Cisco ACI vs Symantec Data Center Security comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and Broadcom are both solutions in the Cloud and Data Center Security category. Cisco is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.8, while Broadcom is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 3.7% mindshare in CDCS, compared to Broadcom’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

Cisco ACI

Read 106 Cisco ACI reviews

6,425 Views
3,341 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Symantec Data Center Security

Read 12 Symantec Data Center Security reviews

2,532 Views
1,545 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Cisco ACI

Symantec Data Center Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Cisco ACI and Symantec Data Center Security are leaders in the network management and data security markets, respectively. While Cisco ACI has the upper hand due to its comprehensive automation and integration capabilities, Symantec excels in detailed policy enforcement for infrastructure protection.

Features: Cisco ACI focuses on network automation, centralized management, and microsegmentation, ensuring seamless integration with virtual environments. It also supports vast tenant networks and scalability. Symantec Data Center Security offers robust hardening capabilities, detailed policy enforcement, and intrusion prevention, crucial for safeguarding infrastructure.

Room for Improvement: Cisco ACI users encounter complex configuration processes, a steep learning curve, and limited integration flexibility with third-party products. Enhancements are needed in both documentation and technical support. Symantec Data Center Security requires improved reporting, better third-party integration options, and a more user-friendly interface to enhance policy management and usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco ACI provides deployment flexibility across various environments, though feedback on technical support is mixed. Symantec also supports diverse deployment scenarios but similarly faces criticism regarding technical support responsiveness. Cisco's extensive support structure surpasses Symantec’s, which struggles with complex issue resolution.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco ACI is recognized as an expensive solution with mixed opinions on its value, despite operational savings through automation. Symantec Data Center Security, although costlier than some competitors, promises potential ROI via operational efficiency and security enhancements. Both solutions improve efficiency and reduce downtime, but Cisco ACI's pricing may limit accessibility for smaller businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco ACI vs. Symantec Data Center Security Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI vs. Symantec Data Center Security

November 2026

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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

Cisco ACI

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (1st), Software Defined Networking (SDN) (2nd)

Symantec Data Center Security

Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Cisco ACI is 3.7%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Data Center Security is 3.7%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud and Data Center Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco ACI	3.7%
Symantec Data Center Security	3.7%
Other	92.6%

Cloud and Data Center Security

Featured Reviews

Sulaiman Olubiyi

Senior Network Automation Engineer at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Network automation has simplified secure multi-site connectivity and reduced daily operational effort

I believe Cisco ACI could improve by incorporating something related to agentic AI, where it can execute tasks based on particular evaluations or loop engineering, enhancing fault identification or suggestions based on each tenant's configuration. Additionally, I think they should ensure that the documentation is comprehensive. I appreciate that Cisco provides documentation, and their support engineers are helpful in case of any issues. In terms of governance and security regarding Cisco ACI's AI capabilities, I think what we call evals or evaluations is important, whereby the engineer can evaluate the functionalities of the AI in Cisco ACI, preventing it from making deletions or modifications on its own. Therefore, there should be evaluations or guardrails incorporated into the development capabilities. Regarding accuracy and reliability of output for Cisco ACI's AI capabilities, it hasn't met my expectations. What we need is something called RAG, or retrieval-augmented generation. If Cisco can implement that to utilize customer-specific data instead of general knowledge, while ensuring data privacy under GDPR laws, I think that will result in very good, reliable output.

Read full review

Muhammad Ejaz ul Hassan

CEO at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Continuous server hardening has protected critical legacy workloads and simplified security control

Symantec is lagging on the reporting side. I have been working for 10 years and I have identified many gray areas. As a user protecting your infrastructure, you need to sell the value to your management. Management buys the tool for preventing threats, and it works for them. However, you cannot sell it because every solution needs to show what happened in the last few years or how you will be protected in the future. Reporting is the most important thing for the CIO level, not the admin level. I have seen Symantec really lag in this area. I am creating my own tool to build a dashboard to share with the CIO level because they want to know what happened last week, last month, and last year. These reports will tell you about activities. Symantec changed the licensing when Broadcom acquired the company. The question of who will provide support became unclear. Support has now changed and they are making money. I have seen that most of the time when you ask implementation questions, they do not answer you. If you have a problem, they give you a low-level engineer at the first level. This delays resolution. Support has to be better.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The centralized management of the entire network data center, in this case with ACI, is the most valuable feature."

"ACI's most valuable feature is its SDN capabilities. Everything is on your software design controller. Everything is blocked by default until you allow it."

