Cisco SD-WAN Valuable Features
ER
Eliot Robinson
Executive Vice President Operations and IT at Sterling National Bank
Because our client uses two different ISPs at each location, the service is always up. The chances of Comcast going down at the same time that Verizon Files goes down is very, very small. The result is that the client's services are always up with much higher speeds and much lower costs. I think that those benefits are the ones that people are primarily interested in and that is what SD-WAN allowed us to achieve.
View full review »The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN are reliability and scalability.
View full review »Cisco products are rated to handle the heat and are very rugged, making them a good corporate standard. They are slightly more expensive than some other products but are still an affordable corporate-grade solution. We have had some issues with the ISO versions of the SD-WAN, but the FlexVPN solution has since resolved them. Cisco SD-WAN is a good, solid product, but requires a certain skill set to use. We cannot simply switch from Peplink to Cisco as the two are different. The upgrade to iOS 11 has fixed any issues we had with the product, and it has been reliable for the past four years.
Buyer's Guide
Cisco SD-WAN
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
The solution provides good consolidation, centralization, and manageability for edge routers.
View full review »The solution sufficiently provides ISPs.
View full review »The most useful features will depend on the clients' requirements.
The most valuable feature of Cisco SD-WAN is its compatibility and integration with the rest of the infrastructure.
View full review »It is very simple to deploy. It's a point-and-click type of deployment, so it's fairly simple.
View full review »LD
Ljubomir Djuric
Head of Network Service, Information's Communications Technologies and Development at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The solution is excellent mainly for supporting our two WAN ports. We can dedicate which WAN is taking over and which one is available or not. It's great that we can also connect them to the internet. We can have a third line to connect to the internet providers for our internet solution. Everything is redundant and everything is working so far.
Overall, it's been working well for us.
The solution is great at aggregating the traffic and then sending it in one direction.
We have a good knowledge base in-house and good support in general and therefore we have continued to use it over the years.
The product can scale well.
The solution is very stable.
View full review »The availability of services and combining different connections is most valuable.
View full review »The product is very good. The information is accessible, and the integration is also easy.
It is stable.
The solution scales well.
It has a very good GUI.
The interface is straightforward.
We find it very simple to deploy.
If a user needs documentation, it's readily available.
View full review »UR
reviewer1741488
Consulting & Solution Integration at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
One of the most valuable features is that they have multiple SD-WAN options: you have Meraki for simple management solutions, you have Viptela, and you have the option of having any type of WAN interfaces. Presently, you can also have a single combined solution for both WAN as well as for voice, so you can have a voice bundle as well. These are major unique points of this solution.
View full review »SN
Sammy Njoroge
Sr Manager Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Cisco provides visibility. We can see the performance of the branch. Troubleshooting is swift, allowing for fast turnaround times whenever we encounter an issue.
View full review »SI
SyedImran
Tech Specialist, Client Network DeliveryTech at AT&T
I like creating policies. This way, we can better utilize our WAN circuit and get better rates. Its GUI is user-friendly, and the CLI is also great.
View full review »UH
Umar Hanafi
Pre-sales Manager at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include the DIA and its integration with Cisco Umbrella for DNS security.
View full review »The solution has helped us to lower expenses.
The initial setup is quite straightforward.
It is very stable.
We can scale the solution.
View full review »The best feature is SD-WAN's automation capabilities. I believe many customers don't care whether we use VPN, or that use color or mGRE. When you're talking about management of, for example, a DMVPN solution or MDI solution, what is the option? So we have to go to a bug-by-bug report, like for example, NSRP to show these things. With vManage, we can see everything. We have a graph that we can click on and it helps us to remember better.
Another good feature in the HCI is the integration of a health monitoring system. Other solutions like SDx are all the same. They have an integrated health monitoring system. So if you are deploying a data center, the options aren't really that great. But this integrated health system in HCI in vManage or even SD-WAN in the vManage is helping a lot. And also
Customizing SD-WAN is very easy because you can define two colors. You can define two different operators. You can deploy a partial mesh, a full mesh, or hub-and-spoke totally differently. If you want to do this on a DMVPN solution, that's really hard. Also, things like Quality of Service in mGRE environment, in my opinion, are very hard because when you are dealing with mGRE, you have one tunnel at the hub and a different tunnel at the spoke. So what if I want to limit the traffic in my hub at the spoke? Because I have one tunnel, all the branches will be affected if I implement a limitation or restriction. So that's why we have advanced technology, like adaptive quality of service. With SD-WAN, the QoS is much easier because it is separate from the VPN.
