Cisco Optical Networking Reviews

My main use case for Cisco Optical Networking is to provide massive amounts of data transfer very quickly and reliably through fiber optic networks. Since we are an e-commerce organization, we want to ensure that our data centers do not get disconnected. We maintain data center interconnection between multiple data centers located in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai. Cisco Optical Networking connects these multiple data centers because the data needs to move fast and reliable communication must exist between systems. Cisco Optical Networking provides high-capacity bandwidth and fiber connectivity between the data centers, supporting data replication, backups, disaster recovery, and managing how data is transferred across great workloads.

In terms of enterprise network connectivity, the data that is being connected plays a major role since we have various different offices. Employees' data management is critical because someone in Bangalore should be able to access the data of users sitting in Hyderabad. Cisco Optical Networking provides high-speed transport of business-critical applications data in real-time. The outcome is consistent application performance with high connectivity and strong connections between locations.

A specific example of how Cisco Optical Networking helped my team and organization is through our disaster recovery operations. With our cloud-based products, we have multiple different products being sold online, and our organization is primarily focused on e-commerce. Various products being sold must have reliable communication and connectivity between infrastructure locations, including Mumbai, Delhi, and other locations for handling customer data, application services, and business operations. Cisco Optical Networking is primarily used for our disaster recovery across data centers through high-speed 100G connection speeds and 400 to 500G fiber connections. High-speed data replication and data transfer occur between the primary and backup data centers very quickly. Disaster recovery helps us during any kind of damages or natural disasters that happen in one particular location, keeping data safe. Since the data is flexible and able to transfer to multiple different locations, we have improved cloud application performance. High-capacity connectivity is provided for any backend services. Operational efficiency is achieved when data transfers across multiple locations very quickly, allowing us to monitor optical connectivity and identify any potential issues where data is not flowing properly. Scalability is important during high-peak sales seasons when we expand network bandwidth as cloud workloads increase. Our number of customers and requests to the platform increase, so we expand the bandwidth and manage cloud workloads successfully. In summary, we have improved network reliability, faster data replication across various locations, reduced bottlenecks from previous problems, and better disaster recovery wherein our applications are always on standby during any natural calamity.

Cisco Optical Networking has impacted my organization positively in several ways. It has increased our overall revenue in terms of providing scalability. It has reduced our network downtime significantly. Previously, we experienced frequent disconnections where manual efforts were needed, and this dependency has been completely reduced. It has increased network capacity, supporting more customers and higher traffic volumes. There is faster service expansion that helps us launch new services to the market and faster cloud application performance. We have a large customer base where people visit our sites and need information, and Cisco Optical Networking helps improve infrastructure reliability and capacity. The company sees benefits such as avoiding 20 to 30 lakhs of annual downtime-related losses, which is significant. On the infrastructure side, we primarily implement 15 to 20 lakhs annually, which is a great achievement.

The best features that Cisco Optical Networking provides include ultimate connectivity with high-speed connectivity options of 100G, 400G, and 800G. It supports a large volume of data traffic, making data center connectivity easier, cloud services, and managing bandwidth and intensive applications that handle gigabytes of data properly.

Another valuable feature is routed optical networking, which combines IP routing and optical transport more closely. This potentially reduces the need for separate networking equipment because everything is integrated. It routes optical networking and configures IP routing to various locations. Scalability is an important factor during our high-peak sales seasons. Integration with third parties, particularly Cisco infrastructure, makes the integration very much faster since we are using a Cisco product. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) better utilizes existing fiber infrastructure with higher connectivity, scalability, and easier integration with third-party services. Reliability and resiliency support redundant network designs, and various different network designs such as star and mesh topologies. As our business grows, we make small adjustments to the already existing network structure and route the traffic to the respective network without completely demolishing it. This provides flexibility, scalability, and other important characteristics.

