Cisco Catalyst Switches Reviews

We are supporting many clients. Some of them have Cisco switches, and some of them have HPE. We are supporting their network and solving any requests. We are doing troubleshooting for them. For most of the clients, we do full support of the network, but it also depends on the service that they took from our company. Some of them don't give us access to their core switches, which is very rare. Most of the clients give us full access. If they need, for example, a new route, we edit the VLAN port configuration, port channels, etc.

We are also managing the wireless controller for all clients. We are supporting them by creating the wireless connection and changing the password periodically.

I recently discovered the DHCP feature. There is a feature with which you can make the core act as a DHCP server, and it will distribute the IPs for every device. I discovered this feature recently, and it is very nice.

Its price can be improved. Some devices can be very expensive.

I have been working with this solution for around two years.

It is stable.

If you follow the recommendation of Cisco, it is scalable. Sometimes, when there is anything wrong with it, we open a ticket with Cisco, and they recommend upgrading the IOS. 

We have many clients here. Most of them have Cisco. We have three clients with HPE. 

They are very nice and very quick.

Most of them are easy, especially if you have a stack solution. If it is arranged as a stack, it would be very easy to do an installation, and it also takes a shorter time than the standalone. One of the clients I worked with had a stack solution, and it was very easy. We just had to erase everything, put the new switch in there, and connect the stack cables and power cables. That was it. Sometimes, it can take the configuration from the flash.

The number of people required depends on the topology. If it is a big topology, you need two or three people. If it is a small topology, you need less number of people.

It is overpriced. Some devices can be very expensive.

Most of the clients have a contract with Cisco for two or three years.

There are different categories of switches. There are Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches. In Layer 2 switches, 2650 is nice. It is a good switch. In Layer 3, most of the switches are good.

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.

We use Cisco switches as part of our network infrastructure. We have a LAN and we will be implementing an SD-WAN in the future.

The most valuable feature of Cisco equipment is reliability.

As we are a Cisco-based company, the interchangeability with other switches is something that is valuable for us.

These switches should have better compatibility with software-defined technology.

I have been working with Cisco Catalyst Switches for approximately 25 years. Our current Cisco equipment is about five years old.

This is a stable product, which is why we use it. The majority of our equipment is more than five years old.

Cisco switches are very scalable.

We have two organic employees and we outsource between six and ten.

The technical support that we get is great. We have another partner for support, rather than contact Cisco directly.

I have been working with similar products from Dell EMC for approximately 15 years. Our most recent Dell product is about five years old. There have been improvements made with some of the newer products that have been released since then.

The initial setup was easy. We do have experience with Cisco products and also, our setup is not very difficult or complex. It's just a simple setup.

I cannot say that the pricing is reasonable because it's a little above our expectations. If we consider the recent price increases, it is not acceptable anymore. They are trying to price us out of our budget.

We want to adopt SD-WAN technology at the switch level. We will be expanding the software-defined capabilities of Cisco equipment to the LAN side of our network. We expect that Cisco will be the primary vendor for the equipment we use to initiate that move. This is not just for the wide-area network, but also the local area network.

In summary, Cisco is a good vendor but they're quite pricey at the moment.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We are using Cisco Catalyst Switches for corporate and production, such as offices. We have two networks running and the second one is an Everts network and it is more specialized in TV video broadcasting.

Cisco Catalyst Switches has been very useful in my organization because we do a lot of videos. My company is a TV station. 

The solution could improve by having a video IP feature.

I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for approximately 30 years.

Cisco Catalyst Switches are highly reliable and stable.

We have approximately 500 Cisco Catalyst Switches installed.

The support of Cisco Catalyst Switches is very good.

We are a large company and the price is reasonable because we have received a discount. However, the full price is expensive.

I rate Cisco Catalyst Switches an eight out of ten.

When it comes to Cisco Catalyst Switches, one can say that the legacy switches are stable. We have been using them for so long and there are many who feel comfortable with their use. This can vary with the business size, some being entry, medium or enterprise level, which means its use is geared towards every level. 

All other modules have comparatively many more functions or power than regular Catalyst switches.

We have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches since the outset, for more than 20 years. 

Being legacy switches, Catalyst switches are stable. We have been using them for many years and there are many who are comfortable with their use. 