"It's improved the static configuration of our data center switching environment. But it's added some challenges to our ability to operationalize it and make it easier for people to manage."

"Cisco ACI is scalable and easy to expand."

"I recommend Cisco ACI because right now, there is no other solution like it."

"We can support policy based on our intent, then that gets rendered into the policy that we will be using for Fabric."

"Going from legacy data center stuff to Cisco ACI, I saw the value it could offer the company that I was working with."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the Call Manager."

More Cisco ACI pros

"The file integrity monitoring features are the most valuable features of this product."

"The tool will then detect any anomalies, such as an intruder who has breached the network, which can trigger the system lockdown feature if it's enabled and meets the defined threshold."

"The advantage of Data Center Security is its ease of use and that it serves as a single unified platform, where I can apply all my security policies to protect that server."

"The console and tools are very user-friendly."

"Overall, this is a pretty good product."

"We use the product to prevent unauthorized access to data, systems, and servers. It provides essential features for data center security."

"The real strength lies in its straightforward approach, offering just two key policies: prevention and detection."

"Good file integrity monitoring features."

More Symantec Data Center Security pros

Cons

"There is quite a learning curve at the beginning."

"We would like to have faster services and problem monitoring for our customers."

"Frequently, customers become discouraged after transitioning from traditional networking due to its complexity, and they struggle with the steep learning curve necessary to appreciate Cisco ACI's capabilities fully."

"There are many bug fixes required with Cisco ACI."

"The initial setup of this solution is complex. Our environment is not very complex, but the product itself is very complex."

"Our problems with Cisco ACI are mainly related to the contracts and how to manage them easily in the platform. Cisco also needs to improve the log files and the complexity of the graphical interface."

"Regarding accuracy and reliability of output for Cisco ACI's AI capabilities, it hasn't met my expectations."

"Because this is new technology, which requires a different way of thinking, it can be hard to understand. Therefore, I would like more documentation or education."

More Cisco ACI cons

"A user or administrator making the policy in the DCS should have a very thorough knowledge of the operating system or policy making. You have to be very specific about the data structure."

"Could have better reporting capabilities and better support."

"Agent management is a challenging task."

"Symantec is lagging on the reporting side."

"Adding more compatibility with common products like Microsoft would be a plus."

"It would be advantageous if Symantec or Broadcom, given the rebranding, could simplify the process, enabling users to leverage the antivirus functionality more easily."

"Since the acquisition of Symantec, our customers have not been satisfied with this solution."

"There is plenty of room for improvement with this product, and it could start with platform metrics."

More Symantec Data Center Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The good thing about Cisco is that you can trade in your old products to replace them with ACI."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Cisco ACI costs depend on how many sites you have. One simple site with a simple installation, including two leaves, two spines, and some fibers, would cost $200,000 to $300,000 for the licenses. The solution is a bit expensive, but it's a good investment if you want your data centers to work without interruption."

"If you compare the licensing and total cost of ACI, it's cheaper than NSX because of the licensing fees. If you are going for full NSX features it will be too expensive, especially the next-generation firewalling feature."

"A big company can automate it themselves or spend a lot of money and buy it."

"It's expensive but the product is very good. I have never found another partner like Cisco with a solution like this and with great support."

"Pricing for Cisco ACI could be expensive if you're not a gold partner. If you're a gold partner, you'll get reasonable pricing, but to become a gold partner, you must cross several layers. For example, at least twenty engineers within your organization have to be certified, with each certification priced at £2,000 minimum, so this would make some companies think twice about the product. If you're going for Aruba and Juniper products, on the other hand, you can quickly get the partner status, and you can start selling the product. As a gold partner, you can get up to seventy percent discount on Cisco ACI, for example, while an ordinary partner gets ten percent off. Cisco ACI is expensive for both customers and partners, but I'm rating pricing for the product as four out of five because even if the price is costly, you get a lot of benefits from the product. Cisco ACI isn't the best, price-wise, but it's still a good solution. If you're in a small organization, you may be unable to afford it. Cisco ACI is best for enterprises but not SMBs because Cisco ACI and its required resources are expensive."

"The licensing cost for ACI is expensive - I would rate its price 2.5 out of five."

More Cisco ACI pricing and cost advice

"Compared to some other solutions, such as CrowdStrike, Symantec is more expensive."

"The product is a bit costly."

"It is notably more expensive when compared to other solutions."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

17%

Construction Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	22
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	89

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

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 wh...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco ACI?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Cisco ACI, I observe that it is on the more expensive side, although discounts sometimes make it more affordable. Overall, it is recognized as a pr...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Symantec Data Center Security?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Center Security?

