I use the solution in my company as a data switch. The product is mostly used in the entertainment systems of luxury yachts and not in some banks.
The most valuable feature of the solution is reliability. I have seen Cisco Catalyst Switches working for more than six years without any kind of outage.
Products from Cisco that deal in areas like VLAN management, internal routing, and inter-VLAN routing don't seem to be compatible with other products. When users put Cisco Catalyst Switches in the same environment or infrastructure where other devices or products exist, like HPE, Aruba, and Ubiquiti, it doesn't work properly. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.
I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for more than twenty years.
It is a scalable solution. Cisco solutions are always scalable.
My organization has around 200 users of the product.
There is a need to increase the number of devices or switches, or it can be done by implementing a change in relation to the old devices in an environment by moving from a 10 GB switch to 40 GB uplinks. A 10 GB switch is enough for now in my business.
Cisco's support team is friendly if you have a maintenance contract active with the technical support team of the tool. You will end up breaking your head on the wall if you do not have an active maintenance contract with Cisco's technical team since they are not responsive or supportive at all until you subscribe to the service contract Cisco offers.
After dealing with the product for more than twenty years, it has become easy to deploy the solution.
I have been installing the tool inside a luxury yacht to manage some internal data switches and for some of the entertainment systems where streaming services are required. VLAN is mandatory for managing the kind of networks in the aforementioned environment.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
The time required to deploy the product depends on the dimension of the project undertaken by someone. If you install the system in a 30-meter yard, deploying it takes around four days. If you install the product on a yacht where around 100 meters need to be covered, the deployment process may take over a month.
The number of people required to deploy and maintain the product depends on the project size. One person is enough to take care of the deployment in a 50-meter yard area. Three people are enough to take care of the deployment in a 100-meter yard area. In an infrastructure with around 200 people, only one person can maintain the warehouse system.
I rate the overall product a six out of ten from a price perspective since it is an expensive tool.
There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges of the product.
From a technical perspective, I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.
There is a need to use professional devices like the ones offered by Cisco if someone needs a reliable infrastructure that is flexible and scalable.
Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.