A Tale of Two Solutions: Cisco ACI and VMware NSX3. ©2016 Mindsight
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When it comes to software defined networking, there are two
products that stand out: Cisco ACI and VMware NSX. Both of these
solutions provide SDN capabilities for network administrators, but
they accomplish it in very different ways. Stacked side by side, it can
be like comparing apples and oranges. Take a look at each solution
in this slideshare and learn how a similar result can be achieved
through multiple avenues.
This is a tale of two solutions, and it doesn’t end how you may think.
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VMware NSX is a software overlay application. It can be applied
over nearly any existing networking equipment and overrides the
intelligence within NSX to manage network traffic.
NSX makes it very easy to create virtual networks and manage the
network as a whole.
Cisco injects more intelligence into select Cisco networking
hardware. With this equipment, administrators can create
application profiles to dictate bandwidth priority and network
policies for key applications.
These policy templates can then be duplicated, tweaked, and
assigned to each application in the network.
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INTELLIGENT HARDWARE
• Create network policy templates for each
application. The templates will determine
bandwidth priority of the apps
• Automate IT processes and simplify
network operations
• Deploy ACI-enabled Cisco networking
hardware to access ACI features
SOFTWARE OVERLAY
• Spin up networks like virtual machines
• Leverage micro-segmentation to effectively
place firewalls around each virtual machine
and prevent East-West traffic of malicious data
• Deploy NSX on any existing networking
equipment
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$ AVINGS AND RETURNS
42% Return
on Investment
Over a Period of
3 Years
ACI CASH FLOW
50% Internal
Rate of Return
Over the Same 3
Year Period
NSX COST SAVINGS
18% Month
Payback Period
(when net benefits
equal initial
investments)
87% Reduction In-
Person Hours and Costs
Require to Provision a
Network88% In CapEx
Investments Due to
Full Complete
Capacity
Utilization
66% Savings In CapEx
Investments by Replacing
Incumbent Gear With
Commodity Switches
Source: Forrester Research Source: VMware White Paper
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Want to Learn More About NSX or ACI?
Click Here to Download the White Paper
Download the White Paper: “Modernizing Your It Environment with Software Defined Networking”
IN THIS WHITE PAPER YOU WILL LEARN:
The benefits of VMware NSX and Cisco ACI
Core concepts in software defined networking and network virtualization
How a company can evolve their data center for SDN
A roadmap to modernizing outdated IT environments
How NSX and ACI can be used together