BlueCat Gateway vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

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BlueCat Logo
126 views|67 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Cisco Logo
4,213 views|2,398 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between BlueCat Gateway and Cisco DNA Center based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Automation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed BlueCat Gateway vs. Cisco DNA Center Report (Updated: March 2024).
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The ability to develop a kiosk-like solution for in-person assistance is crucial.""We found IP and Network Discovery the most valuable features of BlueCat Gateway. Our team found it very easy to build, verify, and validate APIs in BlueCat Gateway, mainly if the users have a background in development and APIs. Our team found that BlueCat Gateway answers our needs well."

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"The solution helps in user microsegmentation.""It is very versatile in terms of analytics.""It gives us automation capabilities for pushing out the configuration to branch networks. It also provides visibility into the health of user network devices.""Has a good processing feature with a high level of accuracy.""What's most valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the ability to manage any Cisco infrastructure and device through it. Setup was straightforward.""DNA Center is scalable.""It does a lot of things automatically, and that's the big thing with it. They're making the software so that you don't need to be as knowledgeable as me on the switching and routing side to get your work done. If you want, you can have DNA troubleshoot your problem for you and give you solutions or fix it itself, if it was something that's just a configuration issue.""The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"

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Cons
"My most significant concern is that the documentation has problems.""One area for improvement in BlueCat Gateway is the time it takes to fill in the dropdown in the UI of the solution because the speed with which the data loads isn't that fast. It would be better if you didn't have to wait for old items to load before seeing the first data."

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"As a user, it would be good if I could plug in controllers, suites, and devices from other vendors to Cisco DNA Center.""They should include UTM features in the product.""The solution’s security side could be improved.""The network, data center, and SD-WAN are all being treated as different services, but I would like to have only one solution to manage all of them.""There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers.""Cisco could improve the security side of their solutions.""Technical support could be better. The price could be better, and it could be more stable.""The weaknesses primarily involve pricing and the ongoing need for increased bandwidth and data throughput."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The cost is actually quite favorable based on our negotiations."
  • More BlueCat Gateway Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Our licensing agreement is for three years."
  • "I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
  • "The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."
  • "Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."
  • "We have a three-year license with them."
  • "Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."
  • "The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
  • "It is an expensive solution."
  • More Cisco DNA Center Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We found IP and Network Discovery the most valuable features of BlueCat Gateway Our team found it very easy to build, verify, and validate APIs in BlueCat Gateway, mainly if the users have a… more »
    Top Answer:I have no information on BlueCat Gateway pricing, as the management team handles that area.
    Top Answer:One area for improvement in BlueCat Gateway is the time it takes to fill in the dropdown in the UI of the solution because the speed with which the data loads isn't that fast. It would be better if… more »
    Top Answer:The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated
    Top Answer:When it comes to deploying wireless fields, integrating defaults into the DNS interface can be challenging.
    Ranking
    9th
    out of 22 in Network Automation
    Views
    126
    Comparisons
    67
    Reviews
    2
    Average Words per Review
    1,136
    Rating
    9.0
    1st
    out of 22 in Network Automation
    Views
    4,213
    Comparisons
    2,398
    Reviews
    26
    Average Words per Review
    465
    Rating
    7.8
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    BlueCat Network Automation
    DNA Center
    Learn More
    Overview
    BlueCat Gateway allows you to automate and transform mission-critical business requirements into DNS, DDI, DHCP, and IPAM workflows, plugins, and applications and enables the rapid development of turn-key integrations with existing technology investments. Using zero-touch automation frees IT teams from time-consuming, error-prone, and repetitive network configuration and provisioning tasks so they can focus on the innovation business needs. BlueCat’s automation platform automates the DNS services necessary to provision and deallocates cloud and on-premises resources, enabling IT to respond faster to user requests.

    Cisco DNA Center is a robust, intuitive network controller and management platform that provides secure, safe access to applications and networks. Cisco DNA Center allows you to take control of your network to increase the effectiveness of your Cisco products, lower your TCO, and improve your ROI.

