We compared Cisco ACI and Illumio Zero Trust Segmentation based on our users' reviews in six categories. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Comparison Results: Cisco ACI has a more intricate initial setup, but once deployed, it excels in configuration and management. It adopts a network-centric approach, offers micro-segmentation, and integrates well with VMware. However, users have reported issues with the GUI, high pricing, and a need for improved integration. On the other hand, Illumio Zero Trust Segmentation boasts a relatively simple setup and receives praise for its monitoring and visibility features. However, it lacks support for certain operating systems and proves less effective in OT environments. Users have also mentioned its high cost and have provided mixed feedback on customer service and support.
"The ability to integrate with other systems is the most valuable feature."
"The most important aspect of Cisco ACI in my opinion is the ease of management. Other solutions, like traditional solutions and pricier solutions—or even fabric and PAT—you have to do many configurations on a box-to-box basis, With Cisco ACI, you go on the AP and do some "next, next finish" installer."
"One of the most valuable features is centralized management. The other is the ability to create policies by routing."
"PBR has been beneficial for network efficiency."
"With ACI, if you need more capacity you can just buy more and plug them in without needing to do anything else. All of the sudden that infrastructure is there for me to use, configure, and add stuff to."
"The most valuable features are the automation with the different systems for the software development and the ability to provision switches in hours rather than days."
"Building the ACI Fabric is its most valuable feature."
"It has reduced our day-to-day operations by at least half."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The features that I have found most useful is the ability to centralize all the rules and then distribute them across various locations. However, I've encountered challenges related to tagging policies, which can be complex to devise. It's a matter that requires careful consideration and stakeholder involvement before implementing such policies."
"The Explorer allows you to know the traffic between source and destination."
"The product provides visibility into how the applications communicate and how the network protocols are being used."
"It has helped us to understand internal network visibility and firewall policy implementation. We use the product to simplify firewall policy implementation."
"The solution helps to maintain logs and monitor activities. It also helps us with access management. The tool helps us to secure organizational data that include files."
"The most valuable feature of Illumio Adaptive Security Platform is monitoring. When I have no requirement from the other application, I can use the web block traffic to build."
"The flexibility of the solution is its most valuable feature."
"It's a very complex system, as it should be. It's a new way of thinking about networking. Cisco ACI adds complexity. Cisco ACI is extremely complex. That's not necessarily a complaint, as much as it is a fact."
"Customer support for ACI needs improvement. Many customers prefer HPE because their internal support is different and easier to integrate with existing networks. This lack of awareness of ACI's capabilities makes customers stick to traditional networking."
"An area for improvement in Cisco ACI is security, which Cisco needs to enhance in the solution. Though Cisco ACI uses a whitelist model, you must purchase an external product, such as a security firewall solution, to make whitelisting work, which the customer could find expensive. For example, you're a customer who has Cisco ACI, and the solution doesn't have IP-based filtering, so as a customer, you've purchased Cisco ACI. However, you still need to buy another product for security, and some customers wouldn't like that. However, some customers prefer to go with Cisco ACI because of its scalability and flexibility versus other solutions such as Juniper and Aruba. Technical support for Cisco ACI also needs improvement, particularly in product knowledge."
"I would like this solution to be integrated with Pure Storage."
"I would like to see the data center unification of Cisco ACI with Cisco DNA into a single platform to deliver the data center and campus sides."
"The first setup was difficult because it is a very different discipline than other traditional network deployments. The terminology is very different, so the first time can be difficult."
"It would be nice if I could specify network-centric in my design, and the system would organize and set itself up in that way."
"Since it is a new technology, Cisco moved all the menus. This made it tricky to use."
"It requires a low-level re-architecting of the product."
"The product’s agents don't work very well in OT environments."
"The interaction we've had with the support team hasn't been ideal. Technical support should be improved."
"The solution is very basic and doesn't do anything other than the orchestration of layer four endpoint firewall rules."
"Some of the features that can be improved is offer additional guidance on creating an effective and risk-free tagging policy would be highly beneficial."
"Illumio Adaptive Security Platform could improve by supporting more operating systems. For example, Cisco and Apache appliances."
"The customer service is lagging a bit. It could be better."
"I would like to see better data security in the product."
Cisco ACI is ranked 2nd in Cloud and Data Center Security with 97 reviews while Illumio is ranked 4th in Cloud and Data Center Security with 8 reviews. Cisco ACI is rated 8.0, while Illumio is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Cisco ACI writes "Stable, easy to extend, scalable, and has a host-based routing feature". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Illumio writes "Pprevents attackers or threats from spreading or moving laterally". Cisco ACI is most compared with VMware NSX, Cisco Secure Workload, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Nuage Networks and Aviatrix, whereas Illumio is most compared with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, VMware NSX, Cisco Secure Workload, Zscaler Internet Access and Zero Networks Microsegmentation. See our Cisco ACI vs. Illumio report.
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