Cisco ACI vs Cisco Meraki MX

• The REST API allows your to programmatically interact with the network and make massive changes very quickly when needed.
• The API allows you to tie together Server Provisioning tools, storage provisioning tools, into an orchestration platform such as Ansible to streamline new deployments and builds.
• New Deployments are extremely simple once you've worked out your programatic deployment process. We can deploy new clients/tenants in seconds rather than days or weeks like it used to take.
• Replacing failed switches/apics/etc is also extremely easy.
• Tightly couple the underlying Network Infrastructure to VMWare Deployments to allow VMs to move anywhere in the datacenter at the drop of a hat.

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• The appliances are very, very easy to use. You could set one up for basic use with minimal documentation.
• Intuitive menus in the Meraki Dashboard make traversing your options and finding what you need very easy.
• Good support options and a healthy knowledge base with well-written guides.

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• Cost is always a challenge and ACI is no different.
• The linkage between ACI and Tetration has been rebranded since the initial marketeering of it and this has caused confusion and in some cases diminished the business case as a result.
• The fact that Cisco has developed multiple Orchestrators of their differing network stacks causes issues when trying to pull together a singular approach to orchestration across a Cisco e-2-e network in an Enterprise.

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• Possible granular access to switchport settings when using VLAN's.
• Wireless models could and should have advanced wireless functionality which is inherent in the Meraki AP devices.
• More functionality and customization on the local access pages when device has not connected to the cloud yet.

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• So far we havent been able to leverage al the positives of the ACI infrastructure like Open API and RBAC so it's difficult to comment.
• A negative I would think of is the change in the design implementation for Datacenter Interconnectivity.

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• Previously I managed Cisco ASA equipment and enjoyed these firewalls. The need to train other admins and deployment at MSP clients were at the top of my list for switching to Meraki MX. The learning curve is much less steep for new security admins and the central dashboard allows coolabritive efforts when admins are in different locations. Built-in change management makes it easy to see who made specific changes as changes are logged on the dashboard.
• Other content filtering solutions that I have used had more bells and whistles, but given the cost, complexity, and management overhead, I am very pleased with Meraki’s solution.

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