    Your organization’s network is an integral part of your business’s success. In today’s aggressive marketplace, organizations need a network management system in place that can effectively automate deployments and connectivity, and manage the health of their infrastructure. Additionally, management systems also need to be able to strategically maintain the quality and safety of their systems so that the organization can direct valuable IT resources to concentrate on projects that can improve the overall effectiveness of the organization. An intent-based network controller such as Cisco DNA center will help your organization do that.

    Cisco DNA Center is a group of software solutions that will automate all your virtual devices, provide secure administration of your network, and ensure the best network experience for all users on the network. Cisco DNA Center does away with all the tedious, mundane tasks and simplifies workflow device installations, upgrading from hours to minutes using Plug-and-Play (PnP) and Software Image Management (SWIM).

    Cisco DNA Center’s intuitive, robust assurance feature makes every network point a sensor, continually communicating user connectivity and application performance in real time. This ensures all issues are resolved immediately.

    Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco security solutions, Cisco Umbrella, and Cisco Secure Network Analytics, which provide an extra level of extensive security protection against threats. The entire solution can be easily managed from one single dashboard, making Cisco DNA Center a very robust, secure, complete solution.

    Benefits of Cisco DNA Center

    • Cost-effectiveness: Policy automation and remediation minimizes the amount of time IT staff spend managing mundane network tasks.
    • Improved performance: AI/ML automation improves workflow and overall user experience. A clean, crisp dashboard makes management easy.
    • Enhance your network: Cisco DNA Center delivers the latest, most intuitive cloud services and applications to optimize your network.

    • Improved security: Cisco DNA Center utilizes the most robust zero-trust policies based on overall endpoint user behavior to keep networks secure.

    Features of Cisco DNA Center

    • Easy automation: Cisco DNA Center offers zero-touch device deployment, automated quality of service (QoS), automated device discovery, and drag-and-drop policy creation.

    • Clear analytics: Cisco DNA Center offers more than 150 workable insights, such as guided remediation, endpoint tracking, context-guided analytics, and more.

    • Simplified management: Users have complete control from a user-friendly single dashboard that provides a completely transparent view of the network, devices, applications, and services. Additionally, there is integration with Cisco Prime or APIC-EM for the importation of maps or other configurations as needed.

    • Security: Cisco DNA Center provides a highly secure segmentation, encrypted traffic analytics, and robust threat detection and response, and also uses Stealthwatch and ISE integration.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Mostafa G., Network and Data Center Supervisor at a hospitality company, says, “Since using the solution, three or four people can do what 10 people could previously. It has been a benefit to the organization. We have many people from the team who manage a lot of devices. By using Cisco DNA Center, it has taken some of that burden away, we are impressed with it.”

    Nihar K., Managing Director at Allot Group, relates, “In day-to-day operations, especially post-pandemic, the majority of our customers have to work from anywhere. It's not just work from home, it's work from anywhere. Due to this work from anywhere concept, the traditional silos of a network for the data center architecture, managing everything from anywhere, and having that single integrated dashboard for each and every activity while being able to correlate those activities in line with a business objective, has been very well addressed by Cisco DNA. The solution's most valuable aspect is its simplicity and the complete automation of the network workflow, which we can use that correlate with the business. It's not only limited to STXs or a data center. It completes everything, which really helps us.

    Sample Customers
    US Department of Energy, Swisslos, DXC, Edeka SouthWest
    Information Not Available
    Top Industries
    No Data Available
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Hospitality Company10%
    University10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Healthcare Company6%
    Company Size
    No Data Available
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise61%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise70%
    Buyer's Guide
    BlueCat Gateway vs. Cisco DNA Center
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about BlueCat Gateway vs. Cisco DNA Center and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    BlueCat Gateway is ranked 9th in Network Automation with 2 reviews while Cisco DNA Center is ranked 1st in Network Automation with 37 reviews. BlueCat Gateway is rated 9.0, while Cisco DNA Center is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of BlueCat Gateway writes "Simple to use, straightforward to deploy, and provides good support and documentation". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco DNA Center writes "Practical implementation of VXLAN is good and provides centralized control". BlueCat Gateway is most compared with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, whereas Cisco DNA Center is most compared with Cisco Prime, Aruba Airwave, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, Huawei eSight and Juniper Mist Wired Assurance. See our BlueCat Gateway vs. Cisco DNA Center report.

    See our list of best Network Automation vendors.

    We monitor all Network Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.