The very beauty of SD-WAN is the separation of the plane. Right now, there are different planes. Compared to other solutions, the whole thing is totally changed. Rebound and vManage came into play as well as the new protocols like PnP. I started to convert most of the solutions from regular DMVPN into SD-WAN because we have the capability to define our VPN or define our color and customize by making a full or partial image.
HL
Hock Lye
Solutions Architect at Comstor Brasil
The most valuable features, application awareness, and failover resilience, stand out as key considerations for users.
The integration of Layer 3 and application routing is great.
View full review »The connectivity is great.
The dashboard is excellent.
It's a scalable solution.
The product is stable.
Technical support is very good.
View full review »From my observations, Cisco has been rolling out new features every other day, so I would say their speed of innovation is one of the most valuable aspects for me.
I would also point to their superior features when it comes to general connectivity, configuration, and reporting.
View full review »When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly. This feature enhances operational efficiency by centralizing control plans and policy management, making applying SD-WAN features across numerous devices easier. The central policy enforcement feature is also highly beneficial, particularly regarding network security. With this feature, security policies can be defined centrally, streamlining security management across the network. Another valuable aspect is the improved link utilization, which previously took a lot of work to implement. It enables granular control over link management, quality of service, and application prioritization, enhancing overall network performance. Furthermore, integrating APIs facilitates automation and simplifies routing, a previously unattainable capability.
View full review »HN
Harish Nair
Principal Solution Architect at Criterion Networks
The cloud environment, including cloud security integration, is very valuable because of the many API integrations with the SD-WAN. This includes monitoring tools, ThousandEyes, and the programmability aspect.
View full review »Cisco SD-WAN's best features are the development of network links, application control, and bandwidth monitoring.
View full review »AV
Andre Van Dalen
Network and Security Engineer at FrieslandCampina
The load sharing in the fabric and the cloud connectivity are both pretty flexible. The solution offers us the correct field mechanisms.
The solution is stable and reliable.
It can scale according to our needs.
View full review »AS
Arturo Sierra
Senior Engineer at Totalplay
The solution works well in big environments. It's excellent for large enterprises with a high number of users.
The deployment is quite simple and straightforward.
The solution is stable.
Technical support has always been quite helpful. We are very happy with their level of service.
It's possible to scale the solution.
We've looked into the existing documentation and found it to be okay. It varies, however, they do offer documentation for their products.
Overall, I really like the whole technology.
View full review »The first part that we like is that we can reuse certain hardware, which is a valuable asset. You can use hardware SKUs that already exist in the network.
The second part that we like is the integration with the cloud and the measurement of the cloud's quality. These are the two values that this solution gives as compared to other implementations that we have seen.
I'm focusing on using the application ware routing.
View full review »AQ
Asif-Qureshi
Senior Manager at Systems Limited
Cisco SD-WAN has separate OMP routing.
View full review »FD
fdiazm
Senior Product Consultant at Entel Chile
When we talk about SDN technologies, we are referring to user experience or customer experience. The complete solution is designed based on the services and the experience that we need our users to have with them.
This product offers the ability to utilize all of the access available in the market. Importantly, it does not affect the quality of the application. The best feature of this technology that is available to us is the ability to do better load-balancing. This is thanks to the deep inspection of the packets and of course, the forwarding of packets based on the application.
View full review »FD
fdiazm
Senior Product Consultant at Entel Chile
Being able to see the traffic in real-time and know what application you are consuming, together with the possibility of taking your requirements directly from the cloud, has been useful.
Load balancing is a feature that allows us to take the best of our links and distribute the load intelligently, always with an eye on the end-customer experience.
Being able to prioritize, according to the applications, the exit and entrance of the traffic in a dynamic way, unlike the current quality of service that is rigid and static, is a tremendous advantage as it is done according to demands in real-time, so the customer experience is always the best.
View full review »DA
reviewer1281732
Solution Director at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Cisco is an industry leader, so customers have a high level of trust with the brand more-so than with some newcomers that might have some more revolutionary solutions, but no name recognition.
The solution appeals to big companies that are keen on selecting a major vendor rather than an emerging one as there's an assumption of reliability.
Cisco's technical solution in itself is very reliable. From a purely technical point of view, this is one of the best options.
Overall, the solution is very advanced in network configuration and offers excellent automated routine features.
View full review »The most useful feature is centralized telephony.
View full review »The scalability is the most valuable feature.
View full review »The solution is stable.
View full review »We looked at an SD-WAN service and Cisco was a vendor that provided termination of those services. We bought it and it met the specification. Cisco Viptela solution met the specification for our network.
View full review »AN
reviewer1581828
Technical Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
This solution comes with comprehensive technical support.
View full review »SN
Sammy Njoroge
Sr Manager Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
The best feature about SD-WAN is the ability to consolidate the links to the branch and load-balance the traffic.
