Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] vs Juniper QFabric comparison

"The most valuable feature of this solution is simplicity."

"Dell PowerConnect Switches are very easy to configure with the GUI. Dell supports the solution even though it has been discontinued."

"When the price is competitive the customers tend to choose the cheaper brand and then look at the features. So having a competitive price is a plus."

"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is a stable and reliable product covered with good warranties and prices that ensure deep discounts for partners."

"The functionality is very good."

"The setup is straightforward. It takes minimum time for deployment."

"The most valuable features are the jumbo frames and the stacking."

"The security is the most valuable aspect of this solution. It also has good storage and resource handling."

"The most valuable feature of QFabric for network performance is its stability."

"Juniper QFabric has various advantages including scalability, simplicity, performance, and flexibility."

"The 40 gig backbone InterConneX was valuable for our use case. It is even faster now. QFabric has spine-leaf technology or topology, which basically makes every single hop only one hop away in terms of connecting from one device to another. It is a pretty good and robust solution. It works pretty well in terms of scalability, and their technical support is amazing."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the fabric backplane having upwards of 160 GB of communication. It is a top-of-the-rack solution where you have your directors sitting in the main area and then you have your nodes expanded out to your multiple cabinets. It has a very good design and could be your server backbone."

"The solution is stable."

"The vendor maintains the product well."

"It's user-friendly."

"It is known for being agile, flexible, and cost-effective when working with various vendors."

"The solution could provide more integration to focus on targeting the network as a whole rather than a unified environment. It is meant for a built environment, so integration with other third-party vendors will likely be necessary."

"More stable firmware releases would be an improvement because we have had them randomly power on and off."

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

"The network features are not good."

"A big issue with this product is that when our customer migrated the data center, one cluster blocked the whole network and because we had a new approach, some commands were not compatible with the new version."

"I expect it to be a zero-touch or a plug-and-play device. To some extent, it is, but we need to know the architecture, and we need to know what exactly we are doing. It is not so easy to implement. It depends on what exactly we are doing and it is still not a plug-and-play or zero-touch device. In the upcoming version, they can make it zero-touch, where we can just power it on and start using it. They can have some templates for different scenarios, such as when you are using it for the data center or adding it to your existing infrastructure."

"The product price is an area of concern where improvements are required."

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

"I do not use GUI's very much for switch stacks. I am always in the CLI. However, I do know that Juniper in the past has lacked on their GUI's, but they have been working on it."

"The stability needs to be improved."

"The disruptive upgrade was an issue for us."

"Improvements could be made to QFabric's life cycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support."

"The pricing structure could be more budget-friendly."

"Having support for all OpenFlow versions would be beneficial."

"It would be nice if Juniper provided the system integrator with training, similar to that of Cisco."

"They are working on the virtualization of the actual fabric layer. They are moving away from the original spine-leaf design to a different infrastructure. Instead of having three tiers, which was the director of the interconnected nodes, they cut them back, and they still have that kind of structure."

"The solution is less expensive and more cost-efficient."

"The price of these switches is okay."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"I would rate the pricing as a seven or eight."

"The initial cost was high but since they have lasted for over ten or twenty years they are worth it."

"The pricing is high."

"The pricing is high and it is possible to find better pricing option solutions on the market, but the licensing model is quite flexible."

"The price for Juniper QFabric could improve. There are subscription, maintenance, and add-on feature fees."

"Juniper QFabric is a high-level solution but it could be less expensive."

"The price is relatively high, but it offers an advantage over its competitors by providing better performance and functionality."

"In terms of price, the QFabric solution is going to be probably in the middle of the road for a fabric solution."