Cisco Meraki SD-WAN vs Cisco Routers

Likelihood to Recommend

I would recommend Cisco Meraki SD-WAN to my colleagues in the scenario of a big corporate with 2 or 3 IPS and small branches over the world where they can’t have specialist in case of a failure. The platform can be managed from a single point through the dashboard and make a simple or profound testing and troubleshooting without losing any connectivity. It is the best solution that will save you money and time

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ILEANA COLMENTER

Regional Account Manager - Hospitality

Connext (by Migesa)Telecommunications, 201-500 employees

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One major drawback of Cisco Routers is that it is quite expensive. It may not be the perfect budget friendly item for most small companies. However, it is highly accessible and reliable. Security concerns are next to nil so it is something one can rely on, without fearing frauds and security breeches.

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Verified User

Manager in Marketing

Hospitality Company, 10,001+ employees

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Pros

The natting function works really well. Even if you are behind a router with NAT, it still translates the traffic.
Security is a big benefit as you can define that only certain elements go across the VPN (SD-WAN).

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Reon Smith

Technical Operations Manager

Turrito Networks (Pty) LtdInformation Technology & Services, 51-200 employees

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Security. You can run VPN services on these routers along with core function of routing.
Rate limiting for DDOS or traffic on WAN links can help to prioritise the actual user traffic.
Routing. This is main feature of these devices and they do it really well.

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Verified User

Employee in Information Technology

Computer Networking Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

Customized, esoteric configurations were very hard to get connected and configured.
We had hoped to configure all sites filtering in one place, but each site has to be configured separately. this is prohibitive with a large number of sites.
Network visibility does not work as well as I would like.
The MX appliances do not work well with voice VLAN when using the appliances as a small office router/switch.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Mental Health Care Company, 201-500 employees

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Firmware improvements as the routers (at least the models I used) can sometimes crash while setting up.
In two RV042 that I had to configure and monitor, I had problems where they stopped working properly (crashes, loss of settings, bug). In another model, the VPN did not connect and only after a router restart did it work.
Three WAN options on RV line.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Law Practice Company, 51-200 employees

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Support Rating

Cisco Meraki SD-WAN 8.1

Based on 2 answers

Fast and efficient. The only issue currently is that the support is only overseas support and not in South Africa, which causes delays in resolution for some cases. Escalating issues is quite simple and the opening of new cases from the dashboard is easy. I have never had a support issue that could not be resolved.

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Reon Smith

Technical Operations Manager

Turrito Networks (Pty) LtdInformation Technology & Services, 51-200 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

Ease of use.
Remote management.
Amazing technical support.
Remote firmware management.
Built-in alarm and monitoring.
Marketplace apps.
Amazing features like client VPN (AnyConnect) system manager.

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Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 51-200 employees

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I haven't used other routers in my career. We evaluated Palo Alto but quickly realized we needed to stay with Cisco, as they never gave us a reason to change. Palo Alto also was a much greater financial investment we were not willing to take, along with the learning curve to support their hardware.

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Jacob Klein

Client Executive(CIO)/Executive Director of Information Technology

CareTech SolutionsHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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Scalability

Cisco Meraki SD-WAN 8.2

Based on 5 answers

The flag of Meraki is its scalability. This is an important feature that wins against the competitors. There is no better way to integrate new equipments, add new services and extend equipment’s licensing but the Meraki Dashboard. You can easily manage your inventory and move configuration without compromising the overall performance.

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ILEANA COLMENTER

Regional Account Manager - Hospitality

Connext (by Migesa)Telecommunications, 201-500 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Return on Investment

So far, SD-WAN/ Internet has saved us thousands per month over MPLS over private circuits.
Simple sites are quick and easy to bring online.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Mental Health Care Company, 201-500 employees

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It has helped increase IT productivity by making network management easier
The yearly subscription fee is too expensive and isn't worth it

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Consumer Goods Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No