Cisco Wide Area Application Services vs. F5 BIG-IP

WAAS works best for cookie cutter and some unique network design implementations. is best suited for an all Cisco network infrastructure. however, a number of 3rd party network devices can be used and supported when using this product. it's easier with all Cisco. It is priced pretty high to get into and medium to enterprise organizations is best suited to implement this in

Incentivized

I really do think it's well suited for any placement on the edge, especially with the WAF portion. APM is a whole different module unto itself that allows for VPN Connect connectivity, web top access. So it really is for these modules anyway, an edge appliance for us and not really usable in the interior of the network.

Incentivized

• Network file and application optimization
• VOIP telephony optimization
• Citrix application optimization
• Standardized user experience for networking usage

Incentivized

• Easy connection: you can connect to your corporate network with two clicks.
• IP restriction: F5 has a list of possible insecure IP numbers, if someone tries to connect using one of these numbers, F5 BIG-IP won't connect.
• Always on feature: Very handy feature, if you install always on, you won't need to click connect.

Incentivized

• Administrator GUI user interface is archaic and very dated
• Admin GUI lacks a bunch of feature support options you have to do via CLI
• Some endpoint functionality needs to be done at each site instead of from the central admin tool. so redundant effort and can cause site config drift
• Admin GUI lacks some monitoring and reporting options that would be helpful for support and trouble resolution

Incentivized

• I think the policy configuration that had some improvements on the ASM word things, improvements may be on the signatures that would be good because it's a little bit confusing on the ASL, how they are updated and deployed, and this staging. So that's something that could be.

Incentivized

Only way to to this type of tasks

Incentivized

Great customization and easy to use help reference menus

Incentivized

On the occasions when we've had to engage f5 support, they have been great. They have always resolved our issues quickly and been easy to work with and professional. The reason I give them a 10 out of 10, however, is because when we've had issues that have crossed over between the f5 BIG-IP, our Cisco switches, and our Microsoft IIS server the f5 support representatives have been extremely knowledgeable about every product and device involved and have been able to troubleshoot end-to-end without having to engage other vendors.

Incentivized

implementation is fine

Incentivized

We are already a Cisco organization for network and security products. Cisco provided us discounting competitors just couldn't get to. competitors required more hardware and more complex setup requirements over this product due to our network design. The end result when comparing WAAS to others were going to be the same speed, experience, and pretty much the same administration requirements from IT. The added cost savings won us over.

Incentivized

F5 BIG-IP is my first F5 product that I have stared to work, and it brings me more experience doing a lot of migration upgrades from old code version to new code. The way F5 has all configuration help us to develop scrips to improve our process.

Incentivized

• saves monthly internet service costs
• seamless network experience for all users at all sites
• ok troubleshooting admin portal so some IT skills are required to manage this
• is costly to purchase
• somewhat complex to set up but easy to administer once working

Incentivized

• Having a load balancer of F5 helps to address large traffic limit on organisation's application
• This means that organisation gets a lot of revenue due to the usage of their application
• Hence provide a very positive impact onthe inverment or ROl of the organisation

Incentivized