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Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches vs Cisco Meraki MX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
592
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch E...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (21st)
Cisco Meraki MX
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (17th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (6th)
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user689088 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jul 18, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

PD
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Cloud features enhance security measures and simplify network management
I've dealt with many firewalls, such as SonicWalls, UniFi, pfSense, and Cisco. We found SonicWall very confusing for the average network engineer or network administrator. I don't recommend SonicWall due to its hard-to-find auditing process for exploits. Although they have fewer exploits, when they do occur, they're significant. With Fortinet FortiGate, you can access the whole firewall, with no hidden spots. pfSense is great, however, it requires a lot of manual work and has no Cloud Connect or easy management from an MSP's perspective. Palo Alto is another option that's great, but their price point isn't for everyone, especially for medium and small businesses; a $10,000 investment doesn't necessarily fit into most budgets. UniFi is another product we've started to use more alongside Fortinet FortiGate, as they have almost all features without a license, with advanced rules that are relatively inexpensive compared to Fortinet FortiGate's $1,500 a year. Fortinet FortiGate and UniFi are the two firewalls we primarily deal with. My opinion is that UniFi has better integration and oversight of the environments compared to Fortinet FortiGate.
MK
Operational Manager at Astrah Technologies
Has enabled reliable access control with good scalability
The primary use case is access control and normal LAN usage, including internet and email. For example, I have deployed the solution in airport scenarios where there are many users The most valuable feature for me is the stability of the switches. They do not hang often and are very reliable,…
SG
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
Cloud-based solution simplifies network management with excellent support
There have been no issues with stability after deployment. There have been no complaints. For stability, I would suggest that Cisco Meraki MX is the most stable device from the security processor. Regarding content filtering features, we are using content filtering and malware access, along with all security features in Cisco Meraki MX9500. We have received good feedback from customers because since installing Cisco Meraki MX9500, we have not received any complaints. There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits. It is compatible with all different OEMs, and for VPN, site-to-site VPN has been configured with other firewalls as well. We are getting very good responses from customers as there have been no complaints where we have deployed Cisco Meraki MX9500.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The product has the most valuable configuration, offloading, and security features."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are the dashboard and reporting which give us very good visibility."
"It's safe and secures my network and applications in some sites."
"The web controls are what I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate. We have extensive controls over areas where we could block external-facing IPs, external URLs. We can do geo-fencing with the firewalls, which is a good feature."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"The security fabric is excellent."
"The benefits Fortinet FortiGate provides include easy connectivity, user-friendliness, scalability, and easy configuration management."
"The response is very quick and they can visually resolve our problems in a short period."
"The product's initial setup phase is not complex. It is easy to install the tool."
"This is a dependable switch which will help you sleep at night."
"All of the features in these switches are good."
"The product is stable. It does have only one power supply. They don't have a redundant power supply."
"The solution has a very good web interface, it makes it easy to manage everything, and the command-line interface is very powerful."
"It's easy to extend the stack, We don't use the smaller switches, but it's going well for the rest."
"Enables direct access to clusters."
"The solution doesn't have many proprietary protocols like Cisco's. It mainly uses standard protocols like VRRP (similar to Cisco's HSRP), Spanning Tree, and Rapid Spanning Tree, which can sometimes cause integration issues."
"Based on this, I would strongly recommend that any company in the world can deploy this product without any hesitation or doubt."
"The security level of our organization has changed by using Meraki MX Firewalls; we didn't have the UTM before but now we have sandboxing, tray scanning, attack preventions, and monitorization, and our security level has improved."
"The product is quite secure, easy to manage, and well-connected with other devices."
"When you try to create an IP or when you have an alert about when a website is banned, these features are helpful."
"This solution provides a better capability where I can create a virtual network."
"The solution is simple, fast to set up, and brilliant for its use."
"Both the scalability and the scalability are great with Meraki MX."
"The most valuable feature is that we didn't have any problems with Meraki MX."
 

