Cisco Catalyst Center vs. NEC ProgrammableFlow SDN

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Catalyst Center
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Cisco 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
NEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
NEC offers the ProgrammableFlow software-defined networking (SDN) application.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Catalyst CenterNEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Catalyst CenterNEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
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 CenterNEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
Best Alternatives
Cisco Catalyst CenterNEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.4 out of 10
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Catalyst CenterNEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(326 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(19 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.7
(33 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Catalyst CenterNEC ProgrammableFlow SDN
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.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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".
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
We went with Cisco Catalyst Center, we evaluated, I think it was called Rainbow from Altel, Lucent Enterprise because we were an Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise customer. But since we seeded with Cisco DNA Center and SD Access back in 2019, we haven't been out to evaluate anything which is a direct competitor. There are tools which we are looking to purchase and implement to provide functionality which Cisco Catalyst Center can't, but they're more value add tools, not to necessarily directly drive the capability of our infrastructure.
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NEC
No answers on this topic
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
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NEC
No answers on this topic
ScreenShots

Cisco Catalyst Center Screenshots

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