View full review »The segmentation, high security, and flexibility of the Cisco SD-WAN are the most valuable features.
View full review »SD
Saman Kumara Dissanayake
Director at Globe Internet Limited
With other routing protocols, we have had to send team members to perform installations and configurations. There is a lot of work involved. However with SD-WAN, once it is installed it is fully automated, and we can do all other tasks remotely. We don't have to send staff out to the client's location.
It's very independent, and we can establish SD-WAN connectivity easily. It is secure as well.
DR
reviewer1657632
Vice President Of Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
All the features that they have in there have been great. The solution offers good quality of service, visibility, connectivity, and security. It's all of that stuff that makes it good. That is what's required.
Cisco is finding its footing in that area, and they're getting better.
For our team, the installation is pretty straightforward.
The solution can scale. We haven't had any issues doing so.
View full review »The centralized management is the most important feature. We can monitor what is going on at every location in our network through just one center.
DO
reviewer1576422
Chief Digital Officer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
In terms of technology, we are completely agnostic. In many cases, we deal with Cisco simply due to the fact that the client already has a Cisco implementation. Most of the clients started their corporate deployment 10 or 15 years ago, and therefore there are legacy systems. Some of them are built on Cisco and we found that their systems are already implemented.
I evaluate new technologies continuously each month and we deploy, as I told you, across geographies in multiple companies. Cisco is definitely cutting edge, absolutely cutting edge in terms of robustness on the capability of the network to be very stable with very low delay. It is a proven, tried, and tested technology. It is very reliable software. It is rock solid and very stable with respect to delivering top-performance networking functions.
It is very stable with very good firmware. In terms of traditional functionality, it's unbeatable as an offer. I would say 10 plus as a vote in terms of traditional networking.
Cisco SD-WAN's most valuable feature is the ease of transition.
View full review »SP
Salvador Penalva
Telecom and Collaboration Manager at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees
Configuration interfaces are quite easy and intuitive. Being a part of the Cisco environment, Cisco SD-WAN is quite straightforward.
View full review »LC
reviewer1334937
Consultant Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Encryption, which is native to the solution, is a valuable feature. Also, central management, onboarding of devices, QS, and routing applications are all okay.
View full review »JA
Jonathan Arteaga
Pre-Sale System Engineer SOLA & NOLA at Logicalis Latam
It's a complete solution with many security features.
It integrates well with other Cisco solutions.
View full review »ZT
reviewer1252953
Network Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
The most valuable features are manageability, scalability, and simplicity.
View full review »AS
reviewer1584468
Lead BD,Global ICT & transformation at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If I have to give a neutral view of all the SD-WAN platforms that I have known so far, Cisco is good in routing.
The solution does not offer WAN optimization.
View full review »DM
reviewer1156254
Network Operations Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The orchestration on the VPN connection between remote locations is a fantastic feature. I used it some time ago.
View full review »MY
Majid Yousuf
Sales Engineer at Logicom
The solution has a high trust-level with clients.
The solution offers the customer good cost savings.
Our organization has found that the solution has helped us increase our levels of security for client networks.
It's very easy to manage and monitor the network's health and security using the solution.
The solution is east to upgrade as necessary.
View full review »MZ
Muhammad Zakaullah
Sr. Network Engineer Consulting Services at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good for cloud bases integrations and operational overheads. There is minimum blind space in this solution.
View full review »AS
AshutoshSrivastava
Project Manager at Tachyon Broadband
Cisco SD-WAN's collaborative features are unique and sustainable. I also like the protocols, which use two SD-WAN.
View full review »DH
Dániel Halmai
Head of IT Network Division at Panorinformatika
I have found the solution's main features are its ability to be customized, network traffic classification, and has a wide range of features that can be set.
View full review »PA
reviewer1420671
Pre-sales Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
The idea of SD-WAN is very good and it's efficient.
You get security, all of the service you need, and it's easy to deploy.
It is a feature-rich product with a lot of components.
View full review »AJ
AthumanJuma
Data Center Engineer at Emerging Communications Limited
So far, the feature that I like best is the policy configuration manager. It is better than performing a manual configuration.
View full review »JD
JeroenDe Jonge
Architect IT-systemen at Cegeka
It is really easy to deploy and use. It is also easy to use for failovers and designing solutions.
The rollout is really quick. It is easy to adjust and roll out.
View full review »The most valuable feature is the ease of central management. That is the main thing for us.
View full review »SS
reviewer1273860
Pre-sales consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I think segmentation is a valuable feature that the product provides. I think the segmented traffic it provides is the best in the industry right now.
Cisco SD-WAN is highly secure.
