Cisco: Cloud Portfolio Review

Cisco has developed a suite of cloud solutions to help enterprises address their application availability and performance expectations.

San Jose, California-based Cisco, founded in 1984, is a leader in networking hardware and software, telecommunications equipment, and technology services, including a broad cloud portfolio.

Cisco generates about $49 billion in annual revenue, with the help of over 80,000 employees. 

See below to learn all about where Cisco stands in the cloud market:

Cisco and the cloud market

MarketsandMarkets indicates the cloud computing market is expected to grow from $445.3 billion in 2021 to $947.3 billion by 2026.

The report also identifies the adoption of hybrid cloud services and collaboration solutions as two of the most lucrative growth opportunities for cloud vendors, which are avenues being addressed by the solutions Cisco has developed.

The cloud computing market is dominated by several vendors, including AWS, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, and Workday. 

Cisco cloud portfolio

Cisco’s cloud strategy is built on five focus areas, including choice of consumption model, intercloud infrastructure, intercloud applications, interoperability and open standards, and security. 

• Integrated solutions: Cisco Hybrid Solution for Kubernetes on AWS, Cisco Hybrid Cloud Platform for Google Cloud, Cisco Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack, and SAP Data Hub on Cisco Container Platform
• Networking: ACI Anywhere: ACI Cloud, Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000v, Meraki vMX, SD-WAN vEdge (Viptela), and Cisco SD-WAN Cloud OnRamp
• Security: Cisco Cloudlock, Cisco Umbrella, Cisco Email Security for Office 365, Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud, Duo Security, Next-Generation Firewalls, and Tetration SaaS
• Analytics: AppDynamics
• Management: Cisco CloudCenter Suite and Cisco Container Platform
• Data Center: ACI Anywhere, Cisco UCS Director, Cisco Workload Optimization Manager, Tetration, and HyperFlex
• Cloud applications: Cisco Webex Meetings and Cisco Webex Teams
• Internet of Things (IoT): Cisco IoT Operations Dashboard, Cisco Industrial Asset Vision, and Cisco Edge Intelligence

Key features

• Integrated solutions with leading cloud providers
• Secure the cloud, cloud-native applications, and workloads
• Connect public, private, SaaS, and colocation clouds
• Securely extend private networks into public clouds
• Protect multicloud identities, direct-to-cloud connectivity, data, and applications, including SaaS
• Review application and business performance data in real-time
• Deploy and manage applications in multicloud and container environments
• Bring data centers into the multicloud world with automation and optimization
• Connect and collaborate with teams

Use cases

When Money Mart Financial Services was looking to update their IT technologies, they worked with Cisco for the cloud solutions they required.

“Putting everything in the cloud was a learning experience,” says Awan Sikri, CTO, Money Mart. 

“We learned some applications, like our core transaction platform, should remain on-premises in a private cloud, but with tie-ins to the public cloud. We also learned cloud-based storage is very expensive, and we have a lot of data. So it became clear that a hybrid cloud model would be the key.”

With a combination of Cisco cloud solutions, Money Mart was able to reduce their IT OpEx by $3.5 million over three years, while shifting staff resources from IT administration to business enablement.

Differentiators

Cisco believes complex business environments knit together a variety of products, services, and capabilities. These hybrid environments mean addressing the special considerations required by multicloud environments.

Cisco delivers their cloud solutions using a framework based on five factors:

• Continuity: Provide distributed workforces with seamless and secure access to applications.
• Insights: Collect and review actionable insights that help to resolve issues, avoid service outages, and ensure service-level agreements (SLAs) and business objectives can always be met.
• Security: Gain seamless governance and control across users and customer endpoints, network, cloud, and application environments. Use real-time threat intelligence to empower security teams to perform incident management and risk avoidance.
• Connectivity: Connecting users to applications requires supporting network architecture.
• Operate: Use a cloud operating model that integrates and enhances collaboration across development, operations, and security teams.

User reviews

Ratings for Cisco’s cloud solutions are consistently high, with many mentions regarding the ease of use and praise for customer service.

AppDynamics

• G2: 4.3 out of 5
• Gartner Peer Insights: 4.4 out of 5
• TrustRadius: 8.1 out of 10

Cisco Hybrid Cloud Platform for Google Cloud

• TrustRadius: 8.2 out of 10

Cisco Umbrella

• Capterra: 4.5 out of 5
• G2: 4.3 out of 5
• Gartner Peer Insights: 4.5 out of 5
• TrustRadius: 8.5 out of 10

Cisco CloudCenter

• G2: 4 out of 5
• TrustRadius: 8.8 out of 10

Cisco Workload Optimization Manager

• G2: 4.1 out of 5
• Gartner Peer Insights: 4.4 out of 5
• TrustRadius: 9.2 out of 10

Cisco Webex

• Capterra: 4.4 out of 5
• G2: 4 out of 5
• Gartner Peer Insights: 4.4 out of 5
• TrustRadius: 8.5 out of 10

Pricing

Pricing for Cisco’s cloud solutions can be obtained from Cisco or a Cisco partner based on each customer’s requirements. Cisco partners undergo training to best configure, price, and order solutions that will work for companies and integrate with their existing technologies.

Cisco Capital provides financing options that include:

• Bundling hardware, software, and services
• Pay-as-you-use consumption-based solutions
• Aligning costs to match deployment of software licenses
• Spreading payments over time