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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco IOS

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ACisco IOS, presently in its 15th edition, is a network operating system for service providers and enterprises alike.N/A

    Cisco IOS XR7

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/ACisco IOS XR7 is a network operating system which the vendor states delivers greater modularity, a simplified networking stack, and cloud-enhanced automation for improved network programmability.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco IOSCisco IOS XR7
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
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    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco IOSCisco IOS XR7
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco IOSCisco IOS XR7
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco IOS
    We have found other Cisco software to be filled with added functionalities as compared to iOS. New NCS software has certain programmability features that are advantageous to legacy iOS software but are more complex to use for some users. Hence, we still have most areas of the …
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
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    Delivers good value for the price
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    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
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    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
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    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
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    Best Alternatives
    Cisco IOSCisco IOS XR7
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
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    Enterprises
    Cisco NX-OS
    Score8 out of 10
    Cisco NX-OS
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco IOSCisco IOS XR7
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (4 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco IOSCisco IOS XR7
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I've worked with several network device vendors in my 10+ years of being in the industry and my favorite continues to be Cisco IOS. Overall, Cisco IOS tends to be the most stable, the most intuitive, has the best TAC support, and has the best knowledge base articles and white papers.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Before we moved to Cisco IOS XR7, we did not have the opportunity to automate the network configuration. Recently with new rollouts we have used the network orchestration modules within the new IOS to enhance zero-touch config, even though there can be additional features. We have saved a lot of repetitive work with this product.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • User friendly CLI.
    • Quick fixes for critical bugs.
    • Longer uptime.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Flixible.
    • Faster times to boot.
    • Utilizes less memory.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • By this point, there are several "flavors" of the Cisco IOS such as XE, XR, and the standard Cisco IOS. While they are all fairly similar, there does exist syntax differences between them. It would be ideal if at some point in the future, Cisco is able to unify all of them into one standard operating system which would use the same syntax across all platforms.
    • While overall Cisco does a great job of QA'ing their IOS, no matter the release, there's always some minor bugs. I think it's important that Cisco continue to pour resources into their QA team to test their software.
    • While I'm very familiar with the graphical readouts of "show processes cpu history" I would love for Cisco to eventually find a more intuitive way to display this data. I can't begin to count how many times I've had to teach more entry level (and even mid level) engineers how this graph is interpreted.
    • I do wish that Cisco had something similar to Juniper's "commit check" or "commit confirmed". This helps validate the changes you're about to apply, and catch errors, so that you have a better idea of the impact of the change.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Graphic User Interface could be improved
    • Network Orchestration
    • Zero touch config could have more features
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    IOS is pretty intuitive as you can use the question marks to check for all the options or parameters for a specific command. Also having the tab key to complete the words is nice as you don't need type the complete command. Using also abbreviated commands with 2 or 3 letters instead of the whole Word makes it a great OS.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco has a better presence on corporate business so it makes it easier to find engineers and technitians to support your network. Also a lot of Universities and schools use it as a reference and use it to teach and prepare students so it will be easier to recruit people with cisco preparation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Cisco's routers running Cisco IOS XR7 are rock solid, have years of proven performance, and the maintainers base for its CLI-based interface for set up and maintenance. Even though it is pretty high on initial purchase costs, this year of rock-solid performance is what a few of our customers very much needed and this is the very reason a few of our customers, and we did suggest Cisco IOS XR7 running routers for them.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Great uptimes on proven availability/reliability.
    • Longevity of these switches ensures great ROI.
    • Easy to learn for new users.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Saves man hours with Network Orchestration
    • Scalable and cloud managed
    • Supports many platforms
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots