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Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) vs. Cisco Meraki MS

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco ACI

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ACisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is network virtualization technology.N/A

    Cisco Meraki MS

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers the Meraki brand of Ethernet switches.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Cisco ACI is better at datacenter switching.
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    113 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    111 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    96 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    101 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    115 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    108 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    93 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    107 Answers
    Features
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Ethernet Switches
    Comparison of Ethernet Switches features of Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) and Cisco Meraki MS
    Feature
    Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI)
    -
    Ratings
    Cisco Meraki MS
    8.4
    16 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Management Interface00 Ratings8.016 Ratings
    Quality of Service (QoS)00 Ratings8.215 Ratings
    Switch Scalability00 Ratings8.616 Ratings
    Switch Redundancy00 Ratings8.813 Ratings
    Link Aggregation (LACP)00 Ratings8.512 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Internet Services
    Score9.8 out of 10
    RUCKUS Ethernet Switches
    Score1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Cloud Internet Services
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Cisco Ethernet Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (131 ratings)
    9.1
    (126 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.7
    (10 ratings)
    9.7
    (9 ratings)
    Usability
    5.1
    (8 ratings)
    9.6
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    8.4
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.4
    (11 ratings)
    9.5
    (16 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.6
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.0
    (5 ratings)
    8.4
    (3 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.6
    (9 ratings)
    9.1
    (108 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    8.7
    (3 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco ACICisco Meraki MS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    The ACI solution is perfectly fit for a large or multi-site data center environment. It permits simplifying deployment, management, automation, and security. ACI is especially valuable when strong scalability, automation, security, and segmentation are required. However, ACI is less suitable for a small environment due to its complexity and high cost.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    A Cisco Meraki solution should always be in the toolbox for a small-medium office. Especially for a project team that moves around a bit. It is very easy to deploy and if after 6 months the project moves to another location, re-deployment times are much faster than traditional kit. Whilst it could do the job. It is not at the point of replacing a large corporate office of Catalyst Switches but we feel it does not need to do that necessarily.
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • Cisco ACI, The object model is very complicated. It's something difficult to understand and also because there is a user interface, there's a web user interface, but it's not optimal to use it because if you want to deploy a large amount of VLAN or a large amount of tenants, it's quite difficult to do it or it's quite challenging. Maybe if you want to configure a large amount of ports using the web interface, it's not appropriate because it takes a lot of time. It also provides APIs to do that, but as I say, the object model is very difficult to understand and there is very little documentation about automation of the ACI and maybe there is but it's not so easy to find.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • I think when it comes to the Meraki products, it's just the ease of use and ease of troubleshooting because it's all cloud-based, easy to access from anywhere I can literally get on now and troubleshoot. So I think it's just the ease of use, which is great.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • I think something I've just went to a session with hyper fabric and the ideas that hyper fabric has. Keep it really simple because Cisco ACI is a complex system and adopt some of the ideas behind hyper fabric, bring it to ACI that will be really beneficial. So as I said, automation is a great thing, but it's still, you need to have the background and the really complex stuff that happens behind the scenes to leverage the value of that solution. And by adding more simplicity to it, I think that will be a great thing. And also integrating with other applications in terms of the automation.
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    Cisco
    • So compared to the Cisco Catalyst series, there isn't that many dolls you can turn and just optimize stuff. So particularly I'm not quite sure around how stuff like MACsec would work on the MS. It's something that I've really got to look into more and the documentation isn't really that obvious for that feature.
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    Provided with the intensive fault isolation for the CISCO ACI, we are glad that we have this Data Center Solution in place and we will continue to renew as long as the future needed requirements are meet and more helpful features will be enabled in the future with the integration of security
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    At the time I am writing this, Meraki MS has conver all of the required needs. Is really easy to implement, the dashboard helps a lot with the implementation and troubleshooting process, the devices are very robust and you can count with the meraki support in case you face a physical or logical issue with them.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    You'll need a lot of training and hands on experience to get the most out of the product. There are a lot of very useful features in the ACI product. Often times there are a lot of ways to get to a solution for chalanges in the field. The solutions might be different eacht time. Knowing which one to implement is somtimes a challenge.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The Meraki dashboard is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly network management interfaces available. It simplifies many traditionally complex tasks, such as VLAN configuration, port management, and firmware updates, making it easy to deploy and manage networks without extensive CLI work. Features like zero-touch provisioning, remote troubleshooting, and real-time monitoring significantly reduce the time and effort needed for network administration. The reason it’s not a perfect 10 is that while Meraki is great for most standard networking tasks, it can feel somewhat limiting for advanced configurations. Additionally, the reliance on the cloud dashboard means there’s very little local management option, which could be a drawback in environments with strict compliance requirements. Overall, it’s one of the easiest networking solutions to work with, but power users might find certain advanced features lacking.
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    It allways works. If there are problems with links going down by accident (say someone accidentally unpatches something they shouldn't have), we rarely miss more then one packet over the link. Also, using VPCs we are able to upgrade the software on the switches without the attached EPs ever noticing.
