Cisco 5000 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 5000) vs Cisco Small Business RV Series

Likelihood to Recommend

The best scenario for us was to use the NCS 5000 for video conferencing. With several remote branches, we required reliable bandwidth for remotely connecting with employees. The NCS 5000 delivered the bandwidth we needed and provided the quality even with some low bandwidth sites.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Banking Company, 201-500 employees

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It's best suited for small offices 10-25 users. Any more and its best to move away to a more higher tier. It will be less appropriate for a mid level company with a large staff. It's best for a small business with a limited budget and less strenuous security functionality.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 11-50 employees

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Pros

Higher port density allows for both higher bandwidth ports to the customer network as well as sufficient uplink capacity to the core.
Small rack space, smarter design, smaller footprint allows for more hardware the fit in the same amount of rack space.
Lower power consumption, less heat output results in savings within the data center environment.

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Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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Cisco Small Business RV Series is aimed for SMB use cases
Simple setting and easy deployment
Can be integrated with Cisco security on cloud such as Umbrella
Provides advanced security features with license

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Budi Ezeddin

Senior Technical Specialist

Synnex Metrodata IndonesiaInformation Technology & Services, 201-500 employees

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Cons

Bugs
Transport components stability
Tac response time in some xases

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Carlos Bedia

Technical Operations Engineer I

Cox CommunicationsBroadcast Media, 10,001+ employees

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Wireless is slower than a dedicated wireless module.
Some of the lower-end Cisco RV models can't handle high traffic load.
GUI interface is really slow sometimes.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Consumer Goods Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

—

Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Cisco Small Business RV Series 7.7

Based on 2 answers

The features are good. The support is good. The resources to deploy, manage, and operate it are good. Customer's feedback and testimonials are good. The updates in terms of zero day vulnerabilities are good and timely. But, I still give an 8 out of 10 because I think the pricing, licensing, and GUI can be improved more.

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John Patrick Duro

Security Analyst II

AsurionInsurance, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

We did not consider any other alternatives, the NCS 5000 fit the bill for what we were looking for and we pulled the trigger.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Banking Company, 201-500 employees

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Cisco's power really stems from its brand reputation and honestly not much else. No one ever got fired for deploying Cisco, and that's why it stands out. The Cisco Small Business RV Series is no exception there; the unit is built well and does the job. However, much more powerful alternatives for routers are out there—the biggest competitor being Ubiquiti. The UniFi routers are significantly more powerful in all regards, including routing speed, IPS/IDS speeds, and VPN functionality. Support for those is admittedly rather lackluster though, so if your network is critical, you are effectively self-insuring your equipment. For some that may be fine, but for others, that risk of extended downtime is just not worth it.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Engineering

Media Production Company, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

The lower power consumption helps in reducing costs, improves efficiency
Better port density leads to less chassis upgrades, less costly upgrades
Smaller footprint allows for more devices in the future within available colo space

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Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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Remote sales staff easily make use of the included VPN
Wireless access is built in and convenient
The form factor contributes no noise and negligible heat to our data closet

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Chemicals Company, 1-10 employees

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Cisco 5000 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 5000) vs Cisco Small Business RV Series