Nexus, which uses NX-OS, runs on a different operating system than CatOS, which means that the latter tends to run on OS - just like a Cisco router - only with the functioning being a bit different. While NX-OS is very different, even when it comes to the command line, most things are the same. 

However, NX-OS already introduced a different concept, which is more like a carrier level. They have a dedicated command management module. All other modules have comparatively many more functions or power than regular Catalyst switches. 

Catalyst is a legacy system and we are already utilizing the 9000 series, including 9200, 9300 and 9800 for different use scenarios. As Catalyst covers all levels and areas, I cannot think of anything needing improvement. It is getting to be very good, performance-wise, at the moment.

We are talking about a network portion. Catalyst and Nexus switches are all part of the network domain. 

I rate Cisco Catalyst Switches as a nine-point-five out of ten, since it is a great, albeit imperfect, product. 

We primarily use it to provide a hierarchy in the data center, enterprise solutions, and high availability solutions.

The performance of this equipment is much better than other options. The warranty on offer is perfect for me as they attend to issues in a maximum of four hours or within the next business day.

The solution is easy to implement and quick to deploy.

The solution is very stable.

I found the scalability to always be good. 

The technical support, in some cases, should be faster and could improve.

I've been using the solution for ten years. It's been a decade. I've dealt with Cisco for a while. 

The product is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

The scalability potential is very high. I can put many types of equipment on it and the solution will keep in the same level performance. It doesn't dip. 

Currently, we have 1,000 people on the solution. 

I do plan to implement the solution in future projects, as, so far, it has been issue-free and works very well. 

Technical support could be a bit more responsive. 

in terms of the initial setup, and how easy or hard it is, it depends on the technical knowledge base and on the person that will be implementing the solution.

I was working with data center providers, and, for us, with our level of knowledge, every time it was very easy to implement this equipment.

The deployment is pretty fast. After a couple of hours, you should have it up and running. We had a big team as well, which helped ensure it didn't take us long.

We have about 15 people at three technical levels that can handle maintenance tasks. 

I implemented the solution myself. I did not need an integrator or consultant to assist. 

Likely, after three or so years, you may see an ROI. 

The licensing costs vary. If you buy a lot, the costs are lower, however, if you only need a few, the costs are very, very high. 

You can also pay for additional support that guarantees four-hour or next-day resolutions. 

I am a solutions provider. We're consultants and we help other companies implement this solution. 

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. 

I would recommend the solution to other users and organizations. 

We use Catalyst switches to extend our network throughout the facility. It's a big facility, so we need to use switches the ABS to get the signal out to the entire facility.

I like Cisco because you are dealing with something old that the new generation doesn't know about, like telnet or how to configure the switch. I don't like simple GUIs where you can do everything with a click. 

I can't use older Cisco devices with newer versions of the controller or switches. For example, if a switch was manufactured in 2014, I can't use it with a controller made in 2019. I have to change the switch so that I can upgrade my network or my devices. I don't have the option to update the version I have on the image of the AP or the controller.

Also, in the K5 Series of the switches —  Cisco calls them "Core" switches — they have some commands that Catalyst doesn't support, so you have to know the command lines for two different devices to configure them. It's a bit confusing when you are working on both at the same time, and you have some problems, then you notice that you didn't use the correct command for that switch.

I've been using Cisco Catalyst for five years, but I've only been working with the solution in-depth for the past few months.

Catalyst Switches are reliable. We don't have major problems like lost connections, and we only have a minor issue with something every few months. In the last five years, a switch broke down once, and that was due to human error.

Cisco customer service is excellent. We had some issues with devices, and Cisco replaced them for us. We had some significant problems with one of the switches because they changed the image. It took a while, but overall, the support is good.

It's not hard if you have some networking experience. I didn't deploy the switches by myself. We had some help from the vendor, and I supervised them.

With some competitors, yes, it's about, let's say very high price. Half the price you can get Jupiter, or I think also, I forget the brand, TP-Link, you can have something like that, but half the price with it, with maybe also advanced features to deal with it.

I would rate Cisco Catalyst switches seven out of 10.

My primary use case is providing Catalyst switches for the edge and campus networking. You may have lots of IoT switches, like surveillance access points and you need to implement IPE switches that deliver the power and networking through the endpoint sensors. Most of these are considered access switches. We then implement the distribution layer that links all of the access switches and network traffic, then move to the course switches that handle all the packets and connect all the buildings to each other. After, the core is connected to the firewall, from Cisco as well, to get out of building to the internet. So the core portfolio comes from access to the core. I end with the firewall and the routers to the internet.

