Responsable Infrastructures, Réseaux & Télécoms at a university with 201-500 employees
Real User
Customizable interface with good good throughput and the ability to expand
Pros and Cons
  • "Technical support has always been helpful."
  • "We'd like the pricing to be lowered."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution in the access layer for connecting EP-phone, PC, and access points. We use Cisco, like 3850, for the aggregation layer, and we use 6500 catalyst switches for the core layer.

What is most valuable?

They have very good throughput and backup for their energy. We find, stock-wise and energy-wise, it's easy to use with the CLA command.  

I can create a lot of interfaces, or SDI interfaces for VLAN and SNMP. I can show it with my SNMP platform. I can gain much access to them. They are really, really, good switches.

The solution is stable.

The scalability has been great.

We find the setup process to be simple. 

Technical support has always been helpful.

What needs improvement?

Stock-wise, the solution can improve.

The patching and updating could be better.

We'd like the pricing to be lowered. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is quite good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

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Cisco Ethernet Switches
March 2024
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the product is great, If a company needs to expand, it can. There is a lot of stacking and cascading that can happen.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support from Cisco has been great. They are helpful and responsive. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We primarily use Cisco in our company.

How was the initial setup?

It's a very easy to deploy product. It's just a question of buying the cable for stacking and getting it done.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing of the solution is pretty high.

Compared with other switches, such as Huawei or HPE, it's very, very expensive. ON top of that, the campus network, it's not an area that has a high budget. We have to have work towards minimizing this price.

What other advice do I have?

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

I would recommend the solution to other users and companies. It's great for small to large enterprises. Just the number of ports that we can create makes a difference. We can use a lot of switches with 48 ports. In the smaller cases, we can still use 12 ports. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Presale Manager at a tech services company with self employed
Real User
Supremely reliable but would benefit from bulk fixing and patching.
Pros and Cons
  • "The features that I have found most valuable with Cisco switches are that once you get your configuration you can rest assured that it will work. The OS is not going to be failing intermittently or anything like that. Once you get your configuration end-goal right, the firmware and the OS are usually very stable enough to work a long time without support. Support is needed once in a while. My experience is that the Cisco switches are usually rocket."
  • "In terms of what could be improved, there is the bulk issue that is sometimes experienced with Cisco products we've used."

What is most valuable?

The features that I have found most valuable with Cisco switches are that once you get your configuration you can rest assured that it will work. The OS is not going to be failing intermittently or anything like that. Once you get your configuration end-goal right, the firmware and the OS are usually stable enough to work a long time without support. Support is only needed once in a while. My experience is that the Cisco switches are usually rocket.

What needs improvement?

In terms of what could be improved, there is the bulk issue that is sometimes experienced with the Cisco products we've used. I don't know how it could be possible to be done, but it would be very good if there was an automated patching system. It would be a very big and difficult one, because some of these routers or switches or products are not even within an internet environment. This is especially limited with the switches. Routers can be connected to the internet and switches might not even have internet access and might just be for the local area network. If it has an internet connection, that would be great and if it has an automated parking code inside of the POE this would help them to patch without the user's input.

In the next release, I would like to see bulk fixing. That is basically what I do now. If we could have an automated patch for Cisco to just be standard for patching switches or routers or firewalls by default without the input of anyone adjusting, that would be great.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Ethernet Switches since 2009, so probably for 13 years now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, normally you have a 24 port switch or a 48 port switch, which are fixed to scalability. So you can't really go beyond what has been provided. If it's a 24 switch, it's 24 users, if it's 48 it's 48, except if you're using the switch as an extender for a wireless device. That is a different conversation, but if you're using it in a LAN environment and for a connected, wired connection, then you can't scale.

But you can connect multiple switches to themselves and stack them and make it one switch depending on your design.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is pretty easy. It's usually easy to configure, especially when you are using it for basic switching. It is usually easy to configure the VLAN, the PTPs and all of that.  The major work lies with your architecture and your design and how you want to use the solution, because once you get the architecture right, then your configurations and all will be very simple. But if you don't, you might have to do a lot of work when it comes to configuring.