Out of the features including high-speed connectivity, integration with third parties, and scalability, scalability has made the biggest impact for my team. Scalability plays a major role for us because it improves our revenue, growth, and organizational structure. Scalability is crucial during high-peak sales when our customer workload base is larger and a significant number of customers visit our site and purchase products. We want to make sure that requests are processed properly and integrity is maintained across different locations to overcome natural calamities or disaster recovery operations. We make sure to have scalability as our top priority, and this is one of the best features provided by Cisco Optical Networking.

In terms of improvements, one thing is about how data is transferred. Predictive monitoring would help by using artificial intelligence to identify optical signal degradation, performance issues, downtimes, glitches, increasing error rates, or potential fiber issues such as cuts. Predictive monitoring will definitely assist in this area. Faster troubleshooting could be enhanced by providing a knowledge base related to regular activities. A simpler dashboard is preferred rather than a complex one, as clubbing everything into a single user interface is not helpful for grasping everything easily. Supporting integration with third-party optical equipment and existing network monitoring platforms will play a major role, and the connectivity should be easier with improvements in third-party integration being essential.

Regarding support documentation, I would prefer to speak about support rather than documentation. One enhancement needed is better automation capabilities. We aim to reduce manual intervention during network failures by enabling faster automated alarm triggers that should automatically fix issues and control recovery workflows. We have covered all of the necessary improvements.

We started using Cisco Optical Networking more than three years ago in our organization.

I would rate Cisco Optical Networking at 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 overall. The main reasons for my 8.5 rating are its reliability, high-speed connectivity, scalability, integration, and connectivity with existing Cisco infrastructure. It is particularly useful for managing data center connectivity and handling growing network traffic. However, I feel there is still room for improvement, particularly in pricing, simplifying network management, and the dashboard. There is much work that needs to be done, and providing more proactive artificial intelligence-driven monitoring will definitely help mitigate failures. Overall, it is a strong solution, but making troubleshooting easier and reducing operational costs would elevate it to a 10 rating.

Regarding Cisco Optical Networking's artificial intelligence capabilities, I rate its governance and security at seven out of 10. Cisco has been useful for network automation and monitoring capabilities, but there is still room for improvement in artificial intelligence-driven decision-making, transparency, and operational control. Key areas needing focus include artificial intelligence-driven monitoring that should identify root causes and provide recommended solutions or corrective actions. Regarding governance, clear approval processes, audit logs, and role-based access control mechanisms need to be implemented for artificial intelligence recommendations; otherwise, information can leak without proper authorization. Transparency is essential; artificial intelligence should explain why it recommends configuration changes, as arbitrary actions without justification can lead to collapses. Data security must ensure strong control over network telemetry to protect sensitive infrastructure information from being leaked. Governance is equally important; we want to avoid artificial intelligence making critical network changes without proper oversight. Having clear audit trails, role-based permissions, and human oversight should enhance confidence in artificial intelligence-driven automation in production environments.

Regarding the accuracy and reliability of output from Cisco Optical Networking's artificial intelligence capabilities, I would rate it eight or nine out of 10 based on how it performs regarding data processing. Reliable network performance is evident because Cisco optical solutions are designed to provide stable, high-bandwidth connectivity, accurate monitoring, and fault detection, helping engineers fix issues quickly. Improvements are needed, particularly with false alarms; these systems can generate alarms that create panic during real-time business situations. Root cause accuracy remains critical, as identifying the exact problem may still require manual checks across multiple network layers. Troubleshooting feels complex, especially with intermittent optical signals as identifying degradation can be time-consuming. Troubleshooting can also be delayed when alerts do not clearly point to the root cause. Situations arise where multiple alerts signal the same underlying issue, complicating prioritization based on business impact. Overall, while reliability is a strength, accuracy and automation need improvement.

