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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs OpenIAM Identity Governance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Identity Services Eng...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (2nd), Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
OpenIAM Identity Governance
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (12th), Identity Management (IM) (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and OpenIAM Identity Governance aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is designed for Network Access Control (NAC) and holds a mindshare of 19.4%, down 25.8% compared to last year.
OpenIAM Identity Governance, on the other hand, focuses on User Provisioning Software, holds 2.8% mindshare, up 1.3% since last year.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)19.4%
Aruba ClearPass18.5%
Fortinet FortiNAC14.5%
Other47.6%
Network Access Control (NAC)
User Provisioning Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenIAM Identity Governance2.8%
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud19.3%
One Identity Manager9.5%
Other68.4%
User Provisioning Software
 

Featured Reviews

NF
Network and Technology Information Manager at Akkodis
Has improved authentication management and simplified visitor network access
The log capacity in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced because today natively on the ISE can only have a look at the logs from the day before. You cannot search into the oldest logs; you have to use another tool for that. This can be blocking if you don't have any log consolidation solution. To do a search for an issue or something that happened two days ago, you cannot search directly in there. The capacity of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced. Something between one week and one month for the log capacity would be nice.
SM
Lead Consultant at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Manages user identities and application access in a centralized way from a single console/portal
OpenIAM provides an Identity and Access Management platform which includes identity and access management (i.e., SSO, Multi-factor Authentication, password synchronization, and RBAC). Below are the features : Lower Cost of Implementation & Total Cost of Ownership: * OpenIAM uses tools, such as Groovy script to implement business rules, Grails to create new UI functionality, Activiti for workflow, PowerShell, etc. It also support web services. So it is important to find skilled technical resources readily and at reasonable cost in comparison to the large vendors, which use proprietary tools for developing custom connector or product customization as per business requirement. * OpenIAM is also based on Open Source technologies (i.e., JBoss, Apache, MySQL, CentOS), so Total Cost of Ownership is very low in comparison to other IAM products. * Compliance with standards simplifies integration. * Subscription-based license model. Ease of Use: OpenIAM offers a single unified Admin console and a single unified self-service portal for customers to use and manage the IAM suite (i.e. Identity Management, Access Management, and Multi-Factor Authentication). Modern Architecture: * Built from the ground up, not through acquisitions and proprietary technology. * SOA architecture * Cloud-enabled Enterprise Grade Product: Even though OpenIAM is based on Open Source technologies, it is: * Built on industry standards * Simplified integration * Uses established industry frameworks

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are the NAC and the bundles that are available with Cisco ISE, such as Cisco ACS being integrated."
"The solution is great for establishing trust for every access request no matter where it comes from."
"A lot of customers use a third party to manage their guest Wi-Fi. Cisco ISE presents the ability to bring that in-house so that customers can have full control over it, change the branding, and get extra telemetry from it and the user data. It works really well for our customers."
"The authorization and accounts inside of ISE are very useful for us."
"We have become more reliable because we do not have any vulnerabilities coming into our network, which is important since a lot of employees are using their own endpoints to connect to our infrastructure."
"There are a lot of integrations available with multiple vendors. This has made the solution easier to work with."
"I'm very satisfied with the product; it has been excellent so far, with excellent performance, expected outcomes that give control to the network, and good integration with third-party systems like antivirus, patch management, and MDM."
"Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is very good at device administration."
"Customer support is very good and available in almost all time zones."
 

Cons

"This solution is a bit more complex to set up than in comparison to other options - it can take anywhere from two to five months depending on the use case."
"There can be more integration between the wireless controller management and ISE. Consolidation or integration of the controller and ISE dashboards would be great."
"Cisco ISE can become quite complex, especially with policy sets, the entire authentication process, and everything involved."
"A lot of people tell you the hardware requirements for ISE are pretty substantial. If you're running a virtual environment, you're going to be dedicating quite a bit of resources to an ISE VM. That is something that could be worked on."
"Automation [is an area for improvement]. It seems like everywhere I look, automation is super important. Automation and integrations. That's the area it could be improved..."
"There are always some things that I would request."
"The solution could be more secure."
"The Cisco wireless​ controller needs to add more than one physical port."
"OpenIAM should improve the product/API documentation on portal which gives more flexibility to developers for product customization and connector development."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It costs around 50,000 baht in the first year, but I'm unsure about the second year."
"I have complaints. I don't enjoy the licensing model. Once we moved from 2.7 to 3.1, switching from Base, Plus, and Apex to Essential and Advantage in Premier, we went from a perpetual, with our base licenses, to now a subscription-base. So, we will have to renew those licenses every year, and I'm not a fan of that for our base licenses. Apex/Premier, we already expected, which is fine, but for basic connectivity, I am not a fan of that."
"The price is a bit on the high side."
"ISE has always been expensive compared to other products in terms of what it does on a user level."
"The price of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) is expensive and we are thinking about changing to FortiGate."
"According to my sales and account team, the prices we're getting are pretty good."
"I get very good pricing from Cisco, so I don't have a problem with that. I also don't have a problem with licensing because we get enterprise or global licensing."
"If you go directly with Cisco for the implementation it's very, very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
University
15%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Aruba Clearpass or Cisco ISE?
Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
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Also Known As

Cisco ISE
OpenIAM, OpenIAM IGA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
Citicorp, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Marsh and McLennan, SBC Warburg, GE Electric Insurance, Tata Communications, NettBuss, AMSCAN, Time Warner, MultiPlan, Stater Bros., County of Orange - California, TUI Hotels, NV Energy, EMCOR Group, Previred
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