Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) Reviews

I'm an engineering student, studying smart information and communication technology.

The product has many useful features. It enhances compliance and security posture. It provides client provisions and profiling as well as guest access, features not available in other solutions. The product can be customized. 

Although the solution is easy to implement it's not so easy to understand. You need to be able to figure out the protocols, the nodes, and the personals of the nodes in order to implement correctly and make good use of it. Because it's a Cisco product, if you're not in a Cisco environment, it's difficult to integrate with anything else, so the big concern is its interoperability with other technologies and other vendors. 

I've been using this solution for two months. 

The solution is stable. 

ISE is extensible. It can be deployed for small and large organizations, and can even be distributed and centralized. 

We haven't used the customer support but if I do need some assistance my supervisor and the manager I'm working with can help. 

I've looked at other network access control solutions and ISE is among the leading technologies. I recommend it but suggest taking a close look at the technology before implementing it. Try to really understand it, because if you miss anything and don't configure correctly, it's going to be awful and you'll lose the benefits that the solution provides. Even if you only need one or two of the features that the solution provides, I would recommend using it. 

I rate this solution nine out of 10. 

Our clients use Cisco ISE for security, especially in the finance industry.

Our clients like Cisco ISE because they already use various Cisco solutions. It's easy for them to use this solution because they have an engineer with Cisco certifications.

The price could be better. I would like to see more integration with third-party solutions in the next release. This is because many of my clients don't have Cisco.

We have been a partner dealing with Cisco ISE for about 14 years.

Cisco ISE is very stable.

Scalability is good.

I think Cisco has already improved its support for this solution.

On a scale from one to five, I would give technical support a five.

Neutral

The initial setup is easy. We have two engineers who implement this solution.

On a scale from one to five, I would give the initial setup a four.

Cisco is expensive, but it's the cost for all the functions and value it brings. Functions like internet solutions, integrations, security, and many more features are important, but it's expensive for some clients.

I would tell potential users that this is a good solution.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give  Cisco ISE a ten.

We primarily use the solution in our infrastructure.

I'm very satisfied with the product. It has been excellent so far. 

From the performance perspective, it is excellent. The outcome is as expected, giving control to the network. 

There is good integration with third-party systems like antivirus patch management, MDM.

They need to simplify the processes and management more, as well as the platform. Their user experience is a bit complicated, and it's not easy to manage. They need to do something to enhance the management console and make it more simple and easier to use.

I need to see stronger integration with Cisco SDN. Instead of treating it as a separate appliance, it should be a built-in feature in the SDN solution. This is one of the things that will reduce the complexity of Cisco's architecture. Instead of having multiple appliances, and getting lost in-between, and not knowing where is the problem is, everything can just be in one place. It will be better to move this feature or this technology as a built-in technology in the SDN solutions, similar to DNA and ACI.

The pricing and licensing structure are not ideal for customers.

I've used this solution for about five years, both in my previous company and my current company as well.

The solution provides excellent stability and reliability. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

We are a customer and an end-user.

Cisco, on the price, is not good now. This might entice customers or end-users to go for another cheaper solution where they can still find most of the features Cisco offers. 

They are now offering subscription licenses, and you have to pay thousands of dollars every year for maintenance and renewing support. Most users will not accept this new strategy of Cisco. It's not like HP or Dell, where, when you purchase the hardware and it's a lifetime license. It's a lifetime subscription. You don't need to renew the license every two years. Therefore, from a price perspective, no, Cisco's not good. Their strategy now seems to be pushing customers to go for other solutions.

The product is excellent and I would rate it at a nine out of ten.

We use this solution for both wired and wireless network access control. We have deployed it in a bank, government offices, and some universities.

I have found that all of the features are valuable.

It is very easy to deploy because we are able to port users directly from Active Directory (AD) and LDAP.

In an upcoming release, the solution needs to be more agentless and more independent. Additionally, there could be improved integration with other next-generation solutions, such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, or Check Point.

I have been using this solution for approximately nine years.

The solution takes a while to get up and running before it becomes stable. There is a lot of fine-tuning that needs to be done to make sure that users are authenticated properly and not denied access. I have had the experience of redeploying the ISE several times because of false denial of services or access to services but once it is configured correctly the stability is fine.

I have found this solution is scalable, especially the latest versions. The older versions, have to have some additions in order to make them scalable. However, I think they have resolved this issue.

We have had customers of all business sizes using this solution, from small to enterprise companies.

The community support is satisfactory, it is very easy to get support. You can find any documentation and support within the community. 

