Cisco ISE
Cisco Identity Services Engine is a network administration product that enables you to create and enforce security policies for users and devices connecting to your organization's network infrastructure.
Forward Networks
Forward Networks provides a digital twin platform that models your entire network infrastructure to prevent outages, verify security policies, and automate complex change management tasks effectively.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Cisco ISE | Forward Networks |
|---|---|---|
| Website | cisco.com | forwardnetworks.com |
| Pricing Model | Custom | Custom |
| Starting Price | Custom Pricing | Custom Pricing |
| FREE Trial | ✓ 90 days free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 1984 | 2013 |
| Headquarters | San Jose, USA | Santa Clara, USA |
Overview
Cisco ISE
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) gives you a centralized way to manage security across your entire network. You can see exactly who and what is connecting to your environment, whether they are using a wired, wireless, or VPN connection. By gathering real-time data from users and devices, you can make informed decisions about who gets access to specific resources and under what conditions.
You can automate your network security by creating granular policies that adapt based on the user's role, device type, and location. This helps you stop threats before they spread by automatically isolating suspicious devices. Whether you are managing a corporate office or a distributed workforce, it provides the visibility you need to maintain a zero-trust security posture without slowing down your team.
Forward Networks
Forward Networks provides a mathematical model of your entire network, creating a functional digital twin that spans on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. You can visualize every possible traffic path and verify that your network is behaving exactly as intended. By analyzing your network's state against your specific business policies, the platform identifies misconfigurations and security gaps before they cause outages or breaches.
You can use the platform to perform 'what-if' analysis, allowing you to test changes in the digital twin before deploying them to production. This proactive approach eliminates manual troubleshooting and reduces the risk of human error. Whether you are managing complex data centers or sprawling multi-cloud deployments, you gain a single source of truth that simplifies audits and accelerates digital transformation initiatives.
Overview
Cisco ISE Features
- AI Endpoint Analytics Identify and profile every device on your network automatically using AI-driven behavioral modeling to eliminate blind spots.
- Zero Trust Access Enforce software-defined segmentation to ensure you only grant users access to the specific applications they need for work.
- Automated Containment Block or quarantine compromised devices instantly through integrations with your security tools to prevent lateral movement of threats.
- Guest Access Management Create custom web portals for your visitors to provide secure, time-limited internet access without compromising your internal data.
- Compliance Monitoring Check the security posture of every device before it connects to ensure they meet your corporate encryption and antivirus standards.
- Centralized Policy Management Define your security rules once and push them across your entire global network from a single, unified management console.
Forward Networks Features
- Network Digital Twin. Create a vendor-agnostic mathematical model of your entire network to visualize paths across all devices and cloud instances.
- Path Analysis. Search for any traffic path between two points to see exactly how packets are handled by every hop.
- Intent Verification. Define your network policies and receive instant alerts if a configuration change violates your security or connectivity rules.
- Change Modeling. Predict the impact of planned changes by testing them against the digital twin before touching your production environment.
- Security Posture Blast. Visualize the potential reach of a compromised host to identify and close security holes in your segmentation strategy.
- Automated Documentation. Generate up-to-date network diagrams and configuration state reports automatically for simplified compliance audits and troubleshooting.
Pricing Comparison
Cisco ISE Pricing
Forward Networks Pricing
Pros & Cons
Cisco ISE
Pros
- Unmatched visibility into every device connected to your network
- Granular policy control for complex enterprise environments
- Seamless integration with the broader Cisco security ecosystem
- Powerful automation for isolating and remediating infected endpoints
- Highly scalable for global organizations with thousands of users
Cons
- Significant learning curve for initial setup and configuration
- Requires substantial hardware resources for on-premise deployments
- Licensing structure can be complex to navigate and manage
Forward Networks
Pros
- Unmatched visibility into complex multi-vendor network environments
- Drastically reduces time spent on manual troubleshooting
- Simplifies complex compliance audits with automated verification
- Prevents costly outages by catching errors before deployment
Cons
- Initial data collection setup requires significant time
- High price point targets large enterprise budgets
- Requires consistent data snapshots for maximum accuracy