Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 5500) Reviews & Insights

Score9.2 out of 10

19 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 5500) are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

High Port Densities: Users have consistently praised the product for its high port densities, notably mentioning the 100G port density that perfectly aligns with their operational needs. This feature has been a key factor in their satisfaction with the product's performance and flexibility.

Versatile Range of Models: The versatility offered by the product through its various models and form factors has resonated positively with users, allowing them to choose options that precisely match their requirements. This adaptability has enhanced user experience and overall satisfaction with the product.

Low Power Consumption Advantage: A notable number of reviewers have emphasized the significant advantage of the product's low power consumption when compared to other similar models in the market. This attribute not only contributes to cost savings but also reflects a commitment to environmental sustainability, further bolstering user appreciation for the product.

Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 5500) Reviews

7 Reviews

Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System - Why it makes sense

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

November 20, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System scales to 400 GbE, and in my experience, it is utilized at various large service providers where critical bandwidth is necessary. The Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System also provides Software Defined Networking, which is a major plus in applying networking in a virtualized manner. In any managed service provider, you are responsible for handling a very large number of clients in an enterprise solution, and scales down for mid-tier MSP's. Segment routing is also enhanced with cloud enhanced IOS XR, which is Cisco's operating system. This aids in creating unique networking experiences that can be tailored to specific needs/wants.

Pros

Provides functionality to both Top of Rack (TOR) and Spine and Leaf role models
High Port densities
Deep packet buffering
Ultra low power consumption

Cons

Learning Curve for employees not versed on Cisco Technology
Expensive
Port Upgrades can become very pricey based on the number of ports being added
Maintenance costs can be very expensive, especially when renewals come up

Likelihood to Recommend

Cloud based solutions, these need the necessary bandwidth going from point A to point B.
Automate as much as possible from a WAN Core edge standpoint, take away the always on maintaining of the routers/switches on the network. Automation is extremely important in today's world.
The Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System would not be a very viable solution for a small company, especially from a budgetary standpoint.

Judy L. Berglund

Sr Systems Engineer in Engineering at Dell EMC and Many Other Companies (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

Reseller

3 years of experience

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NCS5500 system is fantastic as a service provider edge platform where extensive egress features aren't necessary

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

June 8, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We primarily use the NCS 5508 as an edge platform connection to major customers and other service providers. We have been moving to this platform and away from the ASR 9K for these use cases. The NCS 5508 has been a relatively flexible platform that we use mostly for moving lots of packets at speed, mostly 100G connections.

Pros

It has the 100G port density we require

Cons

The use of merchant silicon leads to very frustrating issues particularly related to the missing ability to do egress DSCP marking, which we use extensively in our network

Likelihood to Recommend

I feel that it is well suited as a small core or edge platform where 100G and 10G connectivity is needed, but only in cases where certain egress features that were available on the ASR9K, for example, are not required

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Cisco 5500 Series Network Convergence System Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 17, 2020

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The Cisco 5500 NCS is a full-featured very versatile family of routers. There are currently 4 different chassis models that suit various network needs from Enterprise, to Data Center, to Service Provider edge and Service Provider core. We are currently using the Cisco NCS 5508 in various parts of the network due to its versatility.

Pros

It is versatile due to the diversity in models and form factors.
Low power consumption compared to similar models
Mature operating system code allowing for quick production installation and configuration.

Cons

The 5508 router may not be as capable as the equivalent ASR 9000 as an edge device.
QoS/TCAM memory and Forwarding capacity with the NCS on high-traffic load
Protection during amplified DDOS attacks could be another concern.

Likelihood to Recommend

The Cisco 5500 Series NCS appears to be well suited as a fairly simple core network device that doesn't require a lot of one-off configuration setup. It may have some restrictions if used as a peering and/or edge device due to control-plane protection design and QoS/TCAM memory and Forwarding capacity. The 5501 is well suited as a switch due to mature code and hardware capability.

Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

NCS5500, great price, tons of bandwidth, all the latest OS features

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 21, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the NCS5508 series as our data center interconnect to aggregate multiple cages with a data center together, as well as to converge multiple physical sites together. The NCS5508 connect to other 5508's over our NCS2000/1000 DWDM infrastructure over a large metro region. They are a good price and solved our problem appropriately. They also have a huge amount of bandwidth (36x100Gb blades) and are running XR, which is great for automation.

Pros

Large bandwidth per blade at 36x100Gb.
IOS-XR for full functionality of automation and service provider experience.
Great price per port when looking at the scaling opportunity.

Cons

Horizontal blade designs are rare these days because if the gear is shipped in a rack, the blade can bend. The NCS5500's blades are horizontal.
Not a NCS5500 specific issue, but XR has a ways to go, but will continue to grow with customer input.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is a full-featured XR box with a ton of bandwidth at a great price. It could be used in a spine/leaf design, it could be used in a traditional core/dist/acc design, or as a data center interconnect. The box really is versatile if you have a use case for 100Gb ports, which we did, and I think this is where the industry is going.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

NCS 5500 Converged Solution

Rating: 9 out of 10

May 1, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using this platform across our whole organization for standardization of the services we deliver in our department for each site in our topology. The NCS 5500 allows us to scale up to 16 slots on a 5516 with each card having its own features and memory addressing depending on the network design.

Pros

High-density 100g ports
Card features scale with application or design
Support for segment routing and WAN aggregation

Cons

When upgrading components of the NCS 5500 it can take a particularly long time and many steps to confirm additional components. Have all updates on the need basis instead of a one-step process.

Likelihood to Recommend

NCS 5500 is well suited for situations where you need high-density 100g ports for your application. It may not be the best choice if you need fewer bandwidth ports. There are other products, depending on the application, that might be better suited for what you need. Consider your application need and port requirements.

Carlos Bedia

Technical Operations Engineer I in Information Technology at Cox Communications (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

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Performance and reliability workhorses

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 6, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We're using Cisco Routers for all our L3 corporate-wide. They're also bridging the gap for wifi connections for employees, hosts, and lab environments. They're paramount for our security strategy, and make it easy to capture and analyze traffic patterns, prevent outages, and forecast infrastructure growth needs. Cisco Routers are true performance and reliability workhorses.

Pros

Packet routing and forwarding.
Monitoring and usage tracking.
Distributed and high-availability architecture.

Cons

The price tag is on the high side.

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco Routers are perfectly suited for mission-critical setups, where you want a device with top-notch performance and rock-solid reliability. Its high-grade security features combined with great monitoring capabilities are also second to none. If you're on a tight budget or don't value these premium features you may opt for a lower level brand.

Jorge Melo

Telecommunications Engineer in Engineering at Carrilho Engineering (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

View profile

Cisco Routers Rise to the Top

Rating: 8 out of 10

December 6, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Routers are being used across the whole organization in the multiple locations of the hospital. They help establish a secure and efficient pipeline of wifi connection for both our staff, patients, and families. Pushing forward on a mobile learning strategy, our network is helping my team and department determine where, when, and how our staff is accessing educational resources. Analysis of traffic patterns are helping us determine infrastructure needs and laying a foundation for our internal device expansion.

Pros

Excellent monitoring capabilities to track usage and map traffic.
Top tier mesh networking allows use to expand our network capabilities into low signal areas.
High traffic load bearing bands allow for excellent visitor usage.

Cons

Pricing
Our routers are already outdated, even having been installed within the last 2 years
I was using Meraki as a test environment before being acquired by Cisco.

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco Routers are perfect for large scale enterprise environments where mesh networking is a great benefit. Cisco helps us determine traffic patterns and network loads that inform our infrastructure expansions. Their equipment might not be as appropriate for small business, especially in cases where the business is not granting wifi access to guests and/or staff [that] are less likely to move across multiple access points.

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

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