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    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki MS switches are quite reliable, robust, and incredibly rare to experience failures. Most of the time, as with all equipment, problems arise from incorrect configurations, not from poor performance of the equipment itself. In any case, when a hardware or software issue arises, Meraki support responds promptly, and if equipment replacement is required, the service is dispatched quickly and efficiently.
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    Performance
    Cisco
    Day to day operations on Cisco ACI do not require much human intervention, the platform ticks over without any major faults. Being able to rapidly replicate the communication between two groups of machines across multiple sub networks speeds up new application delivery, and the integration into vmWare allows multiple teams within IT to work together to problem solve rapidly.
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    Cisco
    In deployments using Cisco Meraki switches, no issues with performance, slowness, or loss have been reported; overall, performance is quite good. Communication and integration with other devices and brands is quite good, and the devices rarely fail.
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Cisco provides users and partners with a multitude of data for you to consume. I think that the stuff in the public domain goes a long way to assisting you find any answers you may need, plus insights and information from areas such as DevNet provide you with access to more than just the traditional release notes and the like
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    Cisco
    Meraki support is excellent. They are also highly proactive. They literally replaced all of a particular model of our MS switches when it was discovered that they were not sure about the longevity of a particular chassis fan inside those switches. Without us having to do anything other than ask, they shipped us all new replacements (with a better fan in them) for the 10 or so of the switches that were in the affected model group, and we shipped the defective ones back to them int he same packaging, prepaid. None of the recalled switches had ever experienced a fan failure, but they were not willing to let them run in a production environment. I like that. Meraki MS support staff are also quick to get back to you and very knowledgeable about their product. I actually contact our Meraki rep to instigate a support case (although i could call support directly), and he gets the details from me first, then opens the ticket for us and explains it to support. This means that I only even need to talk to one person, and I like that, too. Meraki MS switches are designed to be essentially "plug and play", so support is generally not needed unless the end user is not following the deployment and operation guides
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    The Cisco ACI training provided by Cisco was in depth, covered all of our requirements, and allowed us to implement and maintain the platform without issues.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The trainers provided during the sessions are highly knowledgeable and well-prepared. They possess a strong understanding of both the technical aspects of Cisco products and the practical applications, which greatly enhances the learning experience. Their ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and understandable manner helps participants grasp the material more effectively. Additionally, their expertise allows them to address questions confidently and provide real-world insights, making the training sessions more engaging and valuable. Overall, their professionalism and depth of knowledge significantly contribute to a positive and productive learning environment.
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    Online Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    The trainers provided during the sessions are highly knowledgeable and well-prepared. They possess a strong understanding of both the technical aspects of Cisco products and the practical applications, which greatly enhances the learning experience. Their ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and understandable manner helps participants grasp the material more effectively. Additionally, their expertise allows them to address questions confidently and provide real-world insights, making the training sessions more engaging and valuable. Overall, their professionalism and depth of knowledge significantly contribute to a positive and productive learning environment.
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Being involved in the implmentation gives you more overview on how things are supposed to be working and communicating, you can easily performce troubleshooting and understanding the troubleshooting scenario
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    Cisco
    In general, the implementation process was relatively simple, given that we already have a relationship with the partners and experience in other implementations, from the acquisition of licenses, purchase of equipment, configuration of switches and support from the Meraki team, everything has been easy to manage and the support from both the partner and the Meraki team has been excellent.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Actually we start our learning in networking career with Cisco. So it is very useful or easier to learn this product. And honestly speaking, I didn't work in any other data center solution other than Cisco. So I cannot compare what it gives us more than other popular stuff. But this is very nice product like from Cisco.
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    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki MS is the clear leader for technical proficiency and he ease of cloud integration with the rest of the network devices. Prospects often balk at the cost of MS Switches, or they might already have competitor switches. The Cisco Meraki MS Switch is preferable, but the budget may not exist.
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    Cisco ACI scales well and is suited in scenarios such as multi-cloud or large data centre implementations. It is not suited to smaller deployments as the efficiencies that it provides are not fully realised. It is well suited in large environments that contain both virtual and bare-metal machines allowing a great deal of flexibility. It is also perfect to support multi-tenancy platforms.
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    Cisco
    Cisco Meraki MS is super easy to scale up. The dashboard neatly arranges all your devices. You can have a change of requirements, such as adding a new comms room in a site, and easily deploy and add new Meraki MS switches into it, and copy a lot of the configuration across. The SFP's also work very well and reliably in my experience
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • We've definitely spent quite a bit of time relearning how to do things in ACI, but I think the investment has been well worth while considering that we can now deploy tenants and leaves from the ground up in a matter of seconds.
    • We can if we choose to upgrade an entire datacenters worth of switches in a single night. (We've chosen to break it up for availability requirements, but if you didn't require 99.999% uptime like us you may be able to do it)
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    Cisco
    • I can't think of any negatives. Positive, well, I had nothing but positive things to say about it. Like I said, multiple times. Of course it does give us so much visibility, which is important to us. As far as on a daily basis, I mean the dashboard daily of course, and the use of the phone. It's just also they keep innovating and adding new features to it, which help us lower our troubleshooting times and uptime. And just the overall use of the product itself.
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