Cons

"Lacks sufficient security options."
"I think they could improve the monitoring."
"There was a hardware limitation, affecting scalability."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"Its load balancing feature could be easy to configure."
"Being a great product, some changes in the pricing would make it a great choice for even more organizations."
"The initial setup is complex for me due to my lack of experience with the Fortinet FortiGate product."
"It would be better if they had a dashboard where we could see what attacks were happening. It would be good to see who's trying to get into our network."
"My customer's team is not able to understand the loophole with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches, but apart from that, there are no issues."
"The price should be lowered so that we can capture more of the market for Ethernet switches."
"There needs to be better integration with the interface."
"The network connection should be improved."
"I find the CLI hard to use. I wish we could do more in the GUI interface."
"Sometimes I feel that the Alcatel switches are not working harmoniously with some of the Cisco switches."
"OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches would be improved if cloud-based technology was provided in the Gulf region."
"The commands for the switches could be easier as I find them more complex compared to those of Cisco."
"We do not have account managers in our region for the solution. Some governments don't use the product since it is attached to the internet."
"MX can only be managed via a web interface, but I'm accustomed to using a CLI or a graphical interface. I would also like to see more reporting features. It doesn't provide enough information for me to know precisely about some clients."
"For our use case, there is not anything specific that needs to change."
"It is a little bit expensive. In order to work with Meraki support, you have to buy permission."
"Sometimes you want a little bit more control, and you don't have that control with Meraki MX."
"In general, the SD-WAN feature needs to be improved. The load sharing and load balancing of the traffic should be improved. I have had some problems with these features in the past."
"The problem is that the two licenses do not currently integrate. We have to create separate companies and do an interconnection."
"We are currently having a problem with Meraki in the end product. They have two kinds of enterprise licenses and an advanced security license; the problem is that the two licenses do not currently integrate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiGate is cheaper than Palo Alto. It is about 20% cheaper."
"Its price could be better."
"The price of the license and warranty can be better because it is very expensive."
"Compared to Palo Alto, which we have used in the past, pricing and licensing are okay."
"Other firewalls are more expensive than Fortinet FortiGate, such as the Azure firewall."
"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."
"The main reason we chose Fortinet FortiGate was that the price was better than the competition."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is an expensive solution."
"The licensing for OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches is a one-time purchase with no additional costs."
"The pricing is reasonable compared to Aruba and HPE."
"Pricing is cheap compared to other vendors. When we benchmark the tool against Meraki, Cisco, and others, it is usually more affordable."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The larger MX products are on the expensive side."
"The price could be lower, but compared to the TCO of other products, it's not really that expensive."
"I rate the tool's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"​Other content filtering solutions that I have used had more bells and whistles, but given the cost, complexity, and management overhead, I am very pleased with Meraki’s solution."
"Its licensing cost could be better."
"I think the price is comparable with other solutions of the same kind. Depending on the use case it could be cheaper or more expensive, I think it offers good value."
"The price varies depending on the hardware platform as well as the type of license and whether you're adding security or not."
"The product is a little expensive."
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Answers from the Community

it_user689088 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jul 18, 2017
Jul 18, 2017
With a good diagram and keeping in mind the whole routing part, it is really simple configuration, I have no knowledge on Alcatel switches but you will not have any problems for compatibility ...
2 out of 13 answers
AB
Founder and Lead Network Consultant at Airowire Networks
Jul 12, 2017
Hi, Could you elaborate on your requirement. What do you mean by "integrate" ? What do you intend to do ?
AS
Deputy Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Jul 12, 2017
The Meraki MX100 is an enterprise security appliance designed for distributed deployments that require remote administration. It is ideal for network administrators who demand both ease of deployment and a state-of-the-art feature set. This security appliance provides the following new features: Two GbE SFP connections (requires optional Meraki SFP-1GB-SX transceiver). USB port, to support approved 3G/4G cards for failover to cellular networks. 1TByte cache storage for WAN acceleration. LAN 2 port can be configured to be a LAN or WAN connection, allowing support up to 2 WAN connections. Dedicated management port. Front-panel rack mounts. Now want to know about your issues. Is it a deployment factor with Alcatel switches ?
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business369
Midsize Enterprise139
Large Enterprise195
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
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What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
The commands for the switches could be easier as I find them more complex compared to those of Cisco.
What is your primary use case for Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
The primary use case is access control and normal LAN usage, including internet and email. For example, I have deploy...
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL I...
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MX?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that we went through a third party who negotiated all the pr...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Alcatel-Lucent Ethernet Switches, OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches
MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Bayonette, California State University (CSU), Centre Hospitalier Carcassonne, Centro Universitšrio de Brasilia (UniCEUB), China Tianchen Engineering Corporation Co. LTD, Citta Della Speranza, City of Frankfurt, City of Ogden, City of Vila Franca de Xira
Hyatt, ONS
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