Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Catalyst Switches and Dell PowerSwitch N-Series based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies and others in LAN Switching.
To learn more, read our detailed LAN Switching Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Their technical support is very good. They know what to do and if they don't know what to do, they give me the person who does know.""The tool's administration is easy.""It is an infrastructure tool, so it is just providing a backend service. Its most useful feature is that it operates on a regular basis. It is reliable.""It can be expanded.""The benefit of the tool is that it is a stable product.""I highly appreciate the durability and the availability""When it comes to Cisco Catalyst Switches, one can say that the legacy switches are stable.""The product is very robust."

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"Port density and port speed performance are both suitable. It has some appealing intangibles.""For a customer, it is easy to configure and to add ports through the LAN the GUI."

More Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Pros →

Cons
"The pricing needs improvement.""To make it a ten they should simplify the licensing, add the cloud-managed feature, and it should be more cost-effective.""I would like to see the integration of the 2960 SX switched.""Any improvements that they make should be in the wireless area of the product.""The technical support, in some cases, should be faster and could improve.""The price could be improved.""The solution offers a bit of complexity and you need a specialized workforce.""Its price can be improved. Some devices can be very expensive."

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"Instead of competing at the enterprise level with that product, they should probably scale it. With all of the ports, they should develop a good mid-level business to truly scale it and gain adoption before attempting to go after the enterprise.""Customers do not prefer this to connect to multiple cities."

More Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "​The price should go down instead of up. ​"
  • "It has a very high cost, but understandably, due to its very good quality."
  • "Cisco's prices are not cheap, but the stability is worth it."
  • "Pricing could be better."
  • "If you consider Cisco's price with the Dell, you will definitely lose with Cisco. But Cisco has a major area of equipment in general. Cisco has routers, firewalls, NAC, certain video conferencing, Apple phones, and different security solutions. But Dell doesn't have such areas, Dell only has switching architecture."
  • "Generally, Cisco Catalyst would be relatively expensive compared to the competition, it would be on the expensive side."
  • "Pricing is an issue I have been facing, in comparison with HPE or Juniper. The Nexus series is out of the question right now. Scalability is more an issue on the pricing side and less on the technology side."
  • "Catalyst is very expensive."
  • More Cisco Catalyst Switches Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "You are selling it to larger customers and in larger environments, where it's a less expensive model than Cisco, which is attempting to use the same approach Arista did, but with a completely different programming language."
  • More Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Hello Mesfin It depends on the real scenario, the cisco 2960 is a very good device and they usually have routing functions but there are many different models within the same 2960 line, and on the… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of the solution are BGP, VPN, and spine-leaf architecture.
    Top Answer:Port density and port speed performance are both suitable. It has some appealing intangibles.
    Top Answer:There is a lack of support because there is a lack of adoption. Because Cisco switches are so widely used, anyone in the world can support them. It was two Cisco engineers who released Arista's code… more »
    Top Answer:I would not recommend it to smaller businesses because they could not afford it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they come up with a small business model for it, which would be interesting to… more »
    Ranking
    1st
    out of 16 in LAN Switching
    Views
    11,301
    Comparisons
    5,661
    Reviews
    20
    Average Words per Review
    449
    Rating
    8.8
    12th
    out of 16 in LAN Switching
    Views
    429
    Comparisons
    356
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    825
    Rating
    5.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst
    Learn More
    Overview

    Cisco Catalyst Switches are a reliable and scalable network switching and routing solution, focusing on VLANs and VLAN switching. They are used as access switches, distribution switches, and core switches in various environments, deployed on-premises, and used for long connections. The switches are easy to configure, install, and upgrade and offer good pricing. 

    The most valuable features include warranty and firmware support, stability, security, good performance, flexibility, etc. The Cisco Catalyst Switches have provided a stable solution for the organizations and are widely used, trusted, and well-known in the networking industry.

    Dell PowerSwitch N-Series bring users efficient connections to the network with highly functional access and aggregation switching. Products consist of: Dell EMC Networking N1100 Series, Dell Networking N1500 Switches, Dell Networking N2000 Series, Dell Networking N3000 Series and Dell Networking N4000 Series.

    Sample Customers
    Afni, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Del Papa Distributing, Explorer Pipeline, Mindtree, Omaha World Herald, Radio 538, Sony Corporation, Telecom Italia, Telenor Arena
    Norwich University of the Arts, Shelby American, City and Islington College
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company13%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    University10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization52%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Government4%
    Manufacturing Company4%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Construction Company12%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    Consumer Goods Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business41%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise57%
    Large Enterprise31%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise51%
    Buyer's Guide
    LAN Switching
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies and others in LAN Switching. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Catalyst Switches is ranked 1st in LAN Switching with 166 reviews while Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is ranked 12th in LAN Switching with 2 reviews. Cisco Catalyst Switches is rated 8.6, while Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is rated 6.6. The top reviewer of Cisco Catalyst Switches writes "Reliable and stable catalyst switch; can be easily installed". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series writes "Performs well, but the support and stability could be improved". Cisco Catalyst Switches is most compared with Arista Networks Platform, Dell PowerConnect Switches, HPE ProCurve and Cisco Nexus, whereas Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is most compared with Dell PowerConnect Switches and Cisco Nexus.

    See our list of best LAN Switching vendors.

    We monitor all LAN Switching reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.