Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) Reviews

We primarily use the solution in our infrastructure.

I'm very satisfied with the product. It has been excellent so far. 

From the performance perspective, it is excellent. The outcome is as expected, giving control to the network. 

There is good integration with third-party systems like antivirus patch management, MDM.

They need to simplify the processes and management more, as well as the platform. Their user experience is a bit complicated, and it's not easy to manage. They need to do something to enhance the management console and make it more simple and easier to use.

I need to see stronger integration with Cisco SDN. Instead of treating it as a separate appliance, it should be a built-in feature in the SDN solution. This is one of the things that will reduce the complexity of Cisco's architecture. Instead of having multiple appliances, and getting lost in-between, and not knowing where is the problem is, everything can just be in one place. It will be better to move this feature or this technology as a built-in technology in the SDN solutions, similar to DNA and ACI.

The pricing and licensing structure are not ideal for customers.

I've used this solution for about five years, both in my previous company and my current company as well.

The solution provides excellent stability and reliability. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

We are a customer and an end-user.

Cisco, on the price, is not good now. This might entice customers or end-users to go for another cheaper solution where they can still find most of the features Cisco offers. 

They are now offering subscription licenses, and you have to pay thousands of dollars every year for maintenance and renewing support. Most users will not accept this new strategy of Cisco. It's not like HP or Dell, where, when you purchase the hardware and it's a lifetime license. It's a lifetime subscription. You don't need to renew the license every two years. Therefore, from a price perspective, no, Cisco's not good. Their strategy now seems to be pushing customers to go for other solutions.

The product is excellent and I would rate it at a nine out of ten.

We use this solution for both wired and wireless network access control. We have deployed it in a bank, government offices, and some universities.

I have found that all of the features are valuable.

It is very easy to deploy because we are able to port users directly from Active Directory (AD) and LDAP.

In an upcoming release, the solution needs to be more agentless and more independent. Additionally, there could be improved integration with other next-generation solutions, such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, or Check Point.

I have been using this solution for approximately nine years.

The solution takes a while to get up and running before it becomes stable. There is a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done to make sure that users are authenticated properly and not denied access. I have had the experience of redeploying the ISE several times because of false denial of services or access to services but once it is configured correctly the stability is fine.

I have found this solution is scalable, especially the latest versions. The older versions, have to have some additions in order to make them scalable. However, I think they have resolved this issue.

We have had customers of all business sizes using this solution, from small to enterprise companies.

The community support is satisfactory, it is very easy to get support. You can find any documentation and support within the community. 

The deployment takes a long time. Additionally, if you want to integrate the solution with AD and LDAP you will need someone that is very experienced. It is a good feature to have but it is complex to integrate.

We have had experience deploying this solution to small, medium, and enterprise size companies.

This solution requires an annual license and it is a bit expensive than competitors.

I rate Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) an eight out of ten.

The way we can trust this solution is the most valuable. We have no issue with this product. It is a competitive product. You need to have a very good and deep knowledge of the product to take the full benefits of all the features, but it is a good product.

It is too complex. It should be easy to use. We are not such a big team. We only have three engineers to work with this, and we don't use all of the functionality of the product. Its range of functionality is too wide for us, and this is the reason why we are thinking of switching to a more simple product. We have shortlisted a Microsoft solution. We have a big footprint for Microsoft products, especially in security. As a global strategy, we try to leverage to the maximum what is possible around Microsoft.

This product was installed before I joined this company. It would be six years or something like that. We are probably two versions behind the latest one.

It is stable.

Their technical support is good. Cisco support is good.

I was not there, but I think the company had a services company that helped them in implementing it. It was easy because we only had to give them the requirements and their engineers did it for us. After they finished their mission, we started to deal with this solution, but it is too complex for a company of our size.

Its price is probably good if you use all of its features and functionalities to protect your environment. If you use only a part of the functionality, its price is too high. It is just a question of value and the functionality you use.

I would advise others to make sure that you have the knowledge of this solution to get the full benefits of all the features, and you are able to use it on a daily basis.

I would rate Cisco ISE a six out of ten. Its functionality is too wide for our company. 

We are a reseller of Cisco ISE. 

So far we have had no complaints from customers. No major complaints in terms of ISE. They do complain obviously if the ISE service stops working. Normally that happens if there's a server flaw or some problem at the data center somewhere. 

There can more integration between the wireless controller management and ISE. Consolidation or integration of the controller and ISE dashboards would be great. It's not that bad but would make for simplified support if it could be combined into one dashboard.

It's very stable. We have it in on a big car rental company. We manage and we support the Cisco ISE platform for them. It's very stable and it adds a lot of value to the network.

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. 

We've got two engineers that look after the ISE environment.

We have emailed tech before and their support has been very good.

The initial setup was straightforward. The time it takes to implement depends from customer to customer. The most time-consuming aspect is sitting with the customer and planning out the policies and how they understand Cisco ISE. On average, with the planning sessions with the customer and the installation of ISE, it takes approximately five days.

The licensing is too expensive. There is more complexity on the wifi environment, especially with Cisco DNA versus Cisco ONE licensing. As far as the ISE licensing is concerned, it's pretty straightforward. We normally follow the ordering guide which is quite detailed, so there's no problem there.

