It is best suited for larger companies with lots of remote workers that need complex access management. We've barely scratched the surface on what Appgate can do via its API.
Cisco AnyConnect is best suited whenever you would like to work remotely and would want to connect to your organization's network securely, in this scenario I would say Cisco AnyConnect trumps a lot of products out there it is simple and easy to use once it is set up. I would not use the Cisco AnyConnect posture enforcement service as a security feature because there are very good products out there that do a better job than it.
Cisco AnyConnect connects the machine with the VPN very smoothly in a few clicks also provides security with Multi-Factor Authentication.
It Provides the facility of creating Network groups such as Local and Project Network so that user can limit the connectivity options.
The System scan feature is so robust, it Scans the System every time we connect to a new network and remembers the older Network and does not Scans while we connect to usual Netwroks.
Live logging in the client. Currently you have to "download" the logs into a zip file and then open that zipfile to look at the logs. There's no logfile to tail or watch.
Load balancing between controllers could be better. Currently relies on round robin DNS and sometimes a browser will pick a different IP than previous and you'll get a big "LOST CONNECTION TO CONTROLLER" message.
Sometimes when the number of users is large for a VPN service, the connection fails, and the client doesn't give a proper error.
It should have better support for Linux. It is difficult to set up on Linux, and the interface for settings is not at all user-friendly.
A few times, the internet becomes slow after connecting to the VPN server through AnyConnect. It should be able to find the best and the optimal server while connecting.
This is software is easy to use, easy to maintain, easy to support, cost effective, and extremely secure. We will continue to use it for all employees well into the future. We have already renewed our licenses for another 5 years - that's how confident we are that this software will remain a primary security solution for our firm.
Configuration is very easy. Installation is very fast. There is little to zero local resource usage. It is easy to use for everyone at our company and is clearly connected or disconnected while running in the notifications tray. This is integrated easily with DUO 2 Factor Authentication, it waits for completion and then promptly completes the connection when authenticated.
Thus far, I have not encountered any outages to Cisco AnyConnect. Any firmware updates are completed infrequently and efficiently such that the users don’t experience noticeable downtime. I have not encountered any errors running the platform at any time of day or night , or from any geographical location. Provided a hard-wired or WiFi internet connection is available, expect Cisco AnyConnect to run without unexpected interruption.
The company has been supportive overall of our needs and desired features. I have not personally called the support services, but I've heard no direct complaints either.
Cisco has a lot of knowledgebase articles around AnyConnect that are helpful to configure and troubleshoot issues. Beyond that, Cisco support (TAC) is helpful to provide information and troubleshoot issues with the platform. However, you do need an active subscription or EA for support beyond reading the KBs, as well as for client software updates. This is important to keep in mind when deciding on if Cisco AnyConnect is right for your organization, as this can be expensive (cheaper with an EA if you use a lot of Cisco products).
We are quite satisfied with the deployment. We might extend our deployment. My suggestion to everyone will be utilizing Cisco cloud infra as well. As it will give you some nice features like cloud based firewall, DNS Security and threat intelligence. Threat intelligence was a key decision maker for us and people should not ignore it.
The existing system was FortiGate. The management of the system was a hassle. Because IT personnel had to manually create VPN accounts, user passwords were known to who created them and the end user did not have a way to change them. This created a security issue in the event an IT engineer left the company.
We used to use the Pulse Secure app as a VPN client, but it was rarely used and distributed among our users due to the license's cost. And there was also little need for users to connect remotely. We switched to Cisco AnyConnect as a technology replacement due to brand recognition, pricing, and support offered. Also, because the service became critical as there are many users depending on this solution to be able to fulfill their obligations, we needed a reliable and scalable application.
We are able to seamlessly work on multiple clients daily, and it allows us to quickly handle more projects at the same time.
Cisco AnyConnect has allowed our own company's coworkers to remotely connect back to the corporate network, easily assisting work schedules and processes, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being forced to work remotely, meant our processes still happened quickly and efficiently, by being able to leverage and use Cisco AnyConnect VPN.
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have worked 100% remotely for a few years now. This was always due to the reliable connectivity and ease of use with Cisco AnyConnect VPN. I live 2+ hours from our nearest corporate office, and even further from some of my client locations, and I have always been able to connect to any of my multiple Cisco AnyConnect VPN connections, within seconds.
