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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Catalyst Center

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ACisco Catalyst Center provides an intent-based platform for managing enterprise networks across campus, branch, and edge environments. It combines automation, analytics, and assurance to streamline IT operations, improve security posture, and reduce manual tasks. With integratedAI/ML-driven insights, policy-based controls, and end-to-end visibility across wired and wireless infrastructures, Catalyst Center empowers IT teams toproactively detect issues, enforce compliance, and accelerate…N/A

    Microsoft Defender XDR

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 365 Defender combines SIEM and XDR capabilities for Microsoft 365 environments, encompassing threat detection, post-breach detection, automated investigation, and response for endpoints. Additionally, it protects cloud apps, emails and documents, and employee identities.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Catalyst CenterMicrosoft Defender XDR
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Catalyst CenterMicrosoft Defender XDR
    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 Catalyst CenterMicrosoft Defender XDR
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    306 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    85 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    245 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    79 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    319 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    85 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    195 Answers
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    58 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    229 Answers
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    66 Answers
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    User Ratings
    Cisco Catalyst CenterMicrosoft Defender XDR
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (343 ratings)
    8.7
    (86 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (9 ratings)
    9.7
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    7.9
    (19 ratings)
    7.6
    (7 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (33 ratings)
    9.0
    (3 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Catalyst CenterMicrosoft Defender XDR
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Would recommend Cisco Catalyst Center to medium to large scale organizations that have many cookie-cutter sites and the resources to properly provision all their devices. I would not recommend to teams that do not have a strong network engineering team that can navigate the various intricacies of the platform.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    In our experience, Microsoft Defender XDR has been fantastic for phishing and account compromise scenarios, Endpoint Security, Automated threat detection and response and just generally giving a great overview through their dashboard, meaning the IT team doesn't need to switch between multiple tools to understand the full scope of an incident. In mostly remote organization like ours, it really helps to keep on top of any potential threats that we don't have the opportunity to spot in person. While it works great for us in a mostly Microsoft 365 environment, I can see how it would be less appropriate in an organization that is less integrated in the Microsoft ecosystem or uses a large number of third party tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • Again, the ease of use of the APIs and the API Explorer provides the tools needed to write these custom workflows that allow us to do a lot of the automation we’re doing now, saving hundreds of hours by using those tools.
    • The product is very intuitive, and there is a lot of support out there in the DevNet community to help with that.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • One of the greatest strength of Microsoft Defender XDR has the ability to convey alert and signal in the closing point, email, identity and cloud applications in an event. Instead of obtaining isolated alert from each tool, Microsoft Defender XDR consolidates them in a full attack story, which helps the security teams to understand the scope and impact of a danger very fast.
    • If a user clicks on the fishing link, Microsoft Defender XDR automatically can associate malicious emails with lateral movement efforts, suspected sine-in, and endpoint activity-to protect against hours of manual probes.
    • The defender uses AI-powered automation for investigating and treatment of Microsoft Defender XDR events. It can separate the infected closing points, can cancel the compromised tokens, or remove malicious email - without the need for human intervention.
    • When malware is detected on a device, the defender can separate the device, kill malicious processes, and automatically flag the same files throughout the environment, which can spread.
    • Because it is integrated deeply with Microsoft 365 defender, Entra ID (Azure Ad), Intune, and PurView, the defender provides native safety in the XDR Microsoft Stack. It simplifies deployment and maintenance, offering deep visibility in user activity and cloud data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Within its Tasks - Audit, it can sometimes allow plaintext data, including passwords, to be seen. There should be functionality to detect password usage and appropriately obfuscate the data.
    • Occasionally, Catalyst Center does not sync changes properly within templates, which requires deleting and reconfiguring the template version. Better processes here would be beneficial.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Enhanced False Positive Mitigation:
    • Improved algorithms to minimize false positives in threat detection, reducing the impact on security teams and preventing unnecessary investigations into non-threatening incidents.
    • Advanced User-Friendly Interface:
    • Streamlined and intuitive user interface for the centralized dashboard, making it more accessible for security professionals with varying levels of expertise.
    • Greater Third-Party Integration:
    • Increased compatibility and integration capabilities with a broader range of third-party security tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    I think new products are often "half-baked" or over hyped when they release, as was the case with DNAC. We were well ahead of the curve in acquiring it. But as it has matured it is now a fantastic addition to our infrastructure. I think we are easing into a stage where it is hard to envision a large organization NOT having Catalyst Center in place. If for nothing outside of the mapping and troubleshooting aspects; using it as a "source of truth".
