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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs HPE Intelligent Management Center comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

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 Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Network Management Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (2nd)
HPE Intelligent Management ...
Ranking in Network Management Applications
9th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN is 2.3%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Intelligent Management Center is 3.8%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN2.3%
HPE Intelligent Management Center3.8%
Other93.9%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ashwani-Tyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Manager at Orange
Centralized control has simplified cloud access and has improved operational visibility
If they can have better firewall features as their competitors have, such as Fortinet and Versa, that would help to place this solution better so that we can address security related things. If they can have all the IPS, IDS, everything built on all the edge devices, whether physical or virtual, that could be one improvement. Actually, if customers are existing Cisco customers, if Cisco can be more flexible to leverage the existing investment, that could be another important aspect to save on cost and be more competitive from a pricing perspective. Overall, the pricing or the segment that Cisco deals with is a bit premium, which they charge a bit premium against the competition on the licensing, hardware, and services. The implementation is not straightforward. You need a specialized partner or specialized people who can implement this. It can be simplified a bit from that perspective as well. Mostly the way we implement the policies for a big environment requires a lot of things that we need to take care of. If that can somehow be improved, because they have different components, like they have vManage, they have vSmart, and vBond and all these components have to work with a certain flow that they need to follow.
Muhammad_Faisal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager ITSM at Lucky Cement Limited
Achieve seamless network and link monitoring with comprehensive device management
The most valuable function is that the IMC takes an entire backup of my network devices, and I can also redeploy them. The really beneficial feature is the link monitoring. I had checked Check Point's product, however, my requirements are better fulfilled by IMC. The main feature is that IMC automatically configures the device for my use. I have over 200 features in my network, and IMC manages the complete environment. Automation is good, but I mainly use it for monitoring. I am too satisfied with this product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco SD-WAN has separate OMP routing."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of central management."
"I believe that Cisco is the best, overall."
"Customizing SD-WAN is very easy because you can define two colors. You can define two different operators. You can deploy a partial mesh, a full mesh, or hub-and-spoke totally differently. If you want to do this on a DMVPN solution, that's really hard."
"The availability of services and combining different connections is most valuable."
"The stability is really great; it's definitely reduced downtime, with no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"The solution can scale. We haven't had any issues doing so."
"I would rate Cisco's operational efficiency in my IT environment very highly."
"The most valuable feature is the interface and its ease of use."
"It's a very complete product with a lot of functionality."
"This is far and away the best tool of this type I have ever used."
"We chose HPE for its interoperability with non-Cisco equipment, interoperability with non HP equipment, and customizable, and a deep feature set that Cisco Prime just didn't have because it's focused on Cisco stuff only."
"One of the notable advantages is its ability to provide quick responses, especially in critical situations."
"The most useful feature is infrastructure monitoring including switches and servers."
"The most valuable function is that the IMC takes an entire backup of my network devices, and I can also redeploy them."
 

Cons

"The solution is a bit buggy, which makes it slightly unstable."
"Cisco's router and voice gateway has not been available since the launch of SD-WAN."
"The bandwidth limitations would be good to remove, but it is a policy and license situation for Cisco because the cost is very high. It would be good to have OTP implemented with VRF. It can have support for EIGRP Over the Top (OTP) VRF. I saw some limitations in regards to the VRF protocol and the advertisement between VRF configuration. EIGRP Over the Top basically was quite limited with the VRF configuration. If you wanted to do rollback in VRF by using the EIGRP OTP protocol, the formation was not populated across. Cisco got back and confirmed that it is a configuration that I need to wait for until the next release, which is going to happen in one year. Cisco documentation is not the way it used to be before. It just gives an easy way to configure, but it doesn't go into the details of the configuration. The information that you need is there, but sometimes you want to go further and get more information, but the information is quite limited. It would be good to cover a few business cases or configuration cases. They used to be there in the past."
"The integration of Cisco SD-WAN with cloud solutions could improve. For example, if any of the applications are hosted in the Amazon AWS cloud we can use a virtual transit gateway for integrating Cisco SD-WAN."
"The deployment is complex."
"When it comes to adding more security features, you need to add more RAM."
"The Cisco way of thinking is to create umbrella-like solutions. I would prefer it if this solution was separate from the entire monstrous Cisco portfolio."
"The user interface needs to be more friendly."
"I would like to see additional modules included."
"The integration with other network devices needs improvement."
"Technical support is the one area where I have to rate HPE fairly poorly; when we have encountered issues, particularly around inconsistencies in the topology views, getting them fixed can be a cumbersome process."
"HPE Intelligent Management Center is a bit slow."
"One notable deficiency is the lack of online support for the product."
"I face the issue with the integration with links on Fortinet Firewall."
"It's horrible. 90% of the time we're figuring out the solution ourselves."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost-wise, Cisco SD-WAN is comparatively high."
"The license consists of an annual fee."
"When purchasing, there are so many features available that it's quite confusing deciding which to choose. And some of the devices force you to buy licenses you don't want."
"Licensing is on a subscription basis."
"The price of the solution is the only negative factor, it is much more expensive compared with the Cisco Meraki SD-WAN solution."
"I give the price a seven out of ten."
"You have to pay between 3000 and 10,000 euros, or something in that range. The core switches Nexus cost me between 10,000 and 20,000 euros."
"There is a monthly subscription to use this solution."
"The price of this solution is not at all cheap, but it's reasonable compared to SolarWinds."
"There are licensing costs and they are quite expensive."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business48
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco offers premium enterprise capabilities, but its pricing, setup cost, and licensing models represent the most significant hurdles for IT organizations. Cisco hardware commands a premium price ...
What needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN can be improved in minimal ways, because they have updated it now, and the updated version is really good. The only concern is the cost; compared to others, the cost is higher...
What is your primary use case for Cisco SD-WAN?
We are a system integrator and a Cisco Select Partner, deploying all the Cisco portfolios like SD-WAN, switching, firewall, access point, and then Secure Access, our cybersecurity product. We have ...
What needs improvement with HPE Intelligent Management Center?
I face the issue with the integration with links on Fortinet Firewall. This will be sorted out with the help of IMC, and now I have a modem dialing as per my needs.
What is your primary use case for HPE Intelligent Management Center?
I am using this solution for network monitoring, links monitoring, and complete monitoring of my infrastructure. I also deploy FortiVAF, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiManager as part of a complete securi...
 

Also Known As

Cisco SD-WAN
HPE IMC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs. HPE Intelligent Management Center and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.