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Cisco FabricPath vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series comparison

Cisco and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Cisco is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.3, while Dell Technologies is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 2.8% mindshare in LS, compared to Dell Technologies’s 3.5% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.
Cisco FabricPath
Read 31 Cisco FabricPath reviews
  • 383 Views
  • 368 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Read 3 Dell PowerSwitch N-Series reviews
  • 288 Views
  • 288 Comparison Views
66% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series and Cisco FabricPath compete in networking solutions. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series excels in pricing and support, while Cisco FabricPath offers advanced features that can justify its higher cost for some buyers.

Features: Dell PowerSwitch N-Series offers comprehensive Layer 2 and Layer 3 capabilities, energy-efficient technology, and extensive OpenFlow support, making it suitable for flexible network management. Cisco FabricPath provides scalable and high-performance networking capabilities, multipath redundancy, and seamless integration within existing Cisco ecosystems, beneficial for larger, complex environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerSwitch N-Series emphasizes straightforward deployment with automated installation scripts and effective service support, streamlining the deployment process. Cisco FabricPath delivers robust deployment flexibility, supporting complex configurations requiring intricate planning, with access to Cisco's extensive technical support for environments needing detailed customization.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerSwitch N-Series generally needs a lower initial investment, offering a cost-effective solution with a faster ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. Cisco FabricPath may entail higher setup costs but provides an extensive ROI through its enhanced network capabilities and long-term benefits of scalable solutions for enterprises aiming to future-proof their networks.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cisco FabricPath vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Cisco FabricPath vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
July 2025
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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

Cisco FabricPath
Ranking in LAN Switching
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Ranking in LAN Switching
12th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco FabricPath is 2.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is 3.5%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

SanjitAchary - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivers comprehensive assessments and superior post-procurement service
In Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, and in the Latin America region, delivery times can be quite lengthy. This is challenging in terms of logistics and customs. Additionally, parts availability in these regions needs improvement to address hardware failure situations, such as the availability of parts like a power cable.
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Al Vasek - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, but the support and stability could be improved
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. In terms of programming functionality, they essentially duplicated the Cisco iOS, so all Cisco commands work on the Arista commands. You can do an Arista if you can do a Cisco. Aruba isn't all that different. It's a little different, but they have all of HPE's money and stuff behind it and things like that. I would say the same thing about Extreme or some of the other switches where it's penny-wise, pound-foolish. You save some money if you are a small shop with only one or two guys, it's understandable. Fortinet is now in the switch business, and they have their FortiSwitch devices, which are controlled by the FortiGate firewalls to do all of the programs. There is a lot to choose from. But, in my opinion, a lot of it is dependent on the use case and the customer type. Meraki is a nice little Cisco product for the right kind of business, but I wouldn't use it in an enterprise setting.
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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have found the solution to be stable."
"FabricPath's best features are routing, OSPS, ethernet, and performance."
"I have experienced operational efficiencies with Cisco FabricPath that are 200% better than the old legacy equipment and protocols."
"Cisco is the best choice in terms of cost, quality, and post-procurement services."
"Additional bandwidth is available when needed."
"The solution has excellent stability."
"It's very stable."
"The technical assistance is good."
More Cisco FabricPath pros
"For a customer, it is easy to configure and to add ports through the LAN the GUI."
"The automated configuration management tools of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series help improve network traffic management."
"Port density and port speed performance are both suitable. It has some appealing intangibles."
 

Cons

"Improvements could be made on specific technical issues such as implementation."
"The management features are in need of improvement."
"Cisco FabricPath has room for improvement in areas like technical support and design."
"If Cisco can include management for this protocol in Layer 3, that would be ideal."
"The price is a little bit too high."
"Currently, there are no issues or suggestions for improvement as everything is working smoothly."
"I would like to see better interoperability with other IT solutions."
"The pricing could be adjusted to make it easier to sell to clients."
More Cisco FabricPath cons
"Customers do not prefer this to connect to multiple cities."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco is expensive but offers good-quality features, so I would rate it high on the pricing scale."
"I rate the product's pricing a ten out of ten. Cisco switches cost around 15,000 dollars, and DNS licenses cost around 25,000 dollars. The total amount is 45,000 dollars, which is too expensive."
"The pricing of Cisco FabricPath can be quite high depending on the architecture, but it's justified by the stability it offers."
"FabricPath is very reasonably priced."
"The pricing for this product is good."
"It is very expensive."
"The price of Cisco FabricPath could be reduced, it is expensive in the market here in Sri Lanka. The solution is subscriptions based, if the customer wants any future integrations, or if there are any future enhancements they will have to pay. There are different license options available, such as one or three years purchases."
"I rate it seven out of ten on pricing as it's a bit expensive. It would be better if the price were lower, but we prioritize quality over cost."
More Cisco FabricPath 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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
9%
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Educational Organization
9%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco FabricPath?
The tool makes it easy to manage multi-layer networking and increases network efficiency. I haven't faced any challenges in integrating it into our existing infrastructure.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco FabricPath?
Cisco is somewhat expensive, but it provides good quality products and operations, so I can't complain about licensing cost and setup costs. There is room for improvement in terms of pricing for th...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco FabricPath?
In future updates, I would prefer to see features such as more AI functionality or better integration added to Cisco FabricPath; more AI would be useful.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
We don't leverage the open networking standards of this Dell PowerSwitch N-Series capability. In the high availability direction, better clustering or stack functionality to connect all Dell switch...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
The main use case for this product is network switch for all network, including management network, network for the user, and network for the SAN.
See all answers
What advice do you have for others considering Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
We don't work with solutions such as Aruba or Cisco. There are routers in our infrastructure, but they are not our responsibility or accountability. We work with servers and storage, specifically s...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

HPE ProCurve vs Cisco FabricPath Logo
HPE ProCurve vs Cisco FabricPath
Compared 37% of the time
Juniper QFabric vs Cisco FabricPath Logo
Juniper QFabric vs Cisco FabricPath
Compared 32% of the time
Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco FabricPath Logo
Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco FabricPath
Compared 32% of the time
More Cisco FabricPath Competitors
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Logo
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Compared 65% of the time
Cisco Nexus vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Logo
Cisco Nexus vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Compared 35% of the time
More Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco FabricPath
August 2025
Cisco FabricPath reportDownload Cisco FabricPath product report
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
August 2025
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series reportDownload Dell PowerSwitch N-Series product report
 

Also Known As

FabricPath
No data available
 

Overview

Cisco FabricPath is a Cisco NX-OS software innovation combining the plug-and-play simplicity of Ethernet with the reliability and scalability of Layer 3 routing. Using FabricPath, you can build highly scalable Layer 2 multipath networks without the Spanning Tree Protocol. Such networks are particularly suitable for large virtualization deployments, private clouds, and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. The benefits of Cisco FabricPath include: Minimal commands per switch ease configuration and operation, Autodiscovery simplifies addition of new links and switches, Provision additional network bandwidth without impacting network, Supports one-, two-, or three-tier architectures, VLAN extensibility across the data center.
Cisco

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.

Dell Technologies
 

Sample Customers

Bellevue, Calligaris, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Management Science Associates, Multi-Customer, Oediv, Roper St. Francis, SNAM
Norwich University of the Arts, Shelby American, City and Islington College
Buyer's Guide
Cisco FabricPath vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
July 2025
Free Report: Cisco FabricPath vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
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