Cisco Nexus vs HPE A-Series [EOL] comparison

Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Data Center Networking category. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.

Cisco Nexus

Read 108 Cisco Nexus reviews

4,741 Views
3,176 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

HPE A-Series [EOL]

Read 1 HPE A-Series [EOL] review

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

HPE A-Series [EOL]

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Nexus and HPE A-Series [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Dell Technologies, Arista and others in Data Center Networking.

To learn more, read our detailed Data Center Networking Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Data Center Networking

May 2026

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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 Nexus

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

108

Ranking in other categories

LAN Switching (3rd), Data Center Networking (2nd)

HPE A-Series [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Fakhar Mahmood

Sr. Network Administrator at i2c

Migration between data centers has strengthened core connectivity and simplified segmentation

The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches, which made this a quite difficult part to manage and to onboard the teams and to understand the impact of the migration. We encountered an issue where we have two data centers, and unknowingly we were configuring the devices with the same VPC number on both devices. By doing that, we were not able to terminate the lease lines over those core switches. According to Cisco, we had to change the VPC number of one of the data center's core switches since they are in a VPC. We are still waiting, and it has been more than five to six years just to change the VPC number and migrate back the lease line. Now we are having cabin switches for the lease line and then the core switch. That VPC number issue was quite surprising for us. However, we have a very frequent issue with Cisco Nexus, particularly with the SFPs. Every time a port or the SFP heats up, it gets faulty. We have almost sixteen Nexus switches per data center. In a year, we experience one or two port issues per annum. We have standard Equinix data centers with standard installations, but somehow the temperature is always maintained and there is no ducting, yet the ports and the SFPs heat up or become faulty. This is a very frequent issue with the SFP-based port.

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Mohamed-Mousa

IT Manager at a media company with 201-500 employees

Stable and scalable with a good user interface

Overall, everything related to the interface is very good Some follow up from our user-partners would be useful. Letting users know what is up and coming or providing better documentation would be helpful. Overall, the solution could offer its users better support. I've been using the solution…

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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

"Cisco is refining the features all the time and you can see this in all the different vendors."

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

"This solution works well and I would recommend it."

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

"A very solid and reliable solution."

"The most valuable feature is the HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol)."

"The interface is as user-friendly as you can make it."

"The deployment of Cisco Nexus was very straightforward."

More Cisco Nexus pros

"Overall, everything related to the interface is very good."

"The solution is very stable."

Cons

"The licensing is very complicated. They should work to simplify it."

"Cisco Nexus is very costly for the service."

"The operating system needs to be improved. There should be stability in the operating system, and it should not have as many vulnerabilities."

"With some of the products we had before, we had a little more downtime than we would like."

"Documentation is often scant."

"Any problems we have with the product stems from the difficulty of connecting with other non-Cisco products."

"Currently, the switches don't behave like the 4500 switches in terms of acting as one physical chassis. So the multi-chassis PortChannel feature is not applicable in this case. Nevertheless, virtual port-channel feature covers this."

"All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution."

More Cisco Nexus cons

"Some follow up from our user-partners would be useful. Letting users know what is up and coming or providing better documentation would be helpful. Overall, the solution could offer its users better support."

"Overall, the solution could offer its users better support."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The Nexus 9000 is very competitively priced."

"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."

"This is a very expensive product."

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

"If you compare Cisco hardware to any other vendors, such as HPE, they are more expensive. There is a license to use the solution. If my customer's licenses are about to expire I receive notification from Cisco, this is very helpful."

"The solution is relatively expensive when compared with Cisco Catalyst."

"Our licensing fees are approximately $2,000 USD per year."

"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	83

No data available

Questions from the Community

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

We are a reseller, and we sell products to our customers.

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What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

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What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus?

Cisco Nexus is used in data centers with a simple Nexus OS deployment model. In our environment, we do not use programmability with Cisco Nexus. The switches are used very basically in our infrastr...

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Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 12% of the time

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 12% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 8% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

June 2026

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Buyer's Guide

Data Center Networking

May 2026

Download HPE A-Series [EOL] product report

Also Known As

No data available

A-Series, HP A-Series

Overview

Cisco Nexus delivers flexibility, scalability, and performance for data centers, offering stability and ease of management. The integration with third-party security and high port density support are key features, making it ideal for core network infrastructures.

Cisco Nexus stands out in data centers for backbone switching and network management, known for its modularity and Virtual Port Channels. Organizations value its capacity for handling large data volumes and automation capabilities. The system's redundancy features enhance reliability in complex network environments. Despite its strengths, technical support, licensing complexity, and integration require improvement. Users benefit from features like Active/Active FEX connectivity and wish for enhancements in routing support, interface usability, and documentation. Cost concerns and port overheating issues are noted, with calls for better training and simplified configurations.

What are the key features of Cisco Nexus?

Modularity: Enables customization and upgradability.
Virtual Port Channels (VPCs): Offers resilience and high availability.
Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF): Supports routing domains within a network device.
High Port Density: Allows connection of multiple devices in a compact space.
Automation: Simplifies network management and operations.
Redundancy Features: Provides network reliability and uptime.

What benefits and ROI should users expect from Cisco Nexus?

Scalability: Supports growing network demands.
Stability: Offers a reliable operational environment.
Efficiency: Enhances data center connectivity and management.
Security Integration: Works seamlessly with third-party security solutions.
High Performance: Optimizes data handling and throughput.

In enterprise settings, Cisco Nexus is essential for switching, routing, and server connection aggregation. It's integral in spine-and-leaf architectures for scalability in multi-tenant environments, often integrated with hyper-converged technology to ensure reliable, secure server connectivity. Implementations span industries, each leveraging its strength for improved network efficiency.

Cisco

Information not available

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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

SEED Infotech, Weta Digital, BlueShore Financial

Buyer's Guide

Data Center Networking

May 2026

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