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Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers wireless LAN.N/A

    Splunk Enterprise Security

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASplunk Enterprise Security is an analytics-driven SIEM that helps to combat threats with actionable intelligence and advanced analytics at scale.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    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 Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    64 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    109 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    56 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    90 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    65 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    103 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    57 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    80 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    58 Answers
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    90 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers and Splunk Enterprise Security
    Feature
    Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    -
    Ratings
    Splunk Enterprise Security
    8.4
    107 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings7.1105 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.9104 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings8.9105 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings7.9106 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.9101 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings9.8107 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings7.9101 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings7.9103 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings8.899 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings7.9100 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.992 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings8.9100 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.0106 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    Small Businesses
    WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
    Score9.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
    Score9.2 out of 10
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (89 ratings)
    7.1
    (109 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.3
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (26 ratings)
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    7.3
    (8 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.7
    (98 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Wireless LAN ControllersSplunk Enterprise Security
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I believe that Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are well suited for the enterprise environment for medium sized to very large companies. While there are smaller WLC appliances for smaller sized businesses, a case can be made for simpler or more cost effective wireless licensing solutions (e.g. Cisco Meraki). Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are extremely well suited for dense deployments like stadiums, arenas, hospitals, theaters, and large offices because of their ability to support a large number of APs with a very diverse technology feature set.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Based on my experience, Splunk is a strong git for some environments and a poor match for others. The distinction is primarily based on infrastructure complexity and budget. It's perfect for large enterprises with a mix of on-prem/cloud infrastructure. It's not a perfect match for small teams with restricted resources.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • The cisco wireless controller allows for very granular access to internal and external systems.
    • The system allows for allowing special needs uses (medical, security, guest) very easy.
    • The system allows for various levels of bandwidth to a variety of users.
    • The security, flexibility and ease of use is phenomenal.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Writes Powerful Queries: The queries that can be written using the Splunk Query Language are very powerful and highly customizable to meet every need. Ex: Writing queries to search the intersection of two different sources like Network and Endpoint Logs.
    • Offers Dashboard Abilities: Helps build complex panels for Dashboards in addition to providing several out-of-the-box panels. Ex: creating panels to calculate the performance of analysts in a given timezone.
    • Helpful Search Aids: It helps to set up complex custom alerts very easily. The interesting fields section is very helpful while threat hunting. Ex: It shows all the users and the frequency of each in a failed login event. The user list on the interesting fields is useful to look for suspicious logins.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • Configuring wireless settings is very confusing because various settings are scattered all over the interface in different tabs
    • Lots of settings use Cisco's technical verbiage rather than common phrasing, so it's confusing what a lot of settings will do and requires researching the meaning before modifying the setting
    • The interface could be easier to use to do simple tasks such as reboot an access point
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Improved User Interface Customization: While the interface is generally intuitive, providing more options for users to customize their dashboards and views would enhance the overall user experience. Tailoring the interface to specific roles or use cases could be a valuable addition.
    • Simplified Alert Management: Streamlining the process of managing alerts, such as grouping or categorizing them based on severity or type, would make it easier for security teams to prioritize and respond to incidents effectively.
    • Expanded Threat Intelligence Feeds: Increasing the variety and sources of threat intelligence feeds available within ES would provide a broader context for identifying and mitigating emerging threats, ensuring a more comprehensive defense against evolving attack vectors.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    Although it is a very good product, support is easy and can manage by Level 1 support persons and downtime is too much less but still there is a cost factor matters which is consider by each organization. Furthermore, organizations also compare with other competitors so it is hard to pursue and defend the high prices.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    We are very happy with Splunk and would advise anyone to take a serious look at it. It might look pricey but the rewards Splunk offers seem endless.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    As I said before, the only thing we miss in our old model is the fact that the management interface never received an improvement in design. It has the same look and feels since it was launched. It's not that it's hard to use. It's just the case of could be modernized.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Maintaining hundreds or even 1000+ SOC use cases is really difficult, considering that the Data sources may not always send the data. A module that detects data freshness issues and detect data format changes would be a great help. the main challenge today using Splunk Enterprise Security is making sure that the detection rules are still working properly given all the changes that occur in data source applications. Also, maintaining the data collects on tens of thousands of servers and more than 100k workstations is a real company IT challenge: the splunkbase forwarder may not support old OS anymore, while these are the most important to monitor. Moving to the Open Telemetry collector has become essential so that only 1 agent is required for both SIEM and application observability.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    Downtime fear is the first fear which IT persons look and want to eliminate as much as they can but eventually you have to face it as nothing is perfect. Cisco Wireless Lan controller are feasible to use and easy to manage and other than this their issue reported are pretty low so you can get the best up time. now it also depends on scenario as well as environment.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    I don't think I've ever seen Splunk ES go fully offline or have any downtime greater than a few minutes on rare occasions.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Cisco
