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Cisco Nexus 9000 Series vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 Nexus 9000 Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (9th)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
326
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Blade Servers (1st), Rack Servers (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is 4.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 4.3%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series4.3%
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series4.3%
Other91.4%
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Technical Marketing Engineer Hybrid Cloud Infrastructures at NetApp
Policy-driven data centers have delivered low-latency connectivity for critical applications
The most critical and important feature in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is VPC. Apart from VPC, there are many other features in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series that stand out as advantages. You can apply access control lists on that. You can do Layer 3 capabilities. You can configure HSRP. You can implement VRFs. You can isolate the L3 network within your data center. It has a lot of features including network segmentation capabilities. You can apply a lot of security hardening and manage the access on the switches through auditing to see who is doing what and restrict access based on the network admin role. These are great features. The overlay technology support in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is good for large-scale deployment where you are going to build something like a hyperscaler. You need more network segments, and with VXLAN, you can definitely build a large fabric with those Nexus switches.
Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is quite a complex machine, but we are using a very simple configuration with basic Nexus switching, and we don't have many issues with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series at the moment in our present infrastructure."
"Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is very durable and very reliable, and there has never been any issue with it."
"For one of the biggest European customers, they deployed Cisco Nexus for their core networking and it has been running for a few years without having a single downtime."
"Performance has been great with no abnormal behaviors detected, and the network remains stable even in failover scenarios, supporting vast environments with high availability."
"There has been improvement in our connectivity with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series, and there is less drag."
"The performance in data center operations with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series is excellent; we have never faced any performance issues."
"According to the customers, they are not utilizing even 40% of the switches because the capacity is very large."
"The features for manageability and visibility are impressive."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers are such a multi-function tool for us and they have such a great API to allow us to do so many functions that it makes it easy to work with."
"This product has really saved us a lot of headaches when it comes to hardware replacements. It's something it seems that Dell has improved. You quickly log your support case and get support. The turnaround time is really fast."
"The price is competitive with Dell offering the best products available."
"We like the iDRAC card which gives us remote access to the server out of band. That's fantastic because if a box is misbehaving, I'm able to get into the bare metal and repair the operating system without needing to go out to the branch office, which could be anywhere in the UK."
"We particularly appreciate the iDRAC feature, especially in its latest versions, for its capabilities in remote server management and comprehensive monitoring."
"The features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series that I appreciate the most include the remote maintenance, specifically iDRAC, and after experiencing Dell PowerEdge R-Series, the simplicity makes it very straightforward to manage and configure."
"They are very stable. They are rock solid. I am happy with them."
"It's a very user-friendly solution."
 

Cons

"If I have a Juniper and want to uplink with Cisco, there could be some configuration challenges."
"I would rate the technical support for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series an eight out of ten. This rating is not because of their lack of expertise, but just the assignment period."
"The potential for improvement lies in the licensing aspect, which is somewhat confusing. The perpetual and subscription licensing is a concern."
"In terms of automation with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series, it could be better."
"For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches, I think we need to work on the HSRP. Whenever it flaps or something happens, it creates an issue."
"We find that Cisco has been left behind by the other vendors. The other vendors have adopted new technology, and we find Cisco lagging behind."
"Even though it is expensive, I am not sure about the return on investment. It is expensive, and you will need to pay for subscription fees that also are not cheap."
"When trying to contact support, we had issues trying to get someone to help us."
"We have storage and would like to manage more backups without adding extra storage devices. Maybe it's already there. I need to look at it more."
"We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in the data center. We put the racks in bays. They can improve the compactness so that we can put more of them."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series could learn from its competitors about support response and also in terms of hardware stability, resiliency, and sustainability in the long run."
"There's always room for support improvements, and the AI features could continue to be enhanced as the relationship with Nvidia grows."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series could be improved perhaps in terms of compatibility with other products."
"We wanted to have two storage cards during the onboarding process of the solution, which were available only on the more expensive version of the boxes that we usually use for work in our company."
"The rate controller interface is difficult to get to without installing additional software. It would be helpful if they had preinstalled software to make that easily accessible."
"Dell can improve or speed up the deployment process with more intuitive dashboards, a more intuitive installing process, and maybe more detailed guides that can help the end user to install and implement their servers and racks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is expensive. The price needs to be more competitive. Additional licenses are required to enable some of the features for scalability."
"We have a contract with the OEM of the equipment for licenses, so we possess all OEM licenses for the Dell software. We have licenses for Linux and VMware software, with a special price and an annual contract for updates of Linux and VMware. Additionally, we have an Oracle database on the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers."
"I am satisfied with the pricing of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and would rate the cost as seven out of ten, with ten being the best."
"PowerEdge is not a cheap product. It's a quality product, but there is always competition. If you want to buy a server, you need an operating system, and most of it is Microsoft. A bundled solution costs less than a separate operating system and hardware."
"The solution's prices are good, especially considering what you get to use...The licensing aspect of the solution is also fine."
"This is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is very good because there are a lot of types of PowerEdge Rack Servers. You have the R540, R640, and R740. The prices are very scalable through the specific server, e.g., small businesses can take the R640 while large businesses can take the R740 or R840. Thus, Dell technologies touch on every organization."
"I know the pricing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers went up last year, and we weren't too happy about that, but it is what it is."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
22%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business113
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise146
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
If we speak about the negative side, the prices are something that could be improved. It is expensive compared with other competitors, about 40% higher than any other vendor. This is the main point...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
Cisco Nexus 9000 Series focuses on serving the data center primarily, not the endpoints. The focus is on how to serve your data center, perform the segmentation that you need inside your data cente...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Nexus 9000 Series?
The policy-driven approach in Cisco Nexus 9000 Series can be understood through the integration with Cisco DNA. One of the main features or strength points that Cisco Nexus 9000 Series has is the f...
When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
The cost is one area Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved. If Dell PowerEdge R-Series could look at the price, that would be best. Whether it is good depends on if the company's budget is good.
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
I use Dell PowerEdge R-Series for installation, and all virtual VMware infrastructure is running on Dell PowerEdge servers. I am mostly using all infrastructure servers with Dell PowerEdge. I am ho...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus 9000 Series vs. Dell PowerEdge R-Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.