My main advice to others looking into using Cisco Optical Networking is to focus more on improving artificial intelligence-driven monitoring because that is an area with significant room for improvement, especially around accuracy and faster issue resolution. Network performance and reliability are already strong, but troubleshooting can still be improved. A lot of manual efforts are needed during intermittent connectivity issues. I would recommend that Cisco enhance proactive fault detection, reduce false alarms, and provide clear root cause analysis so network teams can resolve issues quickly. I would also recommend simplifying the licensing process, as it is complex and not easily understood by many outside of network administrators. Improving the overall solution's cost-effectiveness and refining the dashboard are essential. These enhancements will help organizations reduce downtime, improve operational cost efficiency, and achieve better value for their business.

I use Cisco Optical Networking in an ISP environment where I had immense amounts of traffic that I needed to control and handle. I found it to be suitable for our needs.

For managing that large amount of traffic with Cisco Optical Networking, I employed it in a scenario where I needed to transport high capacity data across metros, regional, and long haul data center interconnect across our sites and regions.

Regarding my main use case for Cisco Optical Networking, it was a savior for our organization as I needed a stable solution to save us from bottlenecks in traffic, enabling us to transport high density and capacity across cities and regions. I also used it for fiber exhaust mitigation, which provided us with the least dark fiber pairs between our facilities and cities along with the dense wavelength division multiplexing feature that multiplexes dozens of optical channels to a single fiber pair.

In my experience, the best feature that Cisco Optical Networking offers is DWDM for multiplexing optical channels, which carries aggregated mobile traffic from all cell towers and central offices back to core nodes across regional and national footprints, moving multi-terabit traffic over spans exceeding hundreds of thousands of kilometers using optical amplifiers such as EDFA and Raman.

The positive impact of Cisco Optical Networking on my organization has been significant, particularly as I faced many bottlenecks in traffic using traditional solutions. After implementing Cisco Optical Networking, I could transport terabits of traffic over long distances, which has amazed us while also reducing the effort and thought involved in network management.

I did something called collapsing hardware layers and de-layering that had specific outcomes, such as removing dedicated transport components, which provided us with approximately 70 to 80 percent space savings by reducing the number of racks, cables, and connectors needed.

When it comes to features or tools that stood out to me in Cisco Optical Networking, I faced issues such as wavelength allocations due to fixed grid limitations, which led to spectral inefficiencies when mixing different wavelengths. These issues caused me to regenerate links when specific fibers were occupied.

I would prefer to see improvements in operational transition tools, particularly unified role-based access control and automated troubleshooting for root cause analysis, which can help manage the divide between teams.

Opening the chance for open vendor registrations and control integrations would help substantially in managing integrations with third-party line systems such as Nokia or Huawei.

When provisioning 400 gigabits or higher optical wavelengths over long haul fiber links, I noted tradeoffs between line rate reach and spectral efficiency, facing challenges as I moved from standard 10G to 100G, including issues such as channel crosstalk and spectral overlap.

I started using Cisco Optical Networking approximately between a year and a year and a half ago.

Cisco Optical Networking remains stable as of my last day with the company, with no reported outages or reliability concerns.

Cisco Optical Networking is scalable and capable of handling growth easily as it can transport all types of traffic.

I did not contact customer support for Cisco Optical Networking as I found most solutions within the Cisco community; however, when needed, a team member reached out to support and they were frequently able to resolve issues.

Before using Cisco Optical Networking, I relied on standard solutions such as Ethernet and faced many issues, including bottlenecks in traffic.

In terms of my experience with DWDM and the optical amplifiers, I initially faced many challenges but eventually I was able to understand and demonstrate our needs. Setting up traditional DWDM required intensive calculations for optical physics, budgets, attenuations, and OSNR, whereas Ethernet is simpler. I encountered issues such as complex physical layer planning, which became easier to manage over time as I became a motivated engineer.

For deployment, I deployed Cisco Optical Networking on-premise; it is not in the cloud.

During the cutover from legacy transponder-based systems to Cisco optical gear, my team employed zero-touch fabric automation, which helped ensure no configuration mismatches occurred while maintaining consistent QoS and queue profiles throughout.

