Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) is a highly secure and highly available access-routing platform for service providers.N/A
Pricing
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Free Trial
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Considered Both Products
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Chose Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Cisco NCS is smaller and for us newer. Better cost with similar capabilities.
Chose Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Higher 10G port density on NCS540
Availability of 25G/40G/100G provides greater flexibility
Good choice when full line rate is not needed
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Well suited for10G aggregation at network edge. Small managed networks such as school districts or distributed enterprise campus. Not well suited to RPHY aggregation at network core — queuing in NCS540 results in jitter and poor RPHY performance. Allow port license purchases in smaller units. Better support for SLA performance monitoring capabilities would allow use as a box for 10G aggregation for Carrier Ethernet NNI handoff.
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Pros
Cisco
  • Switching.
  • Routing.
  • Access.
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Cons
Cisco
  • MPLS feature set on NCS520
  • Full support for RFC2544, Y.1564 across the product line
  • Greater clarity of the impact of smaller buffers on NCS540 when compared to other Qumran chipsets — some use cases like RPHY aggregation at network core are not a good fit.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
Cisco NCS is smaller and for us newer. Better cost with similar capabilities.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Relatively low cost access layer device.
  • Very cost effective means of getting 10G interfaces.
  • Some features available on other devices out of the box are more complex or absent on the NCS without licensing or assistance.
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