Cisco Ethernet Switches and Aruba Switches are leading competitors in the network switch market. Cisco offers superior reliability and advanced features, while Aruba is known for cost-effectiveness and ease of use, giving Aruba an edge for budget-conscious users.
Features: Cisco Ethernet Switches offer power-saving design, Layer 3 switching capabilities, and advanced security with MACSec encryption. They provide easy management through CDP and Smartports and support configurations like VLAN and QoS. DNA Center aids automated setup and monitoring. Aruba Switches are praised for ease of use with an intuitive GUI and integration with ClearPass. They feature a stable CLI, good security features, and lower licensing requirements, making them user-friendly.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Switches face criticism for their high price and complex setup, necessitating experienced personnel. Their licensing procedures are intricate, and integration support can be challenging with third-party products. Aruba Switches need enhanced integration and visibility. Improvements in their management suite and stability for complex deployments are needed. Simplifying interface part numbers and dashboards could improve user experience.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Switches demand experienced personnel due to complex setup procedures, though they benefit from a strong support network and comprehensive documentation. Integration support, however, needs enhancement. Aruba Switches are simpler to deploy, with less need for extensive technical support, offering cost-effective options for efficient setups.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Ethernet Switches are considered expensive, with costs attributed to licensing and support. They provide excellent ROI due to reliability and longevity. Aruba Switches are generally cheaper with low licensing costs, favoring budget-conscious users. Their cost-effectiveness is enhanced by not requiring licensing for certain features, offering significant savings compared to Cisco.
Aruba Switches is a network creation solution that enables users to easily manage every aspect of their networks.
Benefits of Aruba Switches
Some of the benefits of using Aruba switches include:
Reviews from Real Users
Aruba Switches are cutting-edge network creation tools that stand out among their competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are the warranty that guarantees them and the intuitive way in which they are designed. Aruba Switches are protected by lifetime warranties. If a switch malfunctions or is rendered inoperable, it can be quickly replaced. If the line of switches are still available, HPE will send the user the necessary replacement. Aruba Switches are built to be intuitive for users to customize and manipulate. This allows users to make full use of the solution without requiring them to devote a significant level of resources to training.
The head of technical support at a real estate law firm writes, “One valuable feature about HP is the warranty. All switches are very similar when it comes to most functionalities. Most switches provide a one-year warranty, but with HPE switches, if there's a unit that malfunctions, we call them and they replace it the next business day if that line is still available. We had a switch we reported the other day, it was a 25-10, which we procured way back, around 2014, and they replaced it. In general, HP provides a lot of support for its products. We will be doing some tinkering on the VLAN soon, first the layer two, and then connecting the layer three functionalities for some other departments. The advantage of Aruba compared to other switches is their reliability. If the product is trustworthy, I'll continue to use it.”
A network systems engineer at a financial services firm writes, “Their technical support is great. I have used Cisco products, and as compared to Cisco, Aruba's command-line syntax is not as complex. The command-line interface of Aruba switches is quite intuitive. It also has a graphical user interface. With Cisco, using the graphical user interface for configuration can be complex, whereas Aruba simplifies it, and you can easily use the graphical user interface. The configuration is secured. Their graphical user interface is quite robust.”
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