Cisco Routers vs. VMware SD-WAN

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Routers
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco routers support secure, reliable enterprise connections. These enterprise routers help users implement an intent-based, future-ready WAN that is constantly learning, adapting, and protecting. Deploy routers for the branch, cloud, co-location, or the data center with any type of connectivity, including MPLS, Internet, and 4G LTE. With over 30 years of experience and an end-to-end portfolio, Cisco routing solutions can deliver for today’s networking needs. The vendor promises to help…N/A
VMware SD-WAN
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
VMware SD-WAN (formerly VeloCloud) aims to deliver high-performance, reliable branch access to cloud services, private data centers, and SaaS-based enterprise applications. VeloCloud was acquired by VMware in 2018.N/A
Pricing
Cisco RoutersVMware SD-WAN
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco RoutersVMware SD-WAN
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 RoutersVMware SD-WAN
Considered Both Products
Cisco Routers
Chose Cisco Routers
Cisco product have shown proven operation and reliability for our teams. Our old routers were also Cisco series that where in continuous operation for over a decade with no issues.
Chose Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers are the most reliable and stable internet edge routers ive used. They' have also always offered high performance for the most demanding traffic workloads. Lastly, from all of the various vendors I've used, Cisco routsrs have the best TAC support.
Chose Cisco Routers
Very well! Cisco Routers were much faster.
Chose Cisco Routers
We have used Cisco Routers and ASA for many years, they provide us the stable network connection with high performance, high security, and new technology.
Chose Cisco Routers
When it comes to CIENA routes , we don't use the latest overlay technology EVPN in our CIENA metro environment. Because CIENA doesn't yet support the EVPN VPWS and EVPN VPLS services. We still relay on LDP based Pseudo wires for achieving L2VPN services in our metro …
Chose Cisco Routers
Other vendors definitely bring some great features. We've gone from Fortinet to HPE, to Ruckus. Each product has benefits to consider. For us, Cisco is a trusted brand that's used about thousands of customers and many fortune companies. While some of the newer or smaller …
Chose Cisco Routers
In my opinion, we do not like the Meraki MX compared to Cisco Routers. It is not flexible enough for our needs and is only really viable for very simple east to west traffic. From my experience, for a "Firewall" it has an awful policy management interface that manages to be so …
Chose Cisco Routers
The main reason to go with Cisco Routers is reliability. Other than that most engineers are certified to operate these routers. Other reasons are good technical support, quality community and familiarity/experience within the industry of networking. It is by default product to …
Chose Cisco Routers
Similar, if not slightly better.
Chose Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers stack up against them and we have selected Cisco Routers to accommodate the limited rack spaces. The stack cables are giving seamless connectivity between switches.
Chose Cisco Routers
I have not used any other router apart from Cisco Routers. So cannot compare any other router with the same.
Chose Cisco Routers
Cisco has been the top vendor while selecting the router, they are always on the list. Cisco has been very up-to-date with current market trends and technology. Cisco has better material available over the Internet, so Cisco has better competency compared with any other vendor, …
Chose Cisco Routers
Netgear and Dlink wireless routers also support cloud-based management, however, Cisco is the first one to implement a cloud-based centralized management portal. Cisco Meraki routers provide enhanced network security using Meraki Air Marshal wireless intrusion and prevention …
Chose Cisco Routers
Cisco Routers have better performance and are more efficient when working. They are friendlier in their configuration environment and in turn, their TAC service is superior to that of other brands, and at the same level of documentation it is more accessible than that of other …
Chose Cisco Routers
Cisco routers are great and are the industry standard. They have proven their ability to last and [continually] provide support for their devices. You can go into a lot of IT closets and see old Cisco switches and routers. Why? because they are workhorses and they last. Their …
Chose Cisco Routers
As a Cisco partner, we had access to Cisco devices only. I can't offer this information.
Chose Cisco Routers
Mikrotik Routers are very inexpensive and lightweight routers. They support many features that enterprise routers support like routing protocols, ACLs, Nating, radius server-based authentication, GUI management, and many more. However, it is not built to handle large amounts of …
Chose Cisco Routers
As needing a physical piece, this is the only logical step forward.
Chose Cisco Routers
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 …
Chose Cisco Routers
The Meraki devices are much simpler to manage and configure than any of their other devices. Being able to manage all devices at once makes it easier to detect a problem. The monthly subscription fee is the hardest part to look past, as it's a lot more costly to use Meraki …
Chose Cisco Routers
Important reason is the certified and qualified engineers to support the Cisco devices compared to other vendors in the market. Cisco Routers are easy to manage over a long time compared to Juniper devices. Cisco SDM tool also helps for small sites to manage these routers. …
VMware SD-WAN
Chose VMware SD-WAN
VMware SD-WAN compared to Fortinet FortiGate is easier to configure. It is also a more flexible option that is much easier to deploy. I find the visibility of the network to be easier to understand on the VMware SD-WAN user interface. I also find the VMware SD-WAN dashboard to …
Chose VMware SD-WAN
We preferred the features and UI of the Velocloud compared to Fortigate SDWAN. They seemed to offer the same sets of information in different layouts. Our company decided on Velocloud for personal/aesthetic reasons. They offered a more concise set of graphs and tables out of …
Chose VMware SD-WAN
At the time we made our decision to move forward with VeloCloud, Cisco Viptela and Cisco Meraki were the two players we compared against. Cisco's offerings were very customizable when using Viptela, but there was a big learning curve to implement. Meraki at the time was a lot …
Chose VMware SD-WAN
To tell the truth, I'm not sure I'm familiar enough with the differences between Citrix SD-WAN and VeloCloud to offer a comparison. I have colleagues that use both, and they are very similar in their technology offerings. Citrix has been around for a long time, and I do trust …
Chose VMware SD-WAN
Because the Fortigate is a true firewall with all the UTM features, that is the only thing that I would say beats the VC in that aspect. Silverpeak has a very nice solution, but it is a bit cumbersome when using the GUI to configure and manage. WatchGuard is a UTM firewall, …
Chose VMware SD-WAN
VMware SD-WAN does one thing and one thing well. Provide network and security by tunneling traffic from remote locations back into our headquarters. They also provide security at the cloud and can prioritize different applications and perform split tunneling for internet …
Best Alternatives
Cisco RoutersVMware SD-WAN
Small Businesses

