I am still working with Cisco products, but not exclusively. I also work with HP, Aruba, and other products like Mellanox and HP. I am a senior network engineer and architect for an integrator.
I primarily deal with switching, routing, and security products.
Regarding Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches, there is nothing technically that needs improvement, but the support and cost are significant concerns. The main issue is that many customers are hesitant to purchase Cisco products because the support costs are very high. When I compare it to HP Aruba switches, for example, the support from HP is almost free. Cisco always charges for support, which is understandable because Cisco has a very large support organization like Cisco TAC behind it. Additionally, upgrades are not free with Cisco. Other vendors offer switch upgrades and firmware upgrades mostly free of charge. These are my main concerns.
I have been working with Cisco products for over 30 years. I am now 64 years old.
Technical support depends on which support organization you are referring to. If you are talking about Cisco TAC, it is always good. I would rate it an eight, as I never give a ten. However, if you are talking about Cisco Meraki, that is a different support organization, and that support could be much better. I would rate Cisco Meraki support a five.
Cisco is no longer the only option in my opinion. There are many competitors such as HP, Juniper, and Ubiquiti. Regarding switches specifically, they do not have advantages over Cisco in my view. If I were to choose another brand, I would say HP Aruba is in second place for me. HP is mainly the alternative, as the other vendors are more focused on small business products.
Cisco is doing a lot with artificial intelligence in the future, but I think that is a bit excessive for using AI in switch software. In my opinion, switches should focus on basic networking, and for me and my customers, speed and performance are very important. Adding many new features will always result in a lack of performance and performance degradation in my view. The focus should be on low latency switching. The switch itself has a web interface, and there are also management interfaces. Cisco Meraki has its own dashboard, and Cisco is integrating Catalyst Center into the Meraki dashboard, which is quite intuitive. However, in the Meraki dashboard, we always miss the command-line interface that we are accustomed to using, as we can do much more with the command-line interface than we can in the Meraki dashboard. I prefer the command-line interface, but regarding the intuitiveness of the web interface, it is sufficient for most people. I focus on Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches because it is my core business. I would rate this product an eight overall.