A lot depends on how you configure it from the beginning. It's going to influence how it's going to work the rest of the time.

What other advice do I have?

When it comes to switches and routers, I will always prefer Cisco over any other.

On a scale of one to ten, I'll give Cisco Ethernet Switches a seven because switch-wise, I think Juniper switches are also very good in performance. Especially the high end switches.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Ethernet Switches
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Ethernet Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Imtiyaj Jamadar - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Executive at Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Real User
Responsive support, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "Cisco Ethernet Switches are stable."
  • "The management of the solution could improve."

What is our primary use case?

We have a local network and we have four Cisco Ethernet Switches that have 48 ports.

What needs improvement?

The management of the solution could improve.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Cisco Ethernet Switches are stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Cisco technical support is good. We have a better experience because we have local support when we have some technical problems. The team support is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The setup of the solution is easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of Cisco Ethernet Switches here in India is too high. There are other cheaper solutions available.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Our management has decided we should look into other solutions, and we are currently evaluating Juniper switches. We are checking the performance of the solution.

What other advice do I have?

Cisco products are good, but nowadays technology is changing, some other products are available in the market. We are checking some different products available. I'll see how the performance is and how it works on the network.

I rate Cisco Ethernet Switches a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Student at a educational organization with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 5
Stable and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that we create a network as a villain."
  • "The technical support has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use Cisco Ethernet Switches in our data center.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that we create a network as a villain. For some time, we use a port channel and sometimes, the Spanning Tree Protocol for requests. We search for the user's Cisco Internet switches for small packets.

What needs improvement?

The technical support has room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The Cisco Ethernet Switches are very stable and a leader in the market.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable and we have the ability to upgrade our appliances without impacting our services.

How are customer service and support?

The Cisco technical support is good but when compared to other products such as McAfee and Palo Alto they have room for improvement.

How was the initial setup?

For Cisco Catalyst switches, the initial setup was usually automated for large-scale deployments such as Azure, which worked well. However, for newer technologies such as Cisco ACI, the initial setup can be challenging. Once the primary phase is completed, however, the efficiency of the operation requires less support.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Technical Support Manager at kiriazi
Real User
Stable ethernet switches
Pros and Cons
  • "I'm satisfied with Cisco switches. It's stable and beautiful."
  • "Technical support could be better. Firmware upgrades should be better. We have an issue with upgrading the firmware. It's not upgradable. I think it should be easy to improve and upgrade the firmware."

What is our primary use case?

We use Cisco Ethernet Switches for our data center, management center, and at our headquarters.

What is most valuable?

I'm satisfied with Cisco switches. It's stable and beautiful. 

What needs improvement?

Technical support could be better. Firmware upgrades should be better. We have an issue with upgrading the firmware. It's not upgradable. I think it should be easy to improve and upgrade the firmware.

Some of the powerboards could be better. I have about six models or six spots with Model 3550, and all of them have a defect in the powerboards.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco Ethernet Switches for many years. I have many models, and some models are older than 20 years. They have worked up to now, and we have used the newest versions for about five years.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support could be better. I think they take some long time to exchange a switch or replace it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's a little expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would tell potential users that they should use it if it's within their budget.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Cisco Ethernet Switches a nine.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Enterprise and Security Manager at University of Fort Hare
Real User
Impressive after-sales support, stable, and scales well as our needs evolve
Pros and Cons
  • "I like their after-sales support more than anything because it's very good."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our datacenter is built using Cisco switches. We use Cisco products for wireless access, routing, and switching.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Cisco switches have helped our organization through good connectivity speeds and stability. In particular, it has improved our wireless capabilities.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the after-sales support. I like their after-sales support more than anything because it's very good.

    The sales experience was good because we deal with Cisco directly and then buy through the partners. It means that we developed a close relationship with Cisco in the process.