The advice that I would give someone considering this solution is to understand the licensing. From a design perspective, we refer to the ordering guide quite frequently. The most important thing is to have a technical planning session with the customer. A lot of the time the customer doesn't really know what they want and if you don't have that upfront planning and discussion with the customer, the deployment can take much longer.

I would rate it a ten out of ten. 

We use Cisco ISE for device authentication, such as auto switches, and wireless authentication.

The most valuable features are authentication, we have more granular control on the access policies for the administrators. The solution is easy to use, has a center point administration, and has a good GUI.

The solution could be more secure.

I have been using Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) for approximately five years.

Cisco ISE is stable.

I have found Cisco ISE to be scalable.

We have approximately 500 people using this solution in my organization.

We were using Cisco ACS previously. I have found Cisco ISE to be a more advanced and easy-to-use solution than the Cisco ACS.

The installation is straightforward since we have worked on Cisco platforms previously.

We have approximately 100 people for the maintenance and support of this solution.

I rate Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) an eight out of ten.

I am a reseller. I provide solutions to our customers.

We used Cisco ISE for Wi-Fi implementation for one project at the International Airport.

The most valuable features of this solution are guest authentication and stop authentication.

I felt that it was quite good and well suited for us.

Overall, the features and the product are quite good. 

It has all of the features available, in fact, more than what you need.

The initial setup could be simplified.

The support could be faster and the pricing could be reduced.

Cisco ISE is a stable product.

It is a scalable solution.

Technical support is fine.

It might take some time. At times, it will take two hours to come online.

Support is available as long as you have the support contract.

I have not worked on any other product.

The initial setup is a bit complex. The integration with the Active Directory is a bit involved.

The price is a bit on the high side.

The features are quite comprehensive, but it's okay. However, the pricing is on the higher side.

Feature-wise, it is a nine out of ten. Overall, I would rate Cisco ISE an eight out of ten.

Our customers use Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) as a network access control solution. Before they can get network access, you can do posture check, e.g. in the Windows version, or another version, then it is only after this posture check that the clients can enter the network.

Compatibility with other vendors is what needs to be improved in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine). We should be able to use it with other vendors, for all specifications. There should be integration with different vendors, e.g. Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) working with AccuPoint networks.

I've worked in my current company in product pre-sales for one year, and prior, I worked for a different partner company in Turkey, so my total usage of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) spans eight years.

Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is a stable solution. It has good performance.

If we need support from the vendor side, we can open a case, then the vendor replies to us as soon as possible. Support for Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is fast.

The installation of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) was easy.

Our customers pay for the license of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine). They have an annual subscription, rather than a monthly subscription.

I evaluated Fortinet.

I'm a technical person, and I've worked for a company that does system integrations, including network pre-sales. My company sells Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) and Fortinet products in Turkey. I can also sell these products. My company is a gold partner of Cisco.

I've sold the on-premises version of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine).

Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is the best solution for Cisco network customers. It is the best solution for Cisco network devices. As for network products from other vendors, we can use, or we could offer other network access control (NAC) solutions, e.g. Fortinet NAC, or Aruba Secure NAC, etc.

I'm part of the pre-sales team at our company. There are other people who are responsible for installing Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) post-sales, e.g. they install the solution for the customers. For this reason, I am unable to give information on how long it takes to install the solution.

We currently have over 30 users of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine).

I can recommend Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) to other users.

My rating for Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is eight out of ten.

The solution is primarily used for Network management and Network Access Controls.

The general usefulness of the product is not specific to a particular feature. This is a comprehensive solution covering access to network to create a zero trust environment. It covers Network Access Control, Network Segmentation & policy control

The solution integrates well with other Cisco solutions. It works both from a single-vendor perspective and in cases where the client might have a hybrid network and multiple security solutions.

The product offers very good functionality.

From a configuration point of view, it's simple. It's not very complex. I don't see any major challenges when using the product.

The solution is reliable.

The scalability is good.

We haven't had any issues with technical support. They have been helpful. 

I have not come across any missing features. 

It would be ideal if Cisco could provide some short training videos or documentation to customers to help them understand how to use the product. 

We have not used this solution for ourselves but implemented it for various organisation's.

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. The performance is good. 

This solution can work well for large enterprises that have a larger environment, such as a distributed environment. Mostly, from my organization's perspective, we deal with SMEs.

The solution is quite scalable. 

I've been in touch with technical support in the past. They are quite good. I am satisfied with the level of support they provide. I don't have any complaints. 

Positive

The initial setup is not very complex. All similar solutions will have a similar type of configuration as well, so it's pretty simple to figure things out. 

In terms of how long a deployment takes, it primarily depends upon the environment the customer has. Customers might have a very basic environment wherein it might get done in a couple of hours or so. If it is a very complex environment and they have multiple policies to be deployed, then it could definitely take more time.

There aren't any challenges when it comes to maintenance. It's pretty simple. 

I don't handle the licensing aspect of the product. I can't speak to the exact costs involved. 

We have not faced any major challenges in terms of getting a good price point from our customer's perspective. That said, the pricing would depend upon the perceived value of the solution rather than the actual cost of the product. If the solution is able to help the customer in mitigating its challenges many customers don't see any point in discussing the price point if POC is successful

We are a system integrator.

The version of ISE we are using depends on the customer. 

We primarily have the solution set up on premise. 

In terms of advice, from a security standpoint, it is paramount for any organisation, to be secure, no matter its size (large or small). Having secure network access control will always make it safer & help organisation in attaining a zero trust environment 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.