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Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Optical Networking comparison

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Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Arista Networks Platform
Ranking in Data Center Networking
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (4th)
Cisco Optical Networking
Ranking in Data Center Networking
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Dibyendu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech company with 11-50 employees
Ultra-low latency networking has delivered reliable video workflows and critical operations
The support of Arista Networks Platform is quite complex; it is not very easy to configure. It needs a lot of network expertise for token sheddings and different kinds of configurations. It is very difficult to configure because Arista Networks Platform does not have a flexible GUI like Huawei or Netgear; everything is a very CLI kind of mainframe architecture. Scalability at every single step has a huge upgrade cost which is required for port mapping, connectivity, and transceivers certified by Arista Networks Platform, then the fabric upgrades from a software firmware level. Arista Networks Platform should improve commercial aspects to be affordable. There is no path for growth with a perfect score because the focus is more on reducing costs globally.
Abdul Samad Irfan Shaik - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Lead at Numeric Technologies
High-speed fiber links have protected critical data and keep our multi-city cloud services running
In terms of improvements, one thing is about how data is transferred. Predictive monitoring would help by using artificial intelligence to identify optical signal degradation, performance issues, downtimes, glitches, increasing error rates, or potential fiber issues such as cuts. Predictive monitoring will definitely assist in this area. Faster troubleshooting could be enhanced by providing a knowledge base related to regular activities. A simpler dashboard is preferred rather than a complex one, as clubbing everything into a single user interface is not helpful for grasping everything easily. Supporting integration with third-party optical equipment and existing network monitoring platforms will play a major role, and the connectivity should be easier with improvements in third-party integration being essential. Regarding support documentation, I would prefer to speak about support rather than documentation. One enhancement needed is better automation capabilities. We aim to reduce manual intervention during network failures by enabling faster automated alarm triggers that should automatically fix issues and control recovery workflows. We have covered all of the necessary improvements.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Arista Networks Platform has really boosted our organization to the extent that our organization does not want to think about any other platform except Arista in terms of access points and switches."
"The solution has good load latency. They're the market leader in this aspect right now."
"The solution offers a lot of features and we were able to organize our network around them, and the configuration capabilities were good."
"If someone uses Arista Networks Platform, I believe they are secured."
"Arista Networks Platform's features have significantly improved network visibility and operational efficiency."
"They support open standard features."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Arista Networks Platform is very cost-effective and a very good network solution if you are looking for scalability, reliability, and straightforward management."
"Cisco View allows me to see when circuits are up or down very quickly, and I can connect circuits very quickly by a virtual picture."
"After implementing Cisco Optical Networking, I could transport terabits of traffic over long distances, which has amazed us while also reducing the effort and thought involved in network management."
"Cisco Optical Networking provides high-capacity bandwidth and fiber connectivity between the data centers, supporting data replication, backups, disaster recovery, and managing how data is transferred across great workloads."
"Cisco Optical Networking has positively impacted my organization by providing cost reduction, better network performance, high reliability, and most importantly, business growth."
"Cisco Optical Networking has positively impacted my organization by helping add resilience and redundancy."
 

Cons

"They need to enhance their code and their EOS. They need to improve some security features, and there are quite a number of bugs in their system."
"The solution is quite expensive. One of the negative aspects of it is the pricing."
"I know that Arista is more expensive than the Catalyst or Nexus."
"The intent-based networking management, together with the provider of these solutions that are already free, would be beneficial."
"From VMware, I think the cost of the tools is very high."
"They should expand further into campus networks."
"The solution is a bit pricey."
"Arista Networks is currently less popular as they were initially more focused on data centers than campus networks. They should expand further into campus networks."
"There is much work that needs to be done, and providing more proactive artificial intelligence-driven monitoring will definitely help mitigate failures."
"When it comes to features or tools that stood out to me in Cisco Optical Networking, I faced issues such as wavelength allocations due to fixed grid limitations, which led to spectral inefficiencies when mixing different wavelengths."
"In terms of improvements for Cisco Optical Networking, I believe we can enhance monitoring by improving real-time optical power, signal quality, link error, and bandwidth utilization, which leads to better network monitoring."
"Cisco Optical Networking could be improved by having more documentation and more training."
"Customer support is good only if you pay for it; if you forget to renew a license and you need support, it is not always so great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license required to use the Arista Networks Platform."
"The price of the Arista Networks Platform could be less expensive for the hardware and license."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten where ten is high price and one is low price."
"Cost wise, Arista Networks Platform is more expensive than other networking solutions."
"Network devices are generally expensive. However, during the evaluation, Arista was the most inexpensive vendor."
"Arista is very expensive. Not everybody is in a position to spend $70,000 to $80,000 for one switch."
"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."
"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?
The initial setup cost is high compared to others, and I find the initial setup cost to be very high.
What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?
Arista Networks Platform could improve its command line management. Coming from a Cisco background, the adjustment period was challenging. While similar in some areas, the AOS concept, especially a...
What is your primary use case for Arista Networks Platform?
I have worked with deploying Arista Networks Platform in data center environments, particularly for spine and leaf architectures. The configurations involved Zero Touch Provisioning, which went ver...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Optical Networking?
The pricing is a bit high, but considering the features, it is reasonable. If Cisco adds more AI assistance, I do not believe the pricing is excessive, so I am satisfied with it.
What needs improvement with Cisco Optical Networking?
In terms of improvements for Cisco Optical Networking, I believe we can enhance monitoring by improving real-time optical power, signal quality, link error, and bandwidth utilization, which leads t...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Optical Networking?
Cisco Optical Networking's main use case is to convert data center connectivity by connecting data centers over high-speed optical links for large-scale data transfer and disaster recovery. It ...
 

Also Known As

7000 Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Internet Services
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Optical Networking and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,523 professionals have used our research since 2012.