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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Intersight

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/ACisco Intersight is an operations platform that helps IT operations teams control and automate Cisco UCS, converged, and hyperconverged infrastructure. Intersight consolidates and automates infrastructure lifecycle management from data centers to the edge in one solution delivered as-a-service.N/A

    Microsoft System Center

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft System Center is an enterprise-grade IT Operations Management (ITOM) suite designed for the centralized administration of data center infrastructure, virtualized environments, and hybrid cloud workloads. The platform provides unified management across heterogeneous environments, including support for Windows Server, Linux, and Azure Stack HCI. System Center is Microsoft's ITOM stack for organizations that maintain a significant on-premise footprint, vs the company's Azure-based…

    $1,323

    per month

    Pricing
    Cisco IntersightMicrosoft System Center
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Standard Edition
    $1323
    Datacenter Edition
    $3607
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco IntersightMicrosoft System Center
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    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 IntersightMicrosoft System Center
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Intersight
    Intersight does not require any on-prem infrastructure deployment. No need to worry about patching or updates to any appliances or software. Other solutions must constantly be deployed and maintained by IT staff.
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    43 Answers
    91%
    Would buy again
    31 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    91%
    Delivers good value for the price
    39 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    33 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    31 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    34 Answers
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    21 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    39 Answers
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    28 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco IntersightMicrosoft System Center
    Small Businesses
    Rackspace Fabric
    Score6.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Turbonomic
    Score8.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    IBM Turbonomic
    Score8.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco IntersightMicrosoft System Center
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (46 ratings)
    9.3
    (58 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.3
    (5 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    6.1
    (8 ratings)
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.3
    (46 ratings)
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    8.3
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    8.4
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco IntersightMicrosoft System Center
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    It is highly suited for an organisation pushing for a standardised and centralised configuration of settings using policies, profiles and templates. It is highly suited for customers used to legacy UMM that need to refresh their environment, but instead of deploying them in UMM (which is still possible), to take the time and effort to learn Cisco Intersight Infrastructure Service and IMM as well as familiarise themselves with the differences between UMM and IMM, and the issues in UMM which IMM addresses and improves upon. We deployed in UMM initially then transitioned to IMM with the transition too. I cannot think of a scenario where Cisco Intersight Infrastructure Service would not be suited. Even for small-scale deployments, it provides significant benefits. Maybe if you come from another server vendor management environment, the learning curve may feel steep (e.g. many new concepts and constructs that one has to master).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    For companies with more than 10 Windows devices and needing to standardize the OS, AV, access, share resources, and install software. SCCM is the way to go. This software is unnecessary if the business is all remote users and not in an office-type setting. There are cloud offerings or none to accomplish what a business needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • Intersight can consolidate Infra management on a single dashboard such as UCS Server, Hyperflex, Fabric Interconnect, UCSM.
    • Device policy and configuration can be deployed from Intersight.
    • Firmware and software upgrade for all devices can be done from Intersight.
    • No impact to DC production if Intersight connection is interrupted.
    • Apps workload data is not passed through Intersight, only the control plane.
    • TAC can be opened via Intersight.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Allows the grouping of devices by user.
    • Allows controlling updates being deployed to user devices.
    • Allows for the repurposing of machines by being able to load new or updated software on machines that already are in the system.
    • Allows us the ability to wipe a machine clean and restore it back to the configuration that was assigned the machine.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • It would be great to not having to create EVERY profile within a deployment. since some items can be done be default, the defaults should be set and the deployment can be much faster.
    • When adding Rack servers, indicating that the CIMC interface should not being connected before powering on the system and they it will be managed by Cisco Intersight can reduce down times. We had to manually reset our CIMC after disconnecting from our OOBM switches.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • The product could improve in the area of having better mechanisms in place with how the SCEP client is deployed/installed from the server on the management side. We have run into this firsthand with the client not installing on an endpoint, and then having to take the time to investigate why it was not installing.
