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Cisco ACI vs Symantec Data Center Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 14, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco ACI
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Network Virtualization (1st), Software Defined Networking (SDN) (2nd)
Symantec Data Center Security
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 5.2%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Data Center Security is 1.6%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud and Data Center Security
 

Featured Reviews

Rahul Khandelwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables streamlined data center management with automation and application-centric design
The main features of Cisco ACI that I really appreciate are the application-centric and network-centric designs, allowing you to create your network according to your application. That's helpful, and it's good for one-time implementation. The automation capabilities are really helpful. We deployed one data center using Terraform, and after deployment, many automation features are available, which can be very helpful. Based on my experience, Cisco ACI provides substantial capability; you can design your network accordingly and it's part of the SDN family, providing many benefits to the organization, especially when moving from traditional network infrastructure. Many organizations are actually using the old traditional Nexus infrastructure or some old data center devices. It gives you significant control and one-time implementation capabilities, and it also provides better performance and security. Functionality-wise, Cisco ACI provides integration using automation. We implemented it through Terraform, which was easy. Those features are available, so I don't think any new features are needed right now; something new could come up, but they have implemented many improvements over the years.
Shahram Dehghani - PeerSpot reviewer
A robust solution that provides comprehensive protection for data centers, offering agentless security, powerful intrusion prevention, and a wide range of security features
The primary focus of data center security often revolves around serving customers who offer services to other clients within the data center. For example, if I operate a data center and provide security services, third-party customers might purchase virtual machine products within my data center. These products are automatically deployed, and we safeguard these virtual machines using intrusion prevention system features. This aspect is considered the most valuable part because when we set up these security policies, it's as if we're fortifying the entire infrastructure. It's not just about having good technical support; it's about having a robust IPS and comprehensive DOS prevention system on those operating systems. The advantage of Data Center Security is its ease of use and that it serves as a single unified platform, where I can apply all my security policies to protect that server.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The integration with vCenter means that when I create something on the network, it only has to happen one time instead of many times for our many virtual hosts."
"It provides flexibility, so you can install it everywhere."
"We get a full holistic view of the ecosystem."
"This product improved the way our company functions by enabling us to establish our goal of moving to a zero-trust model. That's how Cisco ACI helps us the most."
"It has saved me a couple of times, as just a backup feature. It can easily do a snapshot before you do any change, and if something goes wrong, you can just rollback."
"The main features of Cisco ACI that I really appreciate are the application-centric and network-centric designs, allowing you to create your network according to your application."
"It has made it much easier to deploy and make changes in the data center versus the previous infrastructure, which was NX-OS based."
"It is easy to use because you have all the information coming from the same technology."
"The console and tools are very user-friendly."
"The monitoring in the management console allows us to find out what is going wrong, and it gets reports even before the user reports it."
"Good file integrity monitoring features."
"The most valuable feature is the centralized console, which can handle different products that we have."
"The granularity of applying the policies is valuable."
"The ability to finely control permissions and restrictions on servers or assets through a customizable rule set is a key strength."
"We use the product to prevent unauthorized access to data, systems, and servers. It provides essential features for data center security."
"The tool will then detect any anomalies, such as an intruder who has breached the network, which can trigger the system lockdown feature if it's enabled and meets the defined threshold."
 

Cons

"ACI's blade servers could be more flexible, and its storage interface is a little too complex because they use some third-party storage solution."
"The ACI setup is in its initial phases is difficult. The learning curve at the beginning is higher than a normal setup."
"The CLI needs to be improved."
"We had issues in the first deployment when we tried to finish the migration from traditional networking to Cisco ACI."
"Since it is a new technology, Cisco moved all the menus. This made it tricky to use."
"It's a very complex system, as it should be. It's a new way of thinking about networking. Cisco ACI adds complexity. Cisco ACI is extremely complex. That's not necessarily a complaint, as much as it is a fact."
"In terms of improvement, I would like to see some sort of way to baseline the system in a network-centric fashion."
"The ACI user interface is complex and Cisco should improve it."
"A user or administrator making the policy in the DCS should have a very thorough knowledge of the operating system or policy making. You have to be very specific about the data structure."
"Adding more compatibility with common products like Microsoft would be a plus."
"The support is very bad. They're not fast at all. Trend Micro's support is much better."
"They need to develop a more flexible product that can be scaled such that it fits well into a small business or a bigger, enterprise-level solution."
"There is room for improvement in enhancing its graphical user interface for a more user-friendly experience."
"There is plenty of room for improvement with this product, and it could start with platform metrics."
"It would be advantageous if Symantec or Broadcom, given the rebranding, could simplify the process, enabling users to leverage the antivirus functionality more easily."
"This solution clashes with Microsoft defender, which results in performance degradation on the machine."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing, including both hardware and licenses, is reasonable."
"The pricing and licensing are both high, particularly if you want a high level of functionality. It would be great if the price and licensing cost could be decreased."
"The thing that I like the most from Cisco is the support and all the documentation that they have. We do have to pay for it though."
"There are no additional costs. We only have to pay for a support contract apart from the license."
"We don't use all of the features but it's still worth the money."
"The product is not cheap."
"Price is always an issue."
"The pricing is pretty good for new technology."
"Compared to some other solutions, such as CrowdStrike, Symantec is more expensive."
"It is notably more expensive when compared to other solutions."
"The product is a bit costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...
What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?
Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...
What do you like most about Cisco ACI?
The flexibility of adding new components with minimal impact on existing services running in the data center is a key benefit of this ACI-based solution.
What do you like most about Symantec Data Center Security?
The granularity of applying the policies is valuable.
What needs improvement with Symantec Data Center Security?
Agent management is a challenging task. We cannot do it from the console. We will have to use other tools.
What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Center Security?
One key use case for data center security is protecting files within the data center. This is especially important for Linux systems, where locking down specific files is essential to prevent unaut...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco ACI vs. Symantec Data Center Security and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.