Big Switch Networks vs VMware NSX comparison

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418 views|349 comparisons
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2,140 views|1,333 comparisons
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Big Switch Networks and VMware NSX based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Juniper, Big Switch Networks and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN).
To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined Networking (SDN) Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"What I liked about the solution is the quick and easy way you can build a network data center fabric."

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"NSX can reduce costs and has good service. It is easy for you and your users to use.""The micro-segmentation and the ability to create policy rules are valuable.""Has a great firewall.""NSX gives us the ability to put our network, NSX, onto any network there is, which allows us not to have to go to the network team to create networks our VLANs for networks.""The most valuable features are ease of use and user interface.""This is a good firewall and overall it is rich in features.""VMware NSX is a very good solution. It's also a scalable solution.""The initial setup was straightforward. You just have to click it and follow the manuals."

More VMware NSX Pros →

Cons
"I think if I was to say something that could be improved, it would be a multi-data center nature of the implementation."

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"Despite being somewhat behind in the cybersecurity field, VMware should develop a cloud and a red team to continuously monitor for new malware and ransomware.""The engineering team has room for improvement. They should have have more of a Knowledge Base about different case studies and should develop more advanced features. These kinds of improvements will change the way things get done.""If there are other solutions already in place, it can be difficult to implement.""There are sometimes mismatch in the control, the details and what you actually see on the transport note.""In the next release, they should enhance the visual interface. With NSX-T, it's difficult to communicate between the public cloud and the container.""Our technical team is always looking for the solutions that they work with to offer more convenient integrations.""A room for improvement in VMware NSX is that it has some security vulnerabilities, which means my company has to apply the patches every once in a while.""The support needs improvement."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The licensing cost depends on the number of switches that are going to be licensed to run the software."
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  • "Pricing and licensing could be improved as we are a government entity. Lower pricing could always help."
  • "We haven't had to hire a dedicated network engineer because NSX handles 90 percent of it. The reduced overhead in terms of managing networks has been the biggest plus."
  • "We have saved man-hours and decreased our security exposure."
  • "We can't go without NSX, so it's invaluable from this perspective."
  • "The solution is very expensive."
  • "The licensing fees are expensive and we pay on a yearly basis."
  • "It is an expensive product, but cheaper than some competing solutions."
  • "The price of this product is too high."
  • More VMware NSX Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:What I liked about the solution is the quick and easy way you can build a network data center fabric.
    Top Answer:The licensing cost depends on the number of switches that are going to be licensed to run the software. I wasn't on the commercial side of this project, so I don't really have a lot of details, but it… more »
    Top Answer:I think if I was to say something that could be improved, it would be a multi-data center nature of the implementation. Meaning, having an active-active data center with multiple entrance-exit points… more »
    Top Answer:There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server where… more »
    Top Answer:Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch… more »
    Top Answer:The product has valuable features for security and network extension.
    Ranking
    Views
    418
    Comparisons
    349
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    845
    Rating
    9.0
    2nd
    Views
    2,140
    Comparisons
    1,333
    Reviews
    34
    Average Words per Review
    416
    Rating
    8.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    VMware Nicira
    Learn More
    Overview

    Big Switch Networks is at the forefront of the next-generation of networking technologies. By combining industry standard switch hardware (“white box / branded white box “brite box”) with intelligent SDN control software, the company is delivering next-generation data center networking fabrics for the world’s most advanced data centers looking to achieve unmatched degrees of network automation at cloud-competitive price points.

    Big Switch Networks has two data center networking solutions: Big Cloud Fabric, a data center switching fabric for OpenStack clouds or VMware virtualization environments, and Big Monitoring Fabric, a network packet broker that enables pervasive security and security, monitoring data center traffic for inline or out-of-band deployments. Big Switch is taking three key technologies: vendor agnostic switch hardware, SDN control software, and core-and-pod data center designs –and leveraging them for use in next-generation data center switching and monitoring solutions designed for use in enterprises, cloud providers, and service providers.

    All Big Switch solutions run on high-performance open networking switches from Accton or Dell Technologies and leverage centralized SDN controller software for fabric-wide control and management. Big Switch Networks has two solutions:

    VMware NSX is a full-stack network and security virtualization platform that enables the virtual cloud network. NSX provides a software-defined process for networking that expands throughout cloud frameworks, data centers, and application structures. Users can join and secure applications within their container and multi-cloud infrastructure and their data center. With robust automated provisioning, the platform offers dynamic flexibility and scalability without compromising on network speed or agility.

    VMware NSX recreates the whole software network model so that users can create and deliver apps quickly and securely. Users can customize security policies and leverage IDS/IPS to block against lateral threats. These security policies can be managed throughout private and public clouds from one pane of glass, no matter where your applications run. By consolidating networking and security tasks into a unified platform, users can save up to one-third of their budget.

    VMware NSX Use Cases

    VMware NSX brings the operational model of a virtual machine to users’ data center networks and revolutionizes the foundations of network and security operations. There are a number of use cases, including:

    • Containers - Similar to VMs, users can offer unified, full-stack networking and security for microservices and containerized apps. This includes the ability to micro-segment, use container networking for Kubernetes, and offers complete visibility for microservices.
    • App Delivery - Users can deliver infrastructure as code while also accelerating app delivery with blueprints that can automate the management of security and networking resources.
    • Security - With zero-trust security in public and private cloud environments, users can reduce attacks, lock down critical apps, and design a logical DMZ in software.
    • Load Balancing - Users can update their data centers from legacy load balancers to software load balancers and SDN automation, creating savings of over 50%.
    • Multi-Cloud - Expand networking across clouds and streamline multi-cloud operations with multi-cloud use cases, including rapid workload mobility, seamless data center extension, and multi-DC pooling.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Through a policy-driven approach, VMware NSX provides VMware technologies to assist with network and security visualization in a unified solution. Users particularly like the distributed firewall and the management dashboard.

    Kolawole O., a systems engineer at a tech services company, writes, "NSX's stand-out function is the distributed firewall. The firewall system is just top-notch, and I haven't seen another solution like it."

    A head of business development and partners management at a comms service provider notes, "I really like the management dashboard, the tailor-made assurance, the telemetry, and the ease of integration with all other solutions of VMware, such as vSphere."

    Sample Customers
    A10 Networks, Edge-Core Networks, Blue Coat Systems, BlueData, Broadcom Corporation, Canonical, Check Point Software Technologies, Citrix, Dell, FireEye, Garland, Hortonworks, Mirantis, Nexenta, Riverbed
    City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Computer Software Company16%
    University8%
    Government8%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Retailer10%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Government10%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise71%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise65%
    Buyer's Guide
    Software Defined Networking (SDN)
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Juniper, Big Switch Networks and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Big Switch Networks is ranked 4th in Software Defined Networking (SDN) with 1 review while VMware NSX is ranked 2nd in Network Virtualization with 93 reviews. Big Switch Networks is rated 9.0, while VMware NSX is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Big Switch Networks writes "A flexible solution that can be integrated with third-party solutions whilst maintaining its automated nature". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VMware NSX writes "Works well and allows us to do micro-segmentation and create policy rules". Big Switch Networks is most compared with Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline, Cisco SD-WAN, Ixia Network Packet Brokers, APCON and cPacket cVu Monitoring Nodes, whereas VMware NSX is most compared with Nutanix Flow Network Security, Cisco ACI, Illumio, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation and Cisco Secure Workload.

    We monitor all Software Defined Networking (SDN) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.