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Is Cisco really the only suitable vendor out there?
Updated September 20, 2019

Is Cisco really the only suitable vendor out there?

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Routers

  • Cisco ISR 4000 Series
4K Cisco Routers are used across the whole organization. We use them for WAN connectivity. A general design is with MPLS and DMVPN as backup. Compared to other vendors they are pretty solid, but there are the "usual" Cisco bugs, but I guess nobody is 100% exempted.

  • Encryption with DMVPN is rather easy and customization is pretty good
  • QOS, even if the "sauce" that Cisco uses is somehow not known
  • The hardware in general is solid and with two power supplies (4431 and 4451) the resilience is quite good
  • ZBF - The zone base firewall is complicated and not that efficient, better than an ACL, but not a real Firewall.
  • Bugs - it's not possible to upgrade an IOS every several months due to bugs
  • They are too expensive. Even if they are the leader of the market, they are not necessarily the best
  • We try to keep the uptime of the network to 99.9%
  • In general Cisco equipment is too expensive, but until the business is willing to pay, we will stick with it
A typical example is WLC with ISE. It works with other providers as well (i.e. Aruba), but there is more effort to get what you need. Regarding Routers and switches, it's not a big deal if the vendors are different, while it's really important that all the switches (at least in the same site) are from the same vendor.
Routers are not intended to secure your network...and actually the ZBF, that is the only thing is close to a firewall, is pretty bad. It works, but it's not even close to an ASA, and the ASA is not that good compared to Palo Alto or Checkpoint. And again there are continuously bugs that affect security.
Honestly I have experience with other vendors (Huawei and Brocade), but just for LAN and Data Center. I always used Cisco Routers.
We are evaluating a move to SD-wan and a potential vendor is Silverpeak. The idea behind this is completely different and also Cisco offers an SD-WAN solution. It means that you don't have to deal with CLI anymore and it's just GUI.
Cisco is the leader of the market and usually, everyone knows Cisco and Cisco CLI, and maybe also [have] a certification. So in this sense, every company has some Cisco Routers for sure. Back to the topic, I would say use Cisco Router if there is expertise with Cisco, but in general, it's not a bad idea to look for something else.

Cisco Routers Additional Questions

In general Cisco had always the same policy for support, but I have the feeling that routers are less problematic when talking about bugs and in general the TAC engineers are more skilled compared to other areas. Not considering the huge problem of Cisco clock of 4331 in 2018 (we had to replace all of them due to an hw issue), the support for routers is rather good.
  • WAN devices for MPLS and DMVPN
  • Voice gateways
  • Internet edge
  • Product Usability
  • Prior Experience with the Product
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
Usability is the key factor. There are tons of guides on the Cisco websites and it's pretty easy to find a design solution or to solve an issue.
Furthermore the routers are pretty stable from hardware prospective. Routers are also less affected by bugs compare to switches, even if they run the same version (denali, Everest or Fuji)
I suggest always to create a template, better if automatic and preferably with a scripting language. It must be scalable and adaptable.
Then all the routers in the network will look exactly the same and it will help a lot the troubleshooting and it's going to be without errors. A team from another country continent won't be lost looking to a standard configuration.
Cisco doesn't sell to customers directly, unless you are an ISP or a gold partner. So every time you must use a reseller. Once a clear process is in place, there are no problems. This is valid within the same country or continent. If you have to purchase in Asia you have to find a new reseller and start from scratch. I suggest to find a global reseller. It will also avoid problems with the discount.
Post sale is fine as long as you have smartnet in place. It's not cheap, but in case of problems you are covered (for hardware and software).
It's not necessary to buy smartnet every year for all the routers. You can keep spares in some sites. I suggest to buy smartnet for important sites or where it's hard to get a replacement.
Keep in mind that in most all the countries there is lifetime warranty for hardware.
This really depends on the strategy of the company. If you have a medium size team with expertise, there is no real sense to buy Cisco Services.
Of course with limited resources, I guess there is no real choice, but it's also matter of budget. Sometimes also resellers sell this kind of service and it could be cheaper.
I suggest to speak with your Cisco account manager and present your plan/design asking to involve someone from the technical side. They will help, and most probably for free.