Juniper Networks vs. Cisco

Leave the frustrations of outdated Wi-Fi behind. Juniper Mist offers the only AI-driven network that solves complexity and delights users - all while saving time and money. See why customers choose Juniper Mist wireless solutions over Cisco Meraki.

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Enterprise for Wired & Wireless LAN Infrastructure

4x Leader in the
Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

For the third time in a row, Juniper Mist is positioned farthest in “Completeness of Vision” and highest in “Ability to Execute”. See why Gartner recognized Juniper as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Wired & Wireless LAN Infrastructure.

There’s a reason everyone’s switching to Juniper Mist™ Wireless.

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Greater Resiliency

A modern cloud matters. 

The Juniper Mist cloud-native 
platform scales elastically with your needs. With microservices, you
get regular feature updates 
with no downtime.
 

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Make network upgrades in minutes not months.

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Complete Visibility

Proactive beats reactive everyday.

Don’t just see the network, optimize user experiences on it with the first and only AI-driven network. With Mist AI, you can proactively find and fix Wi-Fi issues before they become problems.

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Eliminate up to 90% of help desk tickets.

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Increased Efficiency

Get a stress-less, do more network.

Shrink your to-do list with self-driving operations, AI-guided actions, and a 100% open API that works with every solution. Put your time, money, and resources into more strategic projects.

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Save up to 85% in total OPEX.

Why customers choose Juniper Mist vs. Cisco

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Cisco Meraki
Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series

Deployment Flexibility and Cloud Management

Juniper’s wireless solution scales for all business sizes, boasting features such as single-click activation and comprehensive lifecycle management. Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) is implemented across devices with template-driven configurations, facilitating easy customization through site variables.

Cisco Meraki's infrastructure relies on virtual controllers that are hosted in co-located data centers. Switching between Catalyst and Meraki personas is a lengthy manual process.

Cisco's wireless solution operates mainly on-premises, lacking a cloud component for SDA. With a centralized controller, questions arise regarding monitoring options for Catalyst Access Points. Additionally, adoption comes with the requirement of expensive DNAC or DNAS licensing.

Scalability

Showcase adaptability with elastic vertical and horizontal scaling capabilities. Deploying Juniper Mist APs reduces the need for additional costly hardware investments.

Cisco Meraki's infrastructure leans towards complexity and lacks elasticity. It relies on virtual controllers hosted in co-located data centers. To scale the Meraki setup effectively, separate servers, such as Aruba ClearPass, become necessary, potentially adding complexity and cost to network expansion.

Cisco's system is non-elastic, necessitating additional controllers as APs are added or redundancy is required.

End-to-End Visibility

Juniper’s Mist Access Points excel in delivering unparalleled end-to-end visibility across wired, wireless, and NAC domains. Using AI-driven insights and advanced analytics, Mist APs present a unified perspective, enabling administrators to oversee the complete network and promptly address issues.

Cisco Meraki provides insights through a cloud-managed dashboard but lacks comprehensive visibility across sequential events.

Administrators must navigate multiple, distinct products to diagnose and troubleshoot network challenges, which adds to the complexity and challenges of efficient network management.

AI-Driven RF Optimization (RRM)

Harness the power of AI-driven RF optimization using reinforcement learning. AI-based reinforcement learning refines channel and power settings, continuously maximizing the User experience (SLE) and reducing interference in real-time.

Basic RRM functionality, with the ability to monitor DFS failure patterns. While AP settings are retained post power failures, changes are restricted during 'busy hours', potentially compromising peak performance.

Operating with an older RRM system, Cisco APs lack AI or machine learning enhancements. The 15-year-old algorithm focuses on AP inter-communication, optimizing channel and power settings based on an AP interference graph. RRM adjustments occur on a static, periodic basis when network load is at its lowest.

Cloud-Native NAC

Built on cloud-native Network Access Control (NAC) architecture, Mist Access Points stand at the forefront of modern network architecture. By embedding geographic redundancy and affinity into their framework, Juniper Mist APs deliver robust, adaptable, and geographically harmonized network solutions.

Cisco Meraki Access Points (APs) are not built on a cloud- native Network Access Control (NAC) architecture.

Designing and deploying Network Access Control (NAC) infrastructure is influenced by client device demands and the need for redundancy and geo-affinity. Additionally, feature or security updates necessitate downtime planning and manual execution across all servers in the cluster.

Virtual Network Assistant

Experience the future of network management with Juniper's Marvis®, the virtual network assistant. Utilizing Supervised Machine Learning, Marvis swiftly performs root cause analyses, seamlessly supporting wireless, wired, and WAN at every site. Forget pulling logs; troubleshoot directly via WebUI or API. With six years of advanced learning and a robust data science toolbox, Marvis revolutionizes networking.

Tethered to conventional network management methods, relying heavily on dashboards and logs for insights and troubleshooting.

No virtual assistant for network management. Users navigate complex dashboards and sift through logs, resulting in longer resolution times, especially compared to cutting-edge AI-driven solutions.

Meet Marvis: Your AI-Driven Problem Solver

Seventh-generation Mist AI is three years ahead of competition, providing anomaly detection, service levels, and event correlation with Marvis, the only Virtual Network Assistant in the industry.

Transform how IT teams interact and engage with enterprise networks with:

  • Up to 90% fewer trouble tickets
  • Natural language interface
  • Client-level network view
  • Proactive network fixes
  • Actionable recommendations
Learn more about Marvis

Wireless that sets you up for today and tomorrow.

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8 Reasons to Move to AIOps for Networking
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The Network for the Next Decade

Ready to see what Juniper can do for you?

Find out why 5 of the Fortune 10 just switched to Juniper Mist™ Wireless. Talk to a sales specialist today or get a free Juniper AP and a 90-day free trial of our cloud services.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure,  Tim Zimmerman, Christian Canales, et al., 6 March 2024

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Juniper Networks.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Juniper Networks is recognized as Juniper in the 2024, 2022, and 2021 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure reports