Cisco Ethernet Switches and Meraki MS Switches compete in the network switching category. Cisco tends to have the upper hand in enterprise settings due to its stability and performance, while Meraki excels in simplified cloud management.
Features: Cisco Ethernet Switches are known for their power-saving design, MACSec encryption, and StackPower. They are versatile and support multiple management protocols, offering reliable performance, especially for enterprise use. Meraki MS Switches stand out for their cloud-managed capabilities, making deployment and management straightforward through a user-friendly dashboard, which facilitates ease of configuration and troubleshooting.
Room for Improvement: Cisco switches often receive criticism for their high pricing and complex licensing, with additional challenges in configuration and third-party module integration. Meraki MS Switches face potential cloud dependency concerns, such as limited local configuration during outages and higher ongoing licensing fees that may affect overall performance and cost.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Ethernet Switches typically support on-premises environments with variable customer support experiences. Meraki MS Switches are favored for cloud-based and hybrid settings, providing simple deployment and centralized remote management, with consistent and satisfactory customer service feedback.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Ethernet Switches are expensive, promising long-term reliability and performance, but high maintenance and support costs can detract from their ROI. Meraki MS Switches also carry a higher cost, yet they emphasize centralized management ease. However, Meraki's cloud licensing model can introduce recurring costs despite presenting good ROI due to lower failure rates and simplified operations.
It takes two to three days for Cisco support to address issues.
Currently, we don't have any technical support because our license doesn't allow for direct support.
Cisco support is quick and responsive, often answering within an hour.
If the devices are licensed, the support team will assist you depending on the severity level of the case.
The support is excellent and rated ten out of ten.
Cisco's tech support is pretty good, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Cisco mainly provides security, patch management, hardware reliability, durability, scalability, and security features supporting my organization's expansion.
The latest products do not allow integration with the earlier environment.
The scalability depends on the model.
They're quite scalable for my environment.
The switches are very stable, rated ten out of ten.
If something happens to the device or hardware, Cisco will automatically change the device by the next business day.
We faced issues following firmware updates, which we now handle by performing updates outside of working hours.
The pricing and hardware warranty renewal costs are more expensive than other products.
FortiGate switches are considered more valuable because they have firewall capabilities.
For example, on switches, filtering specific sections isn't supported, whereas, on routers, you can do 'show run' with additional commands to filter.
Meraki should also consider improvements in stacking features, particularly in the lower-end models like NS130, where stacking isn't supported, unlike with Cisco traditional switching.
There are compatibility issues with certain Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices, which we would like to see resolved.
Most people are familiar with the Cisco commands, and it would be beneficial if the switch could be accessed by GUI configuration and by normally accessing the console.
Cisco Ethernet switches are priced at a rating of nine, indicating they are expensive.
We need to pay for the subscription, as there are extra expenses after purchasing the product.
Regarding the cost, Cisco Ethernet Switches have a competitive price.
Meraki MS Switches, including their licensing, are somewhat expensive, particularly when compared with competitor solutions like HP.
Meraki pricing is a little premium compared to other vendor products.
Pricing is affordable, and licenses for the cloud need to be purchased every three to five years.
Their stability and durability are essential features we've been looking for many years, and they are still working fine.
The Cisco Ethernet switches are sturdy products that do not require any kind of maintenance.
The most valuable features of Cisco Ethernet switches include plug-and-play capabilities.
The control plane is in the cloud, and the data plane is local, allowing manageability from anywhere.
One of the most valuable features of Meraki MS Switches is its precise traffic analytics capabilities, allowing us to query the system for any place at any time.
The most valuable feature is the ability to access devices from anywhere in the world through the cloud.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Cisco Ethernet Switches | 10.3% |
| Meraki MS Switches | 2.9% |
| Other | 86.8% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 59 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 35 |
| Large Enterprise | 55 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 54 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 20 |
| Large Enterprise | 22 |
Meraki MS Switches are first-line cloud-managed access and aggregation switches that combine the benefits of cloud-based centralized management with a reliable access platform. With cloud management, thousands of switch ports can be configured and monitored instantly over the web.
Meraki MS Switches Features
Meraki MS Switches have many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Meraki MS Switches Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Meraki MS Switches. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Meraki MS Switches is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are its accessibility, application visibility, and flexibility features.
Jóhann T., IT Manager at Sund Upper Secondary School, says, “Accessibility is what I find most valuable in Meraki MS Switches, because I'm able to check things and see if they're working, without being on-site at all times.”
A Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company mentions, "The top feature of Meraki MS switches for me is Layer 7 application visibility. Another positive in general is that you don't need to set up a console to the switch itself; it dials into a single dashboard where you can completely manage all your network devices."
John M., user at Baseline Consulting, LLC, comments, "I like the flexibility of the Meraki firewall. It gives you the ability to lock things down. Having multiple VLANs is helpful for the switching infrastructure and firewall. It's crucial when you have a public-facing VLAN, a private-facing VLAN, and a secure VLAN."
PeerSpot user William M., Consulting Engineer at IV4, expresses, "It is easy to deploy, maintain, and update. It has been trouble-free so far. I am still a Cisco command-line bigot, but the web interface makes it a lot easier for our help desk to interact with a client. When the clients call in and say that they aren't able to connect, it takes the help desk 10 minutes or less to look at everything in the enterprise or location. They can look at the firewall, switches, or access points in the dashboard. That's why I like the dashboard."
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