The deployment takes a long time. Additionally, if you want to integrate the solution with AD and LDAP you will need someone that is very experienced. It is a good feature to have but it is complex to integrate.

We have had experience deploying this solution to small, medium, and enterprise size companies.

This solution requires an annual license and it is a bit expensive than competitors.

I rate Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) an eight out of ten.

The way we can trust this solution is the most valuable. We have no issue with this product. It is a competitive product. You need to have a very good and deep knowledge of the product to take the full benefits of all the features, but it is a good product.

It is too complex. It should be easy to use. We are not such a big team. We only have three engineers to work with this, and we don't use all of the functionality of the product. Its range of functionality is too wide for us, and this is the reason why we are thinking of switching to a more simple product. We have shortlisted a Microsoft solution. We have a big footprint for Microsoft products, especially in security. As a global strategy, we try to leverage to the maximum what is possible around Microsoft.

This product was installed before I joined this company. It would be six years or something like that. We are probably two versions behind the latest one.

It is stable.

Their technical support is good. Cisco support is good.

I was not there, but I think the company had a services company that helped them in implementing it. It was easy because we only had to give them the requirements and their engineers did it for us. After they finished their mission, we started to deal with this solution, but it is too complex for a company of our size.

Its price is probably good if you use all of its features and functionalities to protect your environment. If you use only a part of the functionality, its price is too high. It is just a question of value and the functionality you use.

I would advise others to make sure that you have the knowledge of this solution to get the full benefits of all the features, and you are able to use it on a daily basis.

I would rate Cisco ISE a six out of ten. Its functionality is too wide for our company. 

We are a reseller of Cisco ISE. 

So far we have had no complaints from customers. No major complaints in terms of ISE. They do complain obviously if the ISE service stops working. Normally that happens if there's a server flaw or some problem at the data center somewhere. 

There can more integration between the wireless controller management and ISE. Consolidation or integration of the controller and ISE dashboards would be great. It's not that bad but would make for simplified support if it could be combined into one dashboard.

It's very stable. We have it in on a big car rental company. We manage and we support the Cisco ISE platform for them. It's very stable and it adds a lot of value to the network.

In terms of scalability, you need to factor in your licenses. With a virtual platform, the scalability is more than sufficient. We have over one thousand users. 

We've got two engineers that look after the ISE environment.

We have emailed tech before and their support has been very good.

The initial setup was straightforward. The time it takes to implement depends from customer to customer. The most time-consuming aspect is sitting with the customer and planning out the policies and how they understand Cisco ISE. On average, with the planning sessions with the customer and the installation of ISE, it takes approximately five days.

The licensing is too expensive. There is more complexity on the wifi environment, especially with Cisco DNA versus Cisco ONE licensing. As far as the ISE licensing is concerned, it's pretty straightforward. We normally follow the ordering guide which is quite detailed, so there's no problem there.

The advice that I would give someone considering this solution is to understand the licensing. From a design perspective, we refer to the ordering guide quite frequently. The most important thing is to have a technical planning session with the customer. A lot of the time the customer doesn't really know what they want and if you don't have that upfront planning and discussion with the customer, the deployment can take much longer.

I would rate it a ten out of ten. 

The solution is being used for authentication purposes and for sharing assessments. 

Cisco ISE has helped improve our security. 

It helps ensure that you are working in accordance with the organizational policy before you join the network. Also, the solution is very reliable. 

I would like to see better management. Integration with other platforms can also be improved. 

Cisco ISE does not recognize devices and that is an issue we faced during its integration with our existing devices.

I have been working with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) for ten years. 

The stability of the solution is average. I would rate the stability of the solution a seven out of ten. 

The solution's scalability is average. I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. 

The initial setup of Cisco ISE is complex. For the deployment, the solution needs to be installed and then it needs to be integrated with the network and certificates to get to the endpoints. 

I would like to advice that Cisco ISE is a reliable and stable solution although it is not very easy to use. They should work on integrating the solution with other platforms.

Overall, I will rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

We use Cisco ISE for device authentication, such as auto switches, and wireless authentication.

The most valuable features are authentication, we have more granular control on the access policies for the administrators. The solution is easy to use, has a center point administration, and has a good GUI.

The solution could be more secure.

I have been using Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) for approximately five years.

Cisco ISE is stable.

I have found Cisco ISE to be scalable.

We have approximately 500 people using this solution in my organization.

We were using Cisco ACS previously. I have found Cisco ISE to be a more advanced and easy-to-use solution than the Cisco ACS.

The installation is straightforward since we have worked on Cisco platforms previously.

We have approximately 100 people for the maintenance and support of this solution.

I rate Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) an eight out of ten.