It's a horizontal use case of replacing the WAN. Typically, they are replacing the MPLS.
They are also trying to save costs and reduce complexity.
Nuage Networks is easy to use.
It has good reporting and analytics, that most people can understand without too much difficulty.
The features are what I believe to be one of its strengths. Cisco frequently has 800 features, but customers only use ten of them, and Nuage has fifty for example that can all be easily used.
One of the many benefits of Nuage Networks is VoIP. It will maintain a call session even if you lose an uplink.
Security is an area that could use some work. When compared to Versa, it has full Layer Seven security built-in, whereas Nuage is sticking to a stateful firewall model and allowing other vendors to do sassy, with them simply being the SD-WAN underlay of sassy. I believe they are a little behind in their thought process.
I've worked with Nuage Networks for seven years, the last two as a product manager.
Nuage only has one version of SD-WAN.
Nuage Networks is a stable product.
We have not investigated scalability; however, I am aware that they have clients with thousands of sites, indicating that Nuage Networks is a scalable product.
Technical support is good.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I would rate them maybe a 3.5. I would say that there is some room for improvement there.
I am also familiar with Meraki SD-WAN.
It has a very enticing user interface. They've done a fantastic job with the interface, They have enhanced the appearance.
An interesting fact is that Meraki's offering isn't a true SD-WAN. A true SD-WAN has an SD-WAN controller, an orchestrator, and it doesn't have those things, but Nuage does.
One of the things that I believe most people don't ask and don't realize until they are in that situation is that if I have a VoIP call and I lose one of my uplinks with my Meraki, I will lose that VoIP call. With a true SD-WAN, you won't. It will failover and you will maintain that VoIP session. This is something that Cisco, and Meraki do not advertise, but if you ask their SE, they will tell you.
The VoIP is probably one of the larger issues, and instead of true SD-WAN, all they have are L3 VPNs. All they have done is put a wrapper around it, so you don't have to configure it. However, it is not true SD-WAN if there are one or more controllers and the overlay and underlay are separated. I believe that if people truly understand what SD-WAN is, they will be able to look beneath the surface and say, "That's not what that is."
Meraki is easy to set up. It's actually quite high on the setup, in my opinion. With the caveat that it is not truly SD-WAN.
It's a stable solution. I have no issues with the stability of Meraki SD-WAN.
Meraki is a scalable product.
The technical support is excellent.
Nuage is very competitive. Cisco has never tried to be a price leader since it launched. It's not one of the market forces that they try to be a price leader.
If they want a true, automated failover, I would suggest asking some pointed questions.
I would rate Meraki a seven out of ten.
The initial setup is easy.
If we don't have to install circuits, we can have a new order ready in two weeks.
Nuage Networks is very, very competitive going up against other vendors such as Meraki, Viptela, Velocloud, or Versa. I would say, from our cost perspective, they are extremely competitive.
We sell this solution. I am the product manager for Nuage Networks.
Nuage does not sell directly to the public; instead, they sell through service providers.
One of the issues that people get hung up on is that when they look at the Gartner Magic Quadrant, but Gartner rates them in the lower-left only because they don't give up their numbers because they sell through service providers. Sometimes people dismiss that, without doing their homework.
I would recommend at least considering this solution, as an option.
It's a very good platform.
I would rate Nuage Networks a nine out of ten.
