN services but it is missing. ISR or ESR router services are also missing.
I'd like additional features connected to my network for video design, topology design, and graphing. For example, the topology provided is not enough and should include where traffic is coming and going. Normally this feature comes with firewall services, but it would be great to have it included and managed with cloud services.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Some improvements are needed in scalability. When user traffic is high, there are performance issues depending on the user and the link used to connect. Cisco is providing enough bandwidth to manage the routing, so there's room available and there shouldn't be lags in performance.
We have a mix of 500 users including our programming team that does in-house development and our administrative team.
How are customer service and support?
We have not needed technical support. I'm the infrastructure engineer who opens support tickets and resolves issues with the administrative team.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We tried to use another solution but reverted back to Cisco because we have great experience working with Cisco Cloud Routers, especially on Meraki.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and very good. It is easy to configure the routers and get them online within a few minutes.
Deployment takes some time because you have to plan in advance for IPS, hosting, site readiness, and other details.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the solution ourselves and manage it in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The yearly subscription is causing some issues with our budget. They should reduce costs for some customers. When we review budgets, management asks if there are subscription discounts because we want to reduce pricing on the IT side. Management indicates that pricing is a bit high but we haven't done comparison pricing at this point.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We conducted a proof of concept study that compared other solutions to Cisco. Apples to apples, we determined that Cisco was a great solution for our requirements.
We mainly work with Cisco, HP, and 4Gnet.
What other advice do I have?
As an end user, I would recommend Cisco because it is stable, has good performance, resiliency, high availability, quick setup, a friendly environment, and friendly interfaces that are easy to deploy and manage. You will not have the hassle of on-premises solutions such as configuration and connectivity.
You receive one product and then think of how to deploy it. You should be a highly technical person, but it's easy to use. You don't need to be a CCI to handle setup. It's a very easy deployment that will make your life easy.
I rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
