Cisco Nexus vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] comparison

Cisco and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Cisco Nexus

Read 105 Cisco Nexus reviews

1,564 Views
1,090 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Read 34 Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Nexus and Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Netgear and others in LAN Switching.

To learn more, read our detailed LAN Switching Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

March 2025

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Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

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

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

105

Ranking in other categories

LAN Switching (3rd), Data Center Networking (3rd)

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Joe Benítez

Systems Engineer at GAD Municipal de Guayaquil

Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing

Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.

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LarsEvans

Chief Technology Officer / Chief Information Security Officer at Lorton Data, Inc.

Reliable and useful for network segmentation

The solution's most valuable feature stands up well. The tool is reliable, and it stands up well. The solution works fine and lasts a long time. I think if you speak about the features that have a flow and you can measure, it is hard to say. I don't spend a lot of my time with the tool, but I know that Dell APEX is the solution's cloud. I would say the VLAN features are important. The VLAN features are really useful because network segmentation is important. I would say the tool is easy to program. I don't know if the tool has any security features that I am aware of other than the fact that the solution is for networking. The VLAN and the ability to segment your networks are easy, which is its security feature.

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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

"The most valuable feature of this solution is its stability."

"The solution is very expensive. Currently, we pay an yearly licensing cost. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."

"Cisco Nexus has improved the way our organization functions through the troubleshooting. We had issues where we've seen our links saturated. We were able to determine what was being processed on the link."

"The most valuable features are the great performance, high availability and easy administration."

"You can scale the product."

"The consolidation of all of the layer two ports into one rack is very valuable."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is to segregate the network."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it scales well. It supports a lot of servers. We don't have to come up with different designs for anything. That's the best part about it."

More Cisco Nexus pros

"Its throughout and compatibility are the most valuable."

"This solution comes with a lifetime warranty."

"The product is reliable."

"The product is cheap."

"Dell PowerConnect Switches are easy to configure."

"Dell offers very good support."

"The tool is very user-friendly, with features catering to beginners and advanced users. For beginners, there are models with interactive and easy-to-navigate GUIs that aid in initial deployment and updates. For advanced users, there is the option to use the CLI."

"The most valuable feature is stability."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pros

Cons

"In the Nexus 3500, you can't do per-port Jumbo frames, so you have to enable it as a global configuration."

"The solution has room for improvement in terms of the learning curve."

"Cisco Nexus still needs more stability."

"I would like to see a central management solution in order to have all of the equipment in one place."

"The licensing is the area that we are working that's a challenge."

"Nothing is perfect."

"If we could get some more automation integrated into it, it would make it easier."

"My only complaint is that not all of the ports on it are enabled from the start."

More Cisco Nexus cons

"A user can take care of the product's installation part, but it may not seem to be an easy process."

"The configuration should be improved."

"Not a ten because I have to do a lot of testing on it. The correlation is okay."

"The product needs to improve in terms of reports and backups."

"Their hardware is not reliable, it's faulty."

"The IOS software that is used on the switches could be improved."

"It would be great to have modules that integrate with SDN solutions such as Cisco ACI, Arista SDN, Huawei Agile, and IBM."

"I would like to see better scalability and more features on these switches in the future."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100K a year for the switching part."

"It's around $160K a year for our license."

"Cisco's licensing structures can be complex across different technologies, for example, unified communications."

"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."

"The subscription model and price could be better."

"Cisco Nexus is not cheap compared to Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Check Point."

"In most cases, there is a need to secure perpetual licenses to be able to use the product. When I set up the product, there isn't just a one-time cost that is involved."

"We only have a yearly support contract, as we do not use any of the subscription-based functions at this time."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

"This solution is much cheaper than comparable products by Cisco."

"If one is the cheapest price and ten is the most expensive, I rate the product price as an eight or nine. The tool is not cheap."

"If you want to purchase a new Dell PowerConnect Switch, you will pay up to $1,600, but I bought them used. I bought the four Dell PowerConnect Switches that I used for $1,000."

"Inexpensive"

"In my opinion, it is a product that is priced somewhere in the middle, making it a well-priced solution in the middle. It is not a very cheap product."

"Pricing for Dell PowerConnect Switches is quite competitive compared to Cisco and HP pricing. Dell has cheaper pricing and the company is trying to push for sales for its switching infrastructure because right now, the current market is dominated by Cisco. In the US market, there's Cisco, HP, Juniper, and Arista which you can buy for data center switching meant for different kinds of enterprises and ISPs. Dell PowerConnect Switches, on the other hand, is a product for people who need smaller setups or individual switches, especially those looking for a cheaper product and basic switching, though you can also buy a complete suite packaged with the switches."

"The price of these switches is okay."

"The product is cheaper than Cisco and licensing is yearly. We have to pay additional costs for support."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?

The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell PowerConnect Switches?

Dell PowerConnect Switches have a VTL feature similar to Cisco's VSS. With VTL, using this technology, you can cluster two switches together to increase redundancy in the environment.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerConnect Switches?

The solution is cheaper than Cisco.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell PowerConnect Switches?

Some proprietary commands available in Cisco are preferred by users accustomed to Cisco systems. These users might hesitate to switch because they want to continue using familiar commands and see t...

See all answers

Comparisons

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 44% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 11% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 5% of the time

Juniper QFabric vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 59% of the time

NETGEAR Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

HPE ProCurve vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 5% of the time

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

April 2025

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

April 2025

Download Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] product report

Also Known As

No data available

PowerConnect Switches

Overview

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.

Cisco

PowerConnect Switches family offers a set of flexible, manageable and comprehensive switch solutions supporting up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and optimized Internet iSCSI (iSCSI) performance with Dell Storage solutions, ideal for enterprise and campus LAN environments alike.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Amerijet Holdings Inc., CGD Securities, MavenWire, Tulane University

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Netgear and others in LAN Switching. Updated: March 2025.

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