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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs ExtremeSwitching comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 30, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Users highly valued Dell PowerEdge R-Series for cost savings, reliability, performance, and ease of management over legacy systems.
Sentiment score
5.2
ExtremeSwitching provides ROI in 1-5 years, saving costs despite high licensing, with free maintenance and potential for capability expansion.
By not having to worry about it, I would estimate we save two to four hours a week, depending on what's happening, such as if we need to spin up a new server, which would contribute to more time if done the old way.
Manager, Systems & Desktop Support at Tilson Home Corporation
In my immediate case for antenna analysis, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer a reduction from days of computing to half a day or hours.
Senior Radio Frequncy Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The value of uptime to us is critical.
VP IT Operations at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The return on investment is high.
Engineer at NewLogics
In the future, we can convince the customer to make use of 100G capability to suffice their requirement, but at the moment we are using 40G only.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
The Dell PowerEdge R-Series is praised for knowledgeable and responsive customer service, though third-party support may cause delays.
Sentiment score
6.6
ExtremeSwitching's customer service is valued for responsiveness and expertise, but faces challenges in availability and depth compared to competitors.
I would give Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten because they're always able to answer all the questions we have; they reach a solution no matter how long it takes, and they don't give up.
Manager, Systems Security at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
It has always been scheduled maintenance, which says a lot for a production environment, as we haven't had to call in a trouble ticket for the actual hardware during its entire run.
Manager, Systems & Desktop Support at Tilson Home Corporation
Typically, the contacts we have on-site are very knowledgeable, they come in within a day and usually have it fixed and taken care of if there are issues.
Senior Systems Engineer at Federal Data Systems
Requiring improvement in the technical support provided to customers.
Engineer at NewLogics
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
PowerEdge R-Series offers scalable, adaptable, and reliable solutions for diverse enterprise environments, supporting seamless integration and growth.
Sentiment score
7.1
ExtremeSwitching is highly scalable, supporting growth and flexible infrastructure, making it ideal for businesses needing adaptable systems.
The scalability of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is excellent.
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Any outages or blackouts are limited to particular servers, not affecting the whole chassis or enclosures.
Senior Systems Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
We bought our product with scaling involved, and we've been scaling it up anytime we've needed more storage.
Director, Information Technology at TEXAS PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION
ExtremeSwitching is highly scalable, and I would rate it as nine out of ten.
Engineer at NewLogics
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Dell PowerEdge R-Series is praised for stability, reliability, quick support, and long operational life with minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
7.7
ExtremeSwitching is stable for small to medium businesses, with reliable support, but struggles with large-scale operation issues.
Over four years, we've had less than 1 percent downtime.
It support lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
There is a feature to update the server while it is running, so there is no need to restart.
Manager, Regions Information Technology Security at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We have truly not had any downtime on the infrastructure at all.
Director, Information Technology at TEXAS PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE GUARANTY ASSOCIATION
The stability for ExtremeSwitching is excellent.
Assistnat Professor in Computer Science and Engineering Department at a educational organization with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Dell PowerEdge R-Series users seek improved performance, support, customization, storage, integration, efficiency, and desire better pricing and documentation.
ExtremeSwitching should enhance support, usability, integration, pricing, response time, reliability, and expand AI, security, and product offerings.
We need to know about any upcoming updates so that we can plan accordingly.
End User Manager at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The beneficial aspect of that feature was that we could skip the PowerStore and just have the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers alone, as they also served as storage, which helped us save money.
Director of IT at Star Kay White
This forces you to go up to a larger server to get the desired processor, which increases the cost.
Team Lead Infrastructure at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
ExtremeSwitching's software stability could be improved, as it sometimes crashes.
Engineer at NewLogics
Because I am not a networking specialist, I do not know much about the things in detail.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
 

Setup Cost

Dell PowerEdge R-Series offers competitive pricing and value, with discounts available, praised for quality and ease of management.
ExtremeSwitching offers flexible pricing between Cisco and HP, with cost-effective options via bulk purchases and affordable licenses.
They have been stable and running for years without performance downtime or significant disc failures.
Product manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Some customers find it cheaper due to contractual agreements, while others find it expensive, especially when scaling up.
System Administrator at Tigs
The software associated with servers, like VMware subscription licenses, drives costs.
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
ExtremeSwitching is priced in the mid-range, not too expensive nor too cheap.
Engineer at NewLogics
 

Valuable Features

Dell PowerEdge R-Series excels in scalability, performance, reliability, and management, offering remote capabilities and strong support for diverse needs.
ExtremeSwitching is valued for ease of use, performance, scalability, security, and affordability, appealing to small and medium-sized enterprises.
They keep running for at least five to seven years without any issues.
IT Manger at Dubai precast LLc
With PowerEdge Servers, I don't need a one-to-one ratio redundancy, which leads to about eighty percent downtime reduction.
Product manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
One of the valuable features is Active Directory, which helps in managing the network.
IT Manager at Misrconsult
The most valuable feature of ExtremeSwitching is the Extreme Fabric, specifically the switching fabric.
Engineer at NewLogics
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
3rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
265
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (2nd), Blade Servers (4th), Rack Servers (1st)
ExtremeSwitching
Ranking in Data Center Networking
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (7th), AV Over IP Switching (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 3.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeSwitching is 7.3%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Center Networking Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series3.1%
ExtremeSwitching7.3%
Other89.6%
Data Center Networking
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Shrikant Teggi - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
Excellent support and reliable performance drive positive experiences
We have been working with wireless for the last seven to eight years. At the moment, the customer has decided to go with a different brand. We are only dealing with the wired switches, not the wireless ones. We use ExtremeSwitching only, not Enterasys. Enterasys was the old one. I am not a networking person, so at this point in time I do not have much working experience on the switches. We have a separate team here who are working on these products. We have not reached that stage yet, but definitely in the near future we may use this kind of feature. Recently they have introduced platform one, which is an AI-based automation tool. That is definitely on the cards. Maybe in one year, we may start using that option as well. First of all, the product is robust and they are also coming up with new features. The second part is the support is excellent from ExtremeSwitching. They maintain delivery time and follow through on their commitments properly. The performance we expected, we are getting from ExtremeSwitching. All these requirements we have are being met with the product, features, and support. It is cost effective. I rate ExtremeSwitching a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
6%
University
6%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
7%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business94
Midsize Enterprise58
Large Enterprise111
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
If there is something I would like to see fixed, even if it's small, it seems that the orchestration of many Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers is very complicated; using Dell Server Administration so...
What do you like most about ExtremeSwitching?
The product offers a single management platform for multiple models of switches. The tool also allows users to manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeSwitching?
I would rate the pricing for ExtremeSwitching six to seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with ExtremeSwitching?
Regarding what could be better with the product, I am not aware of how much AI functionality is provided in ExtremeSwitching. Everyone is talking about AI, so there should be AI facilities provided...
 

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Blue Waters
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