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Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/ACisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms deliver secure, high-performance SD-WAN built for hybrid work, multicloud access, and 5G-ready networks. Powered by Cisco IOS XE, these devices combine flexible routing, SASE integration, and cloud-native agility to support AI-driven networking and edge computing needs.N/A

    Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/ACisco Catalyst SD-WAN is a software-defined wide area network solution designed to simplify and optimize enterprise network connectivity in complex digital landscapes. It enables organizations to connect any user to any application, whether on-premises, in data centers, or across multiple clouds, with integrated capabilities for multicloud support, security, predictive automation, and enhanced network visibility—all built on a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)-enabled…N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge PlatformsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge PlatformsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    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 Catalyst 8000 Edge PlatformsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms routers were a replacement for an older Cisco 4000 ISR router platform. While maintaining very familiar configuration interface, improved performance and built in redundancy options (power supplies), and long expected life time of the product …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms
    N/A. I chose Cisco only
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Complex networks, segmentation and scalability
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    I have only tested SD-WAN
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    cisco sdwan is a good product
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    133 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    27 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    116 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    34 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    135 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    28 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    32 Answers
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    109 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge PlatformsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    VMware SD-WAN
    Score7.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge PlatformsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (35 ratings)
    8.7
    (150 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.8
    (2 ratings)
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    8.6
    (14 ratings)
    8.7
    (67 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.6
    (3 ratings)
    8.3
    (15 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge PlatformsCisco Catalyst SD-WAN
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    With the flexibility of sizing options, the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms has worked to deliver solutions for our various needs. Smaller systems offer strong connectivity for office developments. Mid-range options have served our larger campuses well. Our data center deployments of the larger systems have provided up to 100G connectivity and advanced routing solutions. The Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms continues to meet our needs and exceed our expectations.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It's great for connectivity. I think if you're looking at. There's a lot of players out there that do SD- WAN, you can do hosted solutions, you can do your own. If you're looking to do it yourself, I think this product works out well. I do know it's hosted elsewhere by some other companies, but for us, we want the control and we don't have a huge amount of sites, so being able to control that's important and the data that we can get out of the product, we can see just seeing the application experience through Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, really gives us good information.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • More resources for tunneling
    • Ability to use sdwan softwre
    • More memory for tcam tables
    • Ability to utilize T1 lines for PRI
    • Ability to act as a SBC for VoIP communication
    • Rfid usage
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • We are able to use a multiple different circuits to go into the cloud, so we are not relying on just one particular private wireless. We're relying on wine circuits, ethernet, ethernet out. So it provides us that flexibility where we didn't have that before. Provides security that is very robust and flexible and scalable and it provides us with, the biggest thing is redundancy, where we have backup. For example, we have a Starlink for nuclear power plants. If our main circuits go down, we have that. And without Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN it would be very hard to actually achieve, to accomplish true redundancy. So we're happy with Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN in that regard.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • Adding more NIM slots on motherboard
    • Adding PVDM slot for use cases where the router is used only for trans coding
    • Adding more granular tiers for DNA licensing. For example it is a big gap between 2000Mbps (400 Mbps agg) and 1Gbps (2 Gbps Agg)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • I will say the way we use it now, and I think what happened was the way it was deployed, it was fine, but unfortunately over the course of the years we've gotten a little out of hand with our device templates and feature templates. I think if there's any form of feedback that I would give to Cisco is how do we find ways to improve the environment as it stands so we get to a certain point with the environment and then we don't know how to undo it or fix it or optimize the environment. Because right now we're in a position where we're playing a lot of catch up and clean up and if there was a way or some tool or feature that we can take advantage of that would allow us to optimize that environment where we will kind of corner ourselves into a lot of problems in the future. There's some feature or something that we could take advantage of that will allow us to optimize that environment and not let it get out of control pretty easily. That would be my suggestion.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    Because I have had no issues with this product line and have grown go really trust in it. One of the besr thing is that this has had less vulnerabilities that the past cisco router that I have dealt with. In my line of work needing to upgrade code is always something that needs to be done after hours and most likely on weekends.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    I would rate SD-WAN highly because it has significantly improved network performance, reliability, and cost-efficiency for my organization. Its ability to optimize traffic dynamically, enhance security, and simplify management across multiple locations has been invaluable. With SD-WAN, we’ve reduced dependency on costly MPLS, improved cloud application performance, and gained greater control over our network infrastructure.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    We use Cisco Catalyst 8300 Routers for our edge environments. Most of these products are implemented for WAN communication. We have Off sites and these off-sites are configured with C8300 Routers. We felt it pretty easy and secure, although the software versions is the one which gives us some problem. When we try to upgrade the routers with latest IOSXE software, it usually does upgrade, later after digging deeper found the ROMMON Version also need to be upgraded too. May this needs to addressed.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The niche configurations are given equal focus as the standard use cases, which can make onboarding difficult in the beginning (ie why am I not using an entire tab of the portal), but aside from that part, the dashboard is relatively easy to navigate and apply the configuration. The metrics and analytics available are also nice to have in a single pane.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I think if we could afford, we could have HA inplace but we planned out outage and workaround to avoid any outages.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It does slow down over the period but it's same with other product. you need to clear/reboot services.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    I have always had great response time and have never been let down by cisco support. I have had issues where the person who was assisting me was not able to provide a resolution but by utilizing his team members they where able to come together to provide a answer and resplve the situation.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Al ser soluciones integradas del portafolio de soluciones de Cisco, el soporte es transversal a cada uno de los componentes implementados, teniendo el cliente la capacidad de resolver sus inconvenientes bajo una misma infraestructura que está totalmente homologada, satisfacciendo de esta manera, las necesidades del cliente asi como permitiendo, que este se concentre en su negocio. Since the Cisco SD-WAN tools are a part of Cisco’s broader portfolio of solutions, support cross-cuts to each of our deployed components, with our company as the customer having the ability to solve our problems through the same, approved infrastructure. Their support team easily satisfies the customer’s needs so that they continue to focus on business functions.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    the licensing is messy
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    I was late to participate but my team was very happy with the outcome.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Compared to the Cisco 2000 Series Connected GRID Routers, CGR2010, the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is more powerful in processing, and it has the capability to do the segment routing. It is easier to install physically and occupies less space in the rack, consumes less power, and saves more for the company.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    We've used the old Cisco SD-WAN, which no longer exists. It was a lot more complex to configure what is now called Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. So they've definitely come a long way in that it is a lot less complicated to set up and template based.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I didn't take part of this decision but it always multiyear contract get best discount.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Really strength in scalability. Only thigs it's depends on some prototype Cisco product which you can't work with other Cisco products.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Improving the performance and the availability, it has increased the SLA we can ensure to the customers and so the sales has increased
    • The initial expense is really high so the breakeven point is not so near
    • The opex for licensing is high too
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Our branch offices can connect to our enterprise network and the internet quickly and securely, which has helped to increase productivity and reduce downtime.
    • We have been able to reduce our dependence on expensive MPLS connections, and instead utilize a combination of broadband and LTE connections, which are more cost-effective
    • The centralized location improves network visibility and troubleshooting process
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    ScreenShots