    Cisco has been adding things on top of their devices, like DNA, which makes managing them very easy.

    What needs improvement?

    For people who are new, the interface can be confusing. For me, however, I don't think that there's anything that can be simplified because I'm used to the command line and the old way of working with Cisco switches. I find them simple.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using Cisco Ethernet Switches for between 15 and 16 years, since 2004.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This is a very stable product that we have barely had issues with.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This is a very scalable solution. When we started, we didn't have enough switches and other equipment. One of the beauties is that when we add new technologies or buy new switches, it scales.

    We are in a university setting and there are new students every year, so we always have to connect more people to our network. It is definitely scalable and we plan to increase our usage in the future.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The technical support is very good.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I have worked with products from Juniper, HP, and many other vendors that have switching products. Cisco is the best, not necessarily the team, but the after-sale support.

    In some places I have been, they were using other brands. Based on their experience after I introduced them to Cisco, they stuck with it because of the support.

    How was the initial setup?

    I completed the Cisco training in 2008 and from there, the initial setup was simple.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Cisco products are not cheap, which is something that can be improved.

    What other advice do I have?

    There used to be a problem with programmability, but with the release of the new switches, I don't think that there's anything that needs to be added.

    I would recommend them any day.

    My advice for anybody who is considering this type of product is that when you buy a Cisco device, you don't just buy the device but the whole organization. Cisco will get people to assist you when you've got an issue, and they will make sure that you get that support. They have the best after-sales support that I have ever worked with.

    I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    IT Manager at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Stable infrastructure components that scale with our needs
    Pros and Cons
    • "As I am Cisco certified, I like the way that I can program them."
    • "Better manageability and ease of use would be an improvement."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Cisco Ethernet Switches as part of our network infrastructure at two different sites.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Cisco switches has helped provide efficient and stable switching in the organization. Once configured and setup right they work fine without any worries and has helped free up resources to concentrate on other tasks. 

    What is most valuable?

    I love the fact that they can be configured to do exactly what you need them to do, which in my opinion is what anyone with Cisco experience would enjoy doing. They can be set up and configured nicely.

    What needs improvement?

    Ease of configuration for none cisco experts would be an improvement.

    Pricing can also do with some improvement to make it more competitive with competitor products with similar functionality.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using cisco switches for over ten years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This is a stable product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Cisco switches are scalable. I manage two large sites and at the first site, we have about 200 people. The second site has about 300 people. We do not have any plan to expand, per se. I do have plans to upgrade the switches and probably redesign the environment for better efficiency. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Cisco has a good technical support and I love they way the come in to help when you are doing a research on their site. I have not had any serious need for cisco technical support and so I would not be in the best position to give a conclusive evaluation of this but I must say they do a good job with their certifications so people would need very little of such services.  For a few minor challenges I was also able to get answers from the cisco forums. There is a pretty good database online for any conceivable problems one would face with the cisco switches.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We did not use a different solution prior to this, although we are going to be buying a few Meraki switches that we will add to our environment. We are going to test them to see how well they work with Cisco.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial set was complex. When I came into the project, the features were just put in with no consideration, whatsoever. This meant that I had to start from scratch to design the network, draw up the configurations and setup vlans to easily manage the network.

    What about the implementation team?

    It was implemented in-house.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The price of the product is on the higher side, I feel you pay for the  name of the product as well but it's still manageable for corporate customers. Licensing is simple and straight forward which is something going well for cisco switches.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice is that if you are going to be implementing Cisco then you should at least have someone in the organization who is knowledgeable and can manage the features. The alternative is to use Meraki because they are easier to manage.

    We have some pretty old switches in our environment and some of them are only 100 megabits. I would like to upgrade them all to at least one-gigabit.

    Some of our uplinks are on ethernet, but I want to upgrade them to fiber to improve the performance.