    Cisco Wireless Lan controller are feasible to use and easy to manage and other than this their issue reported are pretty low so you get the better uptime. if your get the uptime then it means its a stable product in your environment. Product performance also depends on the product management and Cisco Wireless Lan controller management is easy so you can get the great output.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It takes a long time for items to load if you are just generally searching through logs. It is best to use the data models which load faster but can be strange in terms of what is coming from which logs where. Yes, you can look it up, but this also requires familiarity with where things are and how to look them up.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    As usual, the support from Cisco's TAC (Technical Assistance Center) is lacking. Granted, they always get the job done, but the amount of lead time on a non-emergency is enough to make you just handle it yourself. The good news is that if you ask for Cisco's assistance and forget about it, they'll jump on by the time you've forgotten where you were in troubleshooting it and have it fixed for you.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It's good when it's responsive, but I've had times where I had to wait quite a while for a response. But these are typically the exceptions rather than the rule. When you do get a response it is always well-informed and appropriate. I would say they've been trending better over time with this.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I experienced only on-line training, but the trainers were very professional and competent. Maybe it could be more useful if they also have an experience in projects because sometimes they didn't have a real project experience to communicate to the students. Anyway, it was very interesting and I learned many thing that's very difficoult (or maybe impossible!) to have by myself, aven if I have more than 10 years of Splunk activity experience.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It was very interesting and I learned many thing that's very difficoult (or maybe impossible!) to have by myself. The only problem was that, when I worked with the Splunk Professional Services, I found some difference between the training contents and the information from PS. In addition is required a long experience on Splunk Enterprise for the data ingestion part, in other words I'm able to work with ES because I'm worling on Splunk since 11 years, otherwise I'd some problem.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Originally, when we deployed our first controller it was on a very limited basis. We only deployed it to our administration building and our High School. It was pretty straight forward. Because this was new to us we leaned heavily on our Cisco partner to assist us. With our last upgrade, we upgraded the controllers, added redundancy and expanded the building count along with new SSID's and restrictions. It went much easier, but again, we did rely on Cisco TAC and our partner to clarify and assist as needed. Having already been familiar with the product help tremendously.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It's a fantatic product and it was very useful the presence of Splunk Professional Services for the Design Phase and the final Health Check.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    The Aironet access points are used for employee WiFi access, and they integrate well with Meraki. They would offer a separate guest network, too, but the decision was made to physically separate the guest network, so even if a bad actor would gain access to the ethernet port of the AP, they'd still not see any company traffic.
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    Cisco
    Splunk enterprise is the only solution that we’ve been able to identify that provides risk based alerting, which allows our SOC to reduce analyst fatigue which would be a huge problem without it. Before RBA, there were thousands of alerts a day and it was impossible to review all of them
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    for my exterience, unit pricing and billing frequency are correct. As I already said, I hint to have more discount flexibility, expecially with new customers, because there are competitors less expensive and very aggressive that are dangerous. In addition the possibility to don't pay the license for the development period could be a very interesting feature for the final customers.
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    Cisco is a brand name and people trust on it. if any one thing about the networking then Cisco is among those brand which is count as trusted brand and people rely on it. Also it support is good so people can use it. Cisco Wireless Lan controller are easy to use and manage so it requires less effort.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    - 8 out of 10 and took 2 for the data pipeline and administration part. Even if you'd like to improve yourself or your team, you have to pay a lot of money and it could be more than GIAC education + cert. - Normalization for Data models and CPU-based searches can be a problem sometimes.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I had a fantastic experience with Splunk Professional Services: they worked with us in our last SON project (a SOC migration for a very large customer) and helped to build a multi tenent environment even if ES isn't a multi tenant platform. Th Splunk PS was a very professional and competent people, he is italian and was able to speak with our italian customers.
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • We have had our [Cisco Wireless LAN Controller] 5508s for a very long time now and although they are getting dated, they have earned us our money's worth with consistency, stability, and ease of use. Users have minimal wireless complaints and when they do seldom are they WLC-related.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • We have a 100% success rate on all our ES implementations due to the amazing documentation and Splunk enablement on the subject.
    • Our Splunk ES business has grown 100% YoY for the last 3 years.
    • In terms of long term management and maintenance, ES has been highly stable and predictable, reducing our overhead on costly services team for ad hoc maintenance work.
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