Cisco's support is called SMARTnet, but we provide support to customers in case of any troubleshooting or if it's on-premises. We act as a mid-layer between the customer and Cisco. Most customers deploy it on-premises, but some prefer to build their own private cloud. 

The most valuable feature is that Cisco comes with built-in software access for network devices. You may use SDN for SD-Access, so you don't need to configure each switch with its own configuration, but can deploy the configuration from a single point of management. You can also monitor the traffic and access for the users. Especially if they are using their own laptops, you can make a VLAN for each switch. Cisco is a very stable portfolio format considering the network features and the heavy duties of traffic.

The prices could be improved. Cisco is dedicated to providing their customers with the latest technology, but it comes with a price. It's very expensive and when compared to competitors' products, like HP or Aruba, this is the most expensive one. 

I can't think of any additional features I would like to see in the next version. The features included are sufficient. 

I have been working with Cisco Catalyst for more than ten years. 

Cisco is famous for its stability and operating system. It's a very stable platform for heavy-duty network traffic. 

Catalyst is easy to scale, especially because of stacking. The stack member can reach out to each member per the tech stack group as well as for Catalyst. As long as you have a sufficient number of ports in the core and distribution, you can scale and connect as much as you need in the access layers. If you exceed the number of ports existing in the distribution, you can add another distribution layer and connect them together to extend the number of endpoints. 

I have been satisfied with technical support. Especially when it comes to hardware attachments, their response is very fast, and almost by the next business day, we're able to go and replace it on-premises for a customer. 

The process was simple and straightforward. Most of us started our first year by taking Cisco courses, so we are talented at implementing and configuring Cisco switches. It depends on the project, but if you are looking at full premises with maybe 20 switches, the setup should take around three or four days. 

We implemented through an in-house team. We are partnered with Cisco and have our own professional service team certification in data center, networking, security, and collaboration systems. 

This is expensive, even when compared to competitors' products. 

The Catalyst doesn't come with licensing, but it comes with models. It comes with nine key series, each with its own purpose: some are for access, some for distribution, and some for the core, so it's not a matter of licensing. The only licensing that you are using with Catalyst is either the Essential or Advantage licensing, which represents Layer 2 or Layer 3 switches. If you are going to use Layer 3 for routing, use the Advantage license. Otherwise, use the Essential license, which is meant for the access switches. 

Dell EMC has a magnificent working portfolio, but customers still may not trust its durability and reliability. Most customers will choose Cisco rather than Dell EMC, even though Dell EMC has a reliable reputation and is very cost-effective. Yet, from my side as a partner and someone who works a lot with technology, I would recommend Dell EMC for customers with a smaller budget that needs a flexible and a cost-effective solution, rather than picking a small solution from Cisco. I would commit to buying a large solution from Dell EMC, then going with a reliable solution provider. 

I would recommend Cisco Catalyst for its abilities, durability, and the support. Cisco is very familiar—all engineers know Cisco very well—and we can handle the troubleshooting and configuration. 

The Advantage license is suitable for large companies. All of the oil and gas sectors use the Advantage license for their switches. Even they are not going to use all the layers or access switches, but they invest a lot and have a huge budget for networking. For a small or medium company, you could use and split the Essential license and the Advantage one based on building needs in order to optimize the cost and make sure your solution is cost-effective.

I would rate Cisco a nine out of ten. Not a ten because of the high price. 

We are using all the three hierarchal models of Cisco Catalyst: 2960, 4500, and 6800. It is perfect for an enterprise setup where you have multiple buildings and you want to aggregate in a single building. 

I think one switch should go beyond the 10 gig connectivity to 40 gigs.

I've been working with Cisco Catalyst switches for more than 10 years.

Cisco Catalyst switches are resilient.

We can have multiple Cisco switches, like seven or eight, on a stack for 300 users. So it is highly scalable and easy to manage. There are 15,000 users on our campus total.

Installing Catalyst Switches is straightforward, just like with any other Cisco device. For the Alto switch, it hardly takes 20 or 30 minutes. I believe we used a configurator. All in, it takes seven to eight people to deploy because we have a large number of switches. And on the operations team, we have seven to eight people managing them.

I rate Cisco Catalyst switches nine out of 10. I would definitely recommend them to others.