    I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    ICT Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Good user interface and security but costs too much
    Pros and Cons
    • "The quality of service is one of the main reasons we use Cisco in our organization. It's quite high and very reliable. The switches also end up working for a long time, so there's less need to replace them as often as others. We have some switches in our company that has been running since 2006, for example. They are quite old, but they still work."
    • "The cost is very prohibitive both for us as well as other organizations. It's very expensive to buy Cisco switches. Among our colleagues, we find that we're not alone in thinking it's too high. Everyone's complaining about this."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have a few different buildings within our premises, and we typically use the Cisco switches as the core backbone of our LAN. They are connected with fiber. We use them for our network to handle security and connectivity mainly.

    Our core business is to sell beverages, so we're not your typical telecom or banking institution that would be a typical Cisco client.

    What is most valuable?

    The quality of service is one of the main reasons we use Cisco in our organization. It's quite high and very reliable. The switches also end up working for a long time, so there's less need to replace them as often as others. We have some switches in our company that have been running since 2006, for example. They are quite old, but they still work.

    The security and the user interface are both good. Mainly, I end up using the command lines, but it's okay for me and the way I work. It's my preference, although it's not ideal for everyone.

    There are quite a few features that Cisco offers, but for our business, it's not really necessary. If you are a telecom or a banking institution, you would probably find them to be quite useful.

    What needs improvement?

    The cost is very prohibitive both for us as well as other organizations. It's very expensive to buy Cisco switches. Among our colleagues, we find that we're not alone in thinking it's too high. Everyone's complaining about this. 

    We have many switches that we've used sine 2006 and that are on the old OS, but we don't want to switch them out because the cost to do so would be quite high.

    The graphical user interface could be a bit better. When we have new employees, we want them to onboard quickly and to be able to understand the switches. Having a better graphical interface would help us do that and help them understand the switches faster. While I prefer command line, many are not good with it or do not prefer that method.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We've been using the solution since 2006. It's been more than ten years, so we're quite well versed in the technology.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is quite stable. Cisco is a brand that's known for its stability. Our switches have worked for well over 10 years in some cases, without fail.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We never really directly deal with Cisco, so I can't speak to how well they are from a customer service perspective.

    How was the initial setup?

    We moved from a different type of switch originally. We found switching over was quite straightforward and didn't run into any difficulties. However, now our office and our infrastructure are much more complex, so there is a bit of a learning curve. Companies with complex infrastructures will find that there will be complexity in the setup. They'll have to sort through that when they get started.

    Originally, when our offices were smaller and more straightforward, deployment didn't take to much time. We handled it over a weekend, from Friday to Sunday or Monday. However, at the time, we weren't yet doing segmentation traffic.

    What about the implementation team?

    We had a consultant in Belgium who came in over the weekend to help us with the process when we originally set up the switches. Normally we work within our own team and have our own in-house workers that handle the configuration.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    I don't handle the licensing aspect of the solution, so I can't speak to the exact pricing. However, I am aware it's one of the more expensive options on the market. The last time I bought a 24-port switch, which was a while ago, I paid about five or six thousand Euros. In this part of the world, that's quite expensive for us.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I did compare Cisco to Ubiquiti. I was doing this research for a friend who was trying to open a resort but had limited funding. He didn't want to deal with Cisco as he knew the pricing would be out of his budget, so he asked me to look into another option. He asked that I look at Ubiquiti. For him, Ubiquiti ended up being a good option and was quite affordable. I believe you can also use Ubiquiti at an enterprise level as well. 

    What other advice do I have?

    We mainly work with Cisco ethernet switches at our organization.

    Aside from the cost, the Cisco switches are quite stable and easy to use. 

    If you have the money as an organization, I would highly recommend Cisco.

    We are just a customer of Cisco. We don't have a special relationship with the company in any way shape or form.

    I would rate the solution 8.5 out of ten. I would rate it higher, but the price is too high, in my opinion. It's quite good for me in terms of the usage I get out of it, but I find that I don't use other features that Cisco offers now.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
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