PeerSpot takes a user-centered approach to creating product comparisons that help IT decision-makers arrive at informed decisions. Instead of relying on the word of the companies that create the technological solutions, they go to the users themselves. Real users offer true feedback without any of the partiality that the solutions’ vendors may have. This is a place where peers in the tech world unite to help each other choose the products that are most appropriate for their needs.
PeerSpot’s users have made it easy for decision-makers to choose the data center networking solution and tools that most fit their business objectives. They have created a ranked list of solutions according to how potentially valuable they feel these products may be to other users. What follows are the top three ranked products for 2022:
#1 Cisco Catalyst Switches
Cisco Catalyst Switches is PeerSpot users’ favorite data center networking solution. PeerSpot users give Cisco Catalyst Switches an average rating of 8 out of 10.
Cisco Catalyst Switches are a family of highly advanced and sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) tools. This versatile and widely used family of solutions offer users a couple of valuable benefits. Users gain the ability to perform a number of different functions with a single switch. They allow administrators to accomplish CRM tasks, such as constructing marketing campaigns, while also keeping their systems safe from external threats. The switches employ Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC). These circuits allow users to easily create programmable pipelines that facilitate the performance of critical business functions.
At the same time, Cisco Catalyst Switches use powerful security features to combat all manner of threats. One such feature is their Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) capability. This feature places powerful machine learning into the hands of system administrators. The machine learning software gives users the ability to filter their system traffic to identify and then move to resolve anomalies and other issues. Administrators can filter their data traffic in a uniform and consistent way.
Additionally, Cisco Catalyst Switches make it possible for users to roll out things like updates in a consistent way across their networks. This is possible because they employ a Precision Time Protocol (PTP). PTP synchronizes systems with sub-microsecond accuracy. This means users can set an update to happen and the whole system will employ it at virtually the same time.
Curtis A., the CEO and president of TNL, writes, “The security of Cisco Catalyst Switches seems to be sound. It's very good with security. I've had no issues, security-wise. The important thing is to know what to do to fix problems if you have a security issue, and it seems to work, whether you're using Cisco Catalyst Switches, Opensense, pfSense firewalls, or any normal firewall issues. Cisco Catalyst Switches are able to communicate to all the other hardware very well.”
Osseni A., a senior network engineer and technical instructor at Improtech, writes, "The user interface needs improvement. Meraki has a much nicer UI. Cisco could learn a lot by looking at them. It might make them a bit more user friendly.”
#2 Arista Networks Platform
Arista Networks Platform is PeerSpot’s second highest ranked data center networking solution. PeerSpot users give Arista Networks Platform an average rating of 8 out of 10.
Arista Networks Platform is a suite of next-generation data center networking solutions that empower users to create advanced and effective data centers and networks. Arista Networks Platform’s array of solutions are driven by its Extensible Operating System (EOS). It offers users a number of benefits. Arista Networks Platform’s EOS enables users to scale the network that they are creating to meet their business needs. Whether they need one hundred nodes for their network or more than one hundred thousand, EOS makes it possible for network developers to create the kind of network that will be able to best support their workload.
Additionally, EOS makes Arista’s Networks Platform highly customizable and programmable. It allows users to choose from many different programming languages and options when they are building their networks. Furthermore, administrators can create custom monitoring protocols, which can integrate with other solutions to create unique monitors that are most suited to their creator’s needs. Users can also experience a high level of visibility into their network’s inner workings. EOS makes it possible for administrators to quickly identify and work to resolve network issues. This solution also makes it easy for users to keep track of their network’s performance.
The founder and director of a technological services company writes, “The best part is the single operating system that they have. Regardless of your model, it's the same operating system functioning across the board, which means you don't have to worry about backward compatibilities between your older switches and the new ones that you deploy, which is a big plus when compared to maybe Cisco, HP, or Juniper, where you get into these different operating systems based on the model. Against that, if you look at the competitors, you always have to worry about the operating system that the older units are running on, and the integration between the old and new, and what are the limitations and stuff like that. All those questions you simply don't have to worry about when you talk about Arista. Therefore, the deployment becomes pretty easy.”
The head of technology at a technological services company writes, “The one thing they lack is Microsegmentation solutions. In contrast, Cisco offers that. It has something called ACI, and we lose out on contracts due to the fact that Arista doesn't have a similar offering. Clients would like to have that on hand as when clients deal with the Cloud base, Microsoft segmentation can be managed with, in a sense, Analytics.”
#3 Cisco Nexus
Cisco Nexus is PeerSpot’s third highest ranked data center networking solution. PeerSpot users give Cisco Nexus an average rating of 8 out of 10.
Cisco Nexus is a family of highly advanced network switches that enable users to create next-generation networks. They offer users several benefits. Cisco Nexus switches can grant users the ability to gaze into the inner workings of their networks and protect themselves from digital threats. They run industry-leading security software that keeps an eye out for anomalies that threaten to damage the network. This software allows users to quickly diagnose the issues and move to address the issue that has arisen.
Users can also use Cisco Nexus’s analytics software to keep track of how each particular portion of their network is performing. These switches make it easy for users to scale up their networks to meet their operational needs. Cisco Nexus also makes it easy for users to customize their networks with the features that will benefit them the most. Users have the ability to do everything from applying automation to their networks to deploying integrations that enable them to run on multiple cloud environments at the same time.
Martin Y., a senior network consultant at a financial services firm, writes, “Cisco Nexus introduced VDC, Virtual Device Context, meaning the person has a single physical box, usually one pair, for dynamic purposes. This pair allows one to create multiple logical switches, for totally different functioning. One could be for production, another for UAT, a third for Dev. Yet, we are talking about a physically single box. It has also introduced VPC, Virtual Port Channel, which allows for more redundancy and flexibility.”
Wilhelm F., the manager of IP core and transmission networks at GO PLC, writes, “One of the biggest challenges, which I see is that there's a constant evolution in the product. For example, our configuration is based on what is known as traditional data center implementation. Today there is the ACI deployment and to implement, to migrate from one technology to another, that's challenging both from a configuration perspective and also from a cost perspective.”