As a partner support, we handle all Symantec products for various clients. Currently, we work with DLP, Symantec Endpoint Protection, Data Loss Prevention, Data Center Security, Email Security, and...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Symantec Data Center Security?

I am still a Symantec partner. Price rating is five out of ten. Symantec Data Center Security is a perfect solution, but it needs to elaborate its functionalities and functions to the market. Peopl...

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware NSX vs Cisco ACI

Compared 14% of the time

Juniper Contrail Networking vs Cisco ACI

Compared 8% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Cisco ACI

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs Cisco ACI

Compared 7% of the time

Nuage Networks vs Cisco ACI

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco ACI Competitors

VMware NSX vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 16% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 16% of the time

Sysdig Secure vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 13% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 13% of the time

TrendAI Tipping Point vs Symantec Data Center Security

Compared 2% of the time

More Symantec Data Center Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI

November 2026

Download Cisco ACI product report

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Data Center Security

October 2026

Download Symantec Data Center Security product report

Overview

Cisco ACI provides centralized management of data centers offering automation, flexibility, and integration capabilities for enhanced network efficiency. It streamlines application deployment and network management with programmability and scalability, supporting multi-tenancy and security integration.

Cisco ACI empowers data centers with advanced infrastructure management through automated system controls, micro-segmentation, and tenant isolation. Its programmability simplifies network operations, enabling seamless interactions with VMware and other APIs, while the Service Graph facilitates traffic redirection. Although users find its complex interface challenging, they appreciate ACI's adaptability in component addition, which ensures future scalability. Enhancements are desired in cloud integration and ease of use. Licensing concerns and demand for better third-party product integration are noted, alongside aspirations for comprehensive technical support and cloud platform compatibility.

What are the key features of Cisco ACI?

Centralized Management: Streamlines control of network operations from a single point.
Micro-segmentation: Enhances security through precise traffic segmentation.
Tenant Isolation: Allows distinct network environments for enhanced resource separation.
Programmability with APIs: Offers customization and simplified network management.
VMware Integration: Ensures seamless operation with VMware environments.
Service Graph: Redirects network traffic efficiently for optimal performance.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Cisco ACI?

Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual network configuration efforts.
Scalability: Supports future growth with flexible infrastructure adaptability.
Cost Savings: Multi-tenancy and automation contribute to reduced expenditure.
Infrastructure Control: Enhances management of both physical and virtual network elements.

Cisco ACI is implemented extensively in data centers, enhancing network configuration, and supporting application deployment across sectors. It simplifies system migration and supports multi-site connectivity, enabling centralized control and automation in both virtual and physical environments.

Cisco

Symantec Data Center Security provides comprehensive server protection with features like hard disk protection, file integrity monitoring, and centralized management, making it suitable for securing legacy systems and preventing unauthorized access.

Focusing on server integrity and data protection, Symantec Data Center Security delivers robust intrusion prevention, system lockdown, and specific control over server access. With a customizable rule set, it enhances server hardening by fine-tuning access controls without relying on IPS signature detection. While offering significant advantages for managing legacy infrastructure, it also requires improvements in platform metrics, compatibility, speed, and integration with third-party products. Users face challenges with false positives, policy complexity, and compatibility issues, particularly regarding Microsoft and virtualization improvements.

What Key Features Does Symantec Data Center Security Offer?

Built-in Hard Disk Protection: Safeguards data through advanced protection measures.
Centralized Console: Manages diverse product lines from a single interface.
File Integrity Monitoring: Ensures data integrity by tracking changes to files.
Efficient Endpoint Protection: Provides strong defense against endpoint threats.
Robust Intrusion Prevention: Prevents unauthorized access with advanced threat detection.

What Benefits Should Users Consider?

Enhanced Security: Offers comprehensive protection for critical data.
Customizable Rule Set: Provides flexibility to adjust security policies to specific needs.
Centralized Management: Simplifies operations and improves efficiency.
Improved Server Management: Enhances control over server access and permissions.
Comprehensive Integration: Complements other security components like antivirus and anti-malware.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and technology, Symantec Data Center Security is implemented to protect server integrity particularly in environments using Docker containers and legacy systems. It supports remote operations, enforces stringent access policies, and locks down systems while offering valuable audit capabilities for code changes, especially on Linux.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Bowling Green State University, du, Qatar University

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cisco ACI vs. Symantec Data Center Security

November 2026

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