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Medium-sized Companies

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Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco RoutersVMware SD-WAN
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.2
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco RoutersVMware SD-WAN
Likelihood to Recommend
We will recommend theCisco Routers if there is requirement of high availability and more reliability. Also it is best for implementing and achieving state of the art technologies in both enterprise and service provider environment. The integrated management and monitoring solutions it comes with makes the routers attractive for all network operations. We don't recommend the Cisco Routers if cost is a concern since all these next generation features are very expensive.
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VeloCloud was the #1 choice out of various POCs performed when migrating off of MPLS into an ADI/public internet circuit environment. Their ability to also be top of rack with certain software vendors played a major role in improving user experience. Their dynamic DMPO and circuit load balancing can cause some challenges when working with other entities that use a static whitelisting service for access to resources.
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Pros
  • Helps to separate routing information for different networks for different customers.
  • Helps peers with service providers and Customer Networks and starts the exchange of information between them.
  • Helps facilitate internet connectivity for enterprise networks.
  • Helps transferring Internet or Private Data from one place to another.
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  • Ease of setup: after unpacking the device, you can have your VC appliance up and running within minutes.
  • Now that VMWare owns the Velocloud solution, I believe that they will be able to invest in the product to say fresh and ahead of the competition.
  • The technical support is one of the best I have ever interacted with and continue to follow up until the issue is resolved.
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Cons
  • I have had the opportunity to work with different vendors of routers and simply from my point of view they are the best equipment in the market. Perhaps the unfavorable point is the costs compared to other manufacturers, but they are still the best option
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  • VMware SD-WAN could provide cli access for troubleshooting
  • VMware SD-WAN boxes could have more ports
  • VMware SD-WAN box could have more applications to provide more health and visibility of the traffic passing through
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Likelihood to Renew
We are extremely likely to renew, as we have been very happy with our Cisco Routers for over 10 years. Their uptime as well as stable nature makes them ideal for us, as we are an industry that cannot afford downtime. We trust our partner to recommend our next model Cisco, when the time comes.
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Usability
The best thing about Cisco products is their presence in community. When you have a problem you can do quick search and find whoever else had the same question and expert answer for that question. Other thing is there are Cisco certified people we can find very easily if want some help with comissioning these products
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VMware SD-WAN has great usability. We have had a positive experience with the solution. It has helped solved a number of issues with our network such as visibility in user usage, application usage, and prioritizing critical application network traffic. VMware SD-WAN user interface is also very easy to understand and configure.
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Support Rating
Cisco support is very good. Of course, sometime you will run into support guy that isn't up to the task. Buf overall, the support system is well structure. You know if this support isn't able to help, you can esclate the situation to find another help. Also, their documentation is well developed and can be very useful.
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There are still some glitches that need to be worked out. As an example, I rebooted a device at one of our branch locations and it just died. That should never have happened, and I've only seen this happen when a company needs to improve hardware on some of their lower-end models.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco Routers are the most reliable and stable internet edge routers ive used. They' have also always offered high performance for the most demanding traffic workloads. Lastly, from all of the various vendors I've used, Cisco routsrs have the best TAC support.
Read full review
We preferred the features and UI of the Velocloud compared to FortiGate SDWAN. They seemed to offer the same sets of information in different layouts. Our company decided on Velocloud for personal/aesthetic reasons. They offered a more concise set of graphs and tables out of the box for us. SD WAN provided us a with a broader look into our connections with a more robust view, which Velocloud backed by Vmware, gave us.
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Return on Investment
  • Network management has become easy and fast with cloud based portal.
  • Network policies could be rolled out quickly across the devices.
  • Improvement in Network security.
  • Stable internet connection has lead to less downtime and more productivity.
  • Stable internet connection in each location within the organization.
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  • We are able to save thousands per month by eliminating MPLS from our monthly service.
  • We were able to convert the cost of VeloCloud to an operational expense by renting through our ISP.
  • We have been able to eliminate downtime in situations which would have normally taken our branches offline, preventing us from servicing customers.
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ScreenShots