In my team, I divide responsibilities between IP routing engineers and optical transport specialists by ensuring all engineers are qualified to handle issues that arise, allowing flexibility when one is busy or absent.

Since implementing Cisco Optical Networking, I have seen returns on investment with fewer employees, saved time, and eliminated various hardware and cabling, which has been quite efficient.

I would rate Cisco Optical Networking an eight out of ten.

The reason for my rating of eight out of ten reflects the incredible capability of transporting high capacity traffic, although there were some operational and brownfield ease factors that were less than perfect.

In terms of Cisco Optical Networking's AI capabilities, I think maintaining data security is essential.

Concerning AI capabilities, I do not believe the system encrypts data properly; however, hardware encryptions such as MACsec on AES 256 ensure data privacy across fiber responses, maintaining security even during optical tapping attempts.

I have used Huawei in my data centers, and the interoperability between Cisco coherent pluggable optics and my existing optical line systems functions well, although it requires careful engineering.

For thermal management and power budgeting with high-density coherent optics in my AI data center interconnect clusters, I have increased my budget to manage heat from prolonged sunlight exposure, which has improved efficiency compared to my previous systems.

I would advise others to proceed with Cisco Optical Networking as it is an incredible solution that will save headaches while upgrading from a traditional network for high-capacity traffic transportation.

Cisco Optical Networking's main use case is to convert data center connectivity by connecting data centers over high-speed optical links for large-scale data transfer and disaster recovery. It is also utilized for telecom networks to transport large volumes of voice, video, or internet traffic between cities and regions.

Recently, I have used Cisco Optical Networking by checking existing fiber capacity, bandwidth, uses, and traffic requirements in a project. Additionally, I design DWDM wavelengths and optical transport equipment to increase capacity. On the configuration side, I use optical interfaces, transponders, and ROADM paths as supported by the deployed platform.

I connect optical equipment, specifically Cisco Optical Networking transport equipment, to fiber optic links, where optical trans-receivers and electrical trans-receivers transfer electric data into a light signal. I configure wavelengths via DWDM technology with multiple wavelengths to configure actual equipment or network design.

Cisco Optical Networking has positively impacted my organization by providing cost reduction, better network performance, high reliability, and most importantly, business growth.

The best features Cisco Optical Networking offers include high bandwidth, flexible routing, network monitoring, coherent optics, and most importantly, reliability and scalability, which provide a suitable protection architecture or capacity to upgrade network capabilities to improve growing traffic.

In my daily work, I find reliability and scalability most valuable because it provides a perfect and suitable protection architecture that upgrades network capability and is very helpful whenever we experience high traffic.

The main best features of Cisco Optical Networking are high capacity DWDM transmission, flexible wavelength routing through ROADM, and comprehensive network monitoring, which help service providers increase bandwidth, optimize fiber utilization, and troubleshoot network issues more efficiently.

In terms of improvements for Cisco Optical Networking, I believe we can enhance monitoring by improving real-time optical power, signal quality, link error, and bandwidth utilization, which leads to better network monitoring. Additionally, adding more automation for repetitive work configuration, provisioning, health checks, or reporting would be beneficial, along with more alarm correlation and root cause analysis to aid faster troubleshooting.

I believe that with AI-assisted fault detection, automated troubleshooting, and centralized monitoring, the operational efficiency and network reliability would greatly improve.

Regarding governance and security of Cisco Optical Networking, I believe it is overall good, but we need to increase standardization, centralized identity management, and privilege access control. Additionally, we need to implement a more secure management plan for network devices, including patch and vulnerability management.

The accuracy and reliability of Cisco Optical Networking are reliable, but to improve them, we can enhance the accuracy of optical measurement, configuration validation, and fault detection to reduce troubleshooting errors and provide better network specificity. Reliability can also be strengthened through proactive monitoring, redundant paths, automated fault notification, and regular failover testing.

I have been using Cisco Optical Networking for more than one and a half years.