    • A second improvement that can be made is to keep trying to improve the products detection rate for finding malware/viruses. The case can be made that there are some products out there that do a better job at this and have a higher detection rate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    Been using Cisco Software as a service (SaaS) platform in a production environment for a large medical and health professionals that has critical healthcare and patients care dependency.
    Support team is very helpful getting system updated as needed, and vendor support is fantastic. Also get a dedicated Cisco networking engine to review and advise system health and recommendations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft System Center Operations Manager is tightly integrated to Microsoft Windows servers os monitoring with great product support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    Usability of Cisco Intersight is highly dependent on the licensing purchased. The default (free) license level provides a lot of value for the minimal amount of effort to implement. The paid license levels provide additional features (detailed inventory, configuration management and deployment, etc.)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    It is not user-friendly for the most part. With IT infrastructure, sometimes it cannot handle excess requests. Every few months, you will need an upgrade in terms of server resources to keep up with incoming alerts and requests. This does not happen all of the time, but it does happen when there are too many requests.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    So far over the past 4 years we have not experienced any issues with the servers being available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cisco
    Could need some more refinement. It takes some time getting used to where different settings are being defined.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    I have had servers TAC cases open for issues with Cisco Intersight. Some have yet to be resolved. One case that is still open is where the HCL status ( Hardware Compatibility List ) shows not validated when It should be. We have several servers that have the exact same hardware, OS, and the same firmware. One server will show the HCL is not validated but all others will
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    There is a fair amount of documentation out there to help you when you have questions or run into issues with this product as well as tutorials on some of the more common tasks. Between the documentation and the overall ease of use we haven't had to deal with direct Microsoft support for this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Cisco
    You really need a lab to get hands on but it was useful
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Very smooth process and we did it for 2 data centers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Easy to install with intuitive interactive interface during the installation process a and integration to MS SQL was smooth
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    I personally think that Cisco Intersight Infrastructure Service is at the top of its class when it comes to managing data center hardware. The cloud-connected design feels very modern and easy to use. The mobile app is something I wouldn't expect to get in a server management tool. The way it can update, monitor, and manage our servers is very nice. Overall, we are very happy with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We previously used a mix of FOG and Clonezilla to image machines. The biggest issues with these products is that changing one piece of the image required you to rebuild the entire image itself. These pieces of software also did not allow you to manage applications and Windows Updates, causing IT to have to constantly touch machines after they were imaged and update or manage them with a much more hands on approach.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    Contract terms is similar to other Cisco subscription model, option from 1 year till 5 years. Billing frequency can be monthly, quarterly, annual or prepaid. I think I would not suggest anything regarding contract terms
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Cisco
    Easy to add new services into it. Having everything policy driven makes it a lot easier to add new hardware into the solution and get setup.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    We're not using professional service for Intersight
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • The negative thing is that we prefer to use the UCS Manager in our company because this bare metal is integrated into the FI and no extra appliance is required. SaaS is generally not viewed favorably in Germany.
    • Telling the user that they have to buy Intersight licenses even if they use UCS Manager annoys our customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • It has allowed the enterprise to standardize on a single platform for monitoring.
    • Easier troubleshooting of issues with Microsoft platforms.
    • Greater visibility of issues across platforms when applications are hosted in a mixed environment.
    • Additional costs for monitoring systems that are not directly supported with additional packs (iSeries, Linux on Power).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco Intersight Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Intersight dashboard, which provides out-of-the box summaries of real-time health and performance data across data center and edge infrastructure. Users can customize the dashboard with a library of widgets to quickly see information that's most important to them.Screenshot of the security advisories and field notices that alert users about endpoint devices in their environment that are impacted along with recommended resolution.Screenshot of the Topology Views that let users quickly identify any UCS domain connectivity issues thorugh a visual representation.Screenshot of an example of the automated workflows that users can create, using Intersight's drag-and-drop workflow designer and library of tasks and workflows.Screenshot of an example of the aggregated and visualized metrics that are collected for fabric interconnects, chassis, and servers to monitor devices, optimize performance, identify bottlenecks, and proactively address any potential issues.