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We are pleased with the product and have no plans to look for alternatives. We are deeply invested in Microsoft ecosystem and Defender XDR provides seamless integration to other Microsoft products. For academic institution pricing is also quite affordable. In the contrary, we hope to extend the scope of the product for our entire environment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    Cisco DNA Center is going to help us in security, simplicity and ease of administration. Cisco DNA Center is complete management and control platform that simplifies and streamlines network operations. Cisco DNA Center offers a single dashboard for every core function in your network. With this platform, IT can become more nimble and respond to changes and challenges faster and more intelligently.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Once configured, it's very usable for any security team or IT Analyst. It'll give you everything you need to know in a single consolidated dashboard, and while you can certainly dive deeper with a very feature rich platform, generally it's very usable. I gave it an 8 as some of the advanced features do have a very strong learning curve, while routine tasks are quite straightforward, some of the features such as threat hunting, custom detections and automated response workflows do have a bit of a learning curve and will require some research and experience to get to grips with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    In our experience there has been very little downtime for Microsot Defender XDR. For us there hasn’t been any single incident where we needed the product and it was not available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Most of the time the product is as responsive as you might expect from cloud product. Occasionly the product is little slugish, this has been at most a slight irritation. Reports generate quickly ennough for our needs. We also not have found that Defender XDR slows down systems that it is integrated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    El soporte de CISCO DNA Center es muy bueno, responden a mis dudas pero no he tenido oportunidad de reportar un incidente o determinar un tiempo de respuesta critico. The support of CISCO DNA Center is very good, they answer my questions, but I have not had the opportunity to report an incident or determine a critical response time.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Their support throughout our onboarding of the product was fabulous. They not only took the time to carefully explain to teams not as well equipped with the lingo but explained to the tech team how to teach the other teams to be successful. They never once seemed impatient or annoyed with basic questions and didn’t pretend to know something when they needed to research an answer
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Good and hard to find someonme who can explain everything for you beside Microsoft they provide you everything you need.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Cisco
    It was informative, but the labs were not available long enough for us to get intimately familiar with CCNA before it was closed. The course instructor was well informed and got us as close to ready as she could.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Provides a good training for the Microsoft 365 Defender and has a good learning paths to learn and take the exams and get your Certifications.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    seemless and almost transparent. can be deployed by script if needed so every endpoint on our system get's it. if you have intune it gets dumped on the the endpoint by policy so nothing escapes it
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco Catalyst Centeris basic zero-touch provisioning out of the box. You just rack and stack the switches, patch 'em in, and the controller pushes the config automatically. No need to console into every single box or spend hours script-running over CLI.The AI-driven assurance and telemetry are top-tier. Instead of getting flooded with useless syslog alerts when a link drops, it correlates the telemetry data to give you proactive health checks. It literally pinpoints wireless anomalies and bandwidth chokepoints before the users even start opening tickets.It handles fabric microsegmentation like a boss through SD-Access and TrustSec. You can easily enforce group-based policies right at the hardware level. It drops IoT gear, guests, and corporate traffic into their own secure buckets dynamically, without you having to manage a trillion messy VLANs and ACLs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Our product in that area, for instance as a security platform and for us it is for the moment really bad point. We started to move in that direction that there is that disconnect from the client management. So if there is some action that needs to be executed detected by security team, there is not an easy way to make that available to the team that is responsible for managing the identities as users, as the devices
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Azure cloud provides techical power to scale the product for whole organization. From organizational point of view scaling Defender XDR for various IT teams needs good collaboration and clear norms that all teams must agree to and follow.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • I have used it for upgrading devices, and it's does a great job at that, however out operations team for whatever reason has not adopted the feature.
    • Overall it feels like Cisco Catalyst Center has been huge waste of time. I feel like my time would be better spent on other projects and looking at other products and tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Security incident cannot be measured, once you down you down, hence the security applications like this is just a must have
    • The subscription model will be cheaper and can be a good point if you want to free resources within the IT Team
    • The SaaS model, if measured correctly can and will reduce long term cost in Infrastructure and Man Power
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco Catalyst Center Screenshots

    Screenshot of AIOpsScreenshot of BaselinesScreenshot of PoliciesScreenshot of HealthScreenshot of Network HierarchyScreenshot of PoE

    Microsoft Defender XDR Screenshots

    Screenshot of AH Advanced ModeScreenshot of AH Guided modeScreenshot of CD exampleScreenshot of CD Supported actions