I find Cisco Optical Networking to be stable and reliable.

Cisco Optical Networking's scalability allows for growth according to increasing bandwidth demand, enabling expansion based on optical fiber capacity.

I have not had a chance to use customer support, but based on my understanding of it as a good product, I believe I would find it satisfactory.

Before switching to Cisco Optical Networking, I used a product from Ciena, which had similar functionalities. However, Cisco distinguishes itself through the ability to integrate routing and optical transport, simplifying network architecture and operations, while also presenting opportunities for improved competitiveness through simpler management and enhanced automation.

As an individual contributor, I am not very knowledgeable about return on investment metrics, but I do know that cost optimization in existing fiber capacity is improving. Overall, any product providing high bandwidth speed, cost optimization, scalability, and better network visibility offers a good return on investment.

The pricing is a bit high, but considering the features, it is reasonable. If Cisco adds more AI assistance, I do not believe the pricing is excessive, so I am satisfied with it.

As an individual contributor, I was not involved in evaluating other options such as Ciena or Nokia. I believe the management made that decision, which is why we chose Cisco Optical Networking.

My advice to anyone considering Cisco Optical Networking is to use proactive monitoring and regularly review alarm optical links performance and historical trends. For organizations, focusing on proactive monitoring, automation, security, continuous performance optimization, validating configuration changes, enforcing access control, and testing recovery procedures can help improve reliability and reduce operational risk. Tracking metrics such as downtime, troubleshooting time, infrastructure costs, and return on investment ensures that the network meets evolving business needs. I would rate Cisco Optical Networking an 8.5 out of 10 because if more AI assistance and automation for troubleshooting or centralized monitoring were added, I would definitely rate it a 10 out of 10, but I feel there is a bit more to add.

My main use case for Cisco Optical Networking is 15454s. A specific example of how I use Cisco Optical Networking in my work is base SONET rings. By base SONET rings, I mean that we set up SONET rings to support transport along building-to-building functions. In our organization, we use Cisco Optical Networking mainly for the transport of communication networks from building to building that come in off the commercial grid.

The best features Cisco Optical Networking offers include Cisco View. What I appreciate most about Cisco View is that it allows me to see when circuits are up or down very quickly, and I can connect circuits very quickly by a virtual picture. Cisco Optical Networking has positively impacted my organization by giving us the ability to transport commercial network services.

The impact looks like improved efficiency since it's a dual ring, which does prevent downtime with its automatic switchover, and it has a ninety-nine percent reliability, so it has been used very efficiently.

Cisco Optical Networking can be improved because at initial setup, many of the text-based commands could be a bit easier. I think the text-based commands could be better in documentation, but I know that comes with training, and it's still a lot of work when you're trying to set up a large network. At this point, I do not see any other improvements I'd like to see regarding Cisco Optical Networking.

I have been using Cisco Optical Networking for about ten years.

Cisco Optical Networking is stable.

Its scalability, as I see it, is that it can grow, and it grew with our needs.

Customer support is good only if you pay for it; if you forget to renew a license and you need support, it is not always so great.

Before using Cisco Optical Networking, we were originally using Timeplex TX3s, so Cisco was the next available upgrade.

I choose a seven because the setup holds it back from being higher.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing indicates that licensing was the most difficult. When it comes to pricing, it was competitive.

We did not evaluate other options at the time before choosing Cisco Optical Networking.

Cisco Optical Networking is deployed in our organization as a ring setup, not a cloud setup. My advice to others looking into using Cisco Optical Networking is that I wouldn't turn it down, but Cisco does not do so well on dense wave, which is where we're going into now, so I don't know that Cisco will be able to compete in the future. Regarding Cisco Optical Networking's AI capabilities, I think its governance and security are lacking because at the items that we were using, AI setup was not available. Regarding its accuracy and reliability of output, AI was not an option. I would rate Cisco Optical Networking about a seven on a scale of one to ten.