View full review »HA
reviewer1672659
Design Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Cisco SD-WAN is a very good product. It is difficult to highlight one specific feature.
SR
Steve Roy
Senior Director, Network Engineering at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
The most useful feature for our organization is the combination of on-prem and cloud-based deployments. We connect securely to our hybrid cloud using transit VPCs and cloud on-ramp for fast deployments. We have recently started using deep packet inspection allowing the use of the transit path as the firewall instead of putting firewalls on both ends of the mesh.
View full review »NP
reviewer848847
Network Analyst at a real estate/law firm with 1-10 employees
The regular net routing is a good feature. It's not just good for routing although like a lot of things it isn't linked to anything else.
SK
reviewer1433835
Executive Director at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
It is very simple and easy to manage, compared to other methods.
View full review »RJ
reviewer1079229
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The application link selection, I would say, is quite useful.
The load sharing over the multiple links is great.
We like the centralized management and aggregation aspects.
Technology-wise, it's decent.
The solution is pretty stable.
You can easily scale the product.
They did a new interface of Cisco SD-WAN. It's good.
View full review »PK
Pavan Kumar Mateti
Owner at SCO`Scope Consulting Private Limited
The product's brand recognition is one of the most valuable aspects of the solution.
View full review »TT
Thuy Truong
Administrator at SOURTHERN WAVES Solution
There was a scenario where the product improved our network's efficiency. For example, we had a customer with a main office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who wanted to connect with their offices in Hanoi and Hong Kong. By using the product, we could establish a connection between all the IP sites, creating a local network between them.
The tool is stable, and its troubleshooting capabilities are good. It helps us identify and fix any issues. It simplifies VPN setup for both side-to-side and multisite connections. This allows for easier data sharing between main and branch offices, creating a local network feel even for distant sites.
The most significant benefit we've realized from Cisco SD-WAN's application optimization capabilities is cost savings. Traditionally, businesses had to purchase expensive WAN or wide channels to connect their sites. However, with SD-WAN, they can utilize existing internet lines, eliminating the need for costly WAN.
The solution's integration with other products is good.
View full review »The security of the solution is pretty good.
We like the user interface. It's fairly easy to navigate.
The user experience is pretty good.
We've found that the solution is easy to deploy.
The solution is very popular with many vendors.
Overall, our experience has been very positive. So far, so good. We don't have many complaints about its capabilities.
View full review »UB
UzairBaig
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The most valuable feature is the application-level routing. One of our clients used this solution to route VOIP and video calls using MPLS.
The single dashboard makes the management very easy.
NP
reviewer848847
Network Analyst at a real estate/law firm with 1-10 employees
The most valuable feature is the network routing.
The reliability is high and we have only had to restart it once or twice over the years.
View full review »The most valuable features in Cisco SD-WAN are the QoS, AI, and simple interface for users to access.
View full review »DR
Dmitriy Ronkin
Network Engineer at Transportation
Viptela (router) SDN-based services:
- Hybrid networking.
- Combination of low-cost appliances and virtualization.
AR
reviewer1097490
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The solution is good to use and easy to handle and manage from the centralized location or from the cloud.
This means that no engineer need visit the site to do configurations and it addresses maintenance and upgrade issues, something which frees us up to accomplish more.
AG
reviewer1572669
Cisco Systems at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
I like the feature that lets you transfer from old devices to new devices without changing the hardware and subscription.
View full review »SZ
reviewer1461459
Team Lead Network Infrastructure at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The most valuable features are zero-disk provisioning and link load balancing on an application basis. In the case of link load balancing, if an application is not working properly on the primary link, it may be fine on the secondary one. This means that if the first link goes down then it may still be accessible, which is a very good feature.
View full review »YY
reviewer1599519
Junior Solution Architect at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
I have found the performance and the Zero-Touch provisioning helpful which makes it easier for us to develop.
View full review »ED
reviewer1113966
Director de Arquitecturas at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The security features are very good. We really like the application routing, for example.
The initial setup is quite simple.
The solution offers very good documentation.
Technical support is quite helpful.
The product is very scalable.
There are a lot of exciting features coming out very soon which we are looking forward to working with.
View full review »OM
reviewer1289013
System Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The solution's application control and application traffic steering tool are its most valuable aspects in terms of how we utilize the product.
The solution allows organizations to have visibility into the application traffic. After implementing the solution, we can see what types of traffic we have. We can see how users are using the internet and will be able to tell if anyone is downloading something that they shouldn't be or if they are consuming a lot of data.
SQ
reviewer731289
Head IT Operations at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
In a software-defined network architecture, it heals itself and the management of the solution is very easy.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Cisco SD-WAN
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco SD-WAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.