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Dell PowerSwitch N-Series vs HPE ProCurve comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Ranking in LAN Switching
12th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE ProCurve
Ranking in LAN Switching
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is 3.5%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE ProCurve is 12.8%, up from 12.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

Al Vasek - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, but the support and stability could be improved
There is a lack of support because there is a lack of adoption. Because Cisco switches are so widely used, anyone in the world can support them. It was two Cisco engineers who released Arista's code. In terms of programming functionality, they essentially duplicated the Cisco iOS, so all Cisco commands work on the Arista commands. You can do an Arista if you can do a Cisco. Aruba isn't all that different. It's a little different, but they have all of HPE's money and stuff behind it and things like that. I would say the same thing about Extreme or some of the other switches where it's penny-wise, pound-foolish. You save some money if you are a small shop with only one or two guys, it's understandable. Fortinet is now in the switch business, and they have their FortiSwitch devices, which are controlled by the FortiGate firewalls to do all of the programs. There is a lot to choose from. But, in my opinion, a lot of it is dependent on the use case and the customer type. Meraki is a nice little Cisco product for the right kind of business, but I wouldn't use it in an enterprise setting.
Sandeep Rajguru - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers reliability and helps with vulnerability assessment
I use HPE ProCurve network in our organization. I can say that the product has improved the network flexibility in our company since I haven't seen any challenges from the last seven to eight years. The most valuable product for network management revolves around the area of VSB, also known as virtual switch bonding, which can quickly attach two or three switches or make them come together to quickly form a single switch. From a security perspective, my company does vulnerability assessment. From a security perspective, my company does vulnerability assessment. Following the hardening guidelines, the switches are configured according to the hardening parameters. The tool's reliability and uptime match our company's needs. My company enjoyed configuring the switches a lot, especially since we saw similarities between Cisco's and HPS's configuration processes. HPE ProCurve is user-friendly. We have a different product for network management, so my company doesn't use HPE ProCurve since we have already collaborated with some third-party products. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it, especially since I have been using it without any issues for many years. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For a customer, it is easy to configure and to add ports through the LAN the GUI."
"The automated configuration management tools of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series help improve network traffic management."
"Port density and port speed performance are both suitable. It has some appealing intangibles."
"It has an excellent menu system where you can use both the CLI and a menu system and the GUI version. They have three options for manipulating, updating, and changing the switch, which we like."
"We have found the solution to be entirely stable."
"We don't mind the cost in general."
"The GUI makes it easy to configure, manage, and work with."
"The user interface is simple to use."
"It is easy to deploy."
"HPE ProCurve is very complex for junior engineers and beginners. You need a lot of experience in managing switches in order to use this switch."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"Customers do not prefer this to connect to multiple cities."
"Instead of competing at the enterprise level with that product, they should probably scale it. With all of the ports, they should develop a good mid-level business to truly scale it and gain adoption before attempting to go after the enterprise."
"The solution's pricing could be made cheaper."
"HPE ProCurve's web interface is old, and I have to log in on each device separately, making them the product's shortcomings that need improvement."
"It might be best if it offers better scalability."
"We do occasionally have issues with the solution and need to change out the switches sometimes. This can be due to the fan, but, in most cases, it's because the power supply was broken."
"If you make a change and you disconnect yourself from the switch, you will create an issue."
"I would like to see some kind of packet tracer where people can study how the switch is operating."
"The solution should offer different gigabit interfaces. Right now, they have ten gigabits. However, for our needs, we only need one gigabit. We don't need 24 or 48 ports. We only need eight to ten. HPE should introduce into their portfolio some smaller and more compact options."
"The pricing model could be improved in HPE ProCurve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You are selling it to larger customers and in larger environments, where it's a less expensive model than Cisco, which is attempting to use the same approach Arista did, but with a completely different programming language."
"The price could be more competitive."
"The price of this product is cheap."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with one being very cheap and ten being very expensive."
"You buy the switch and that's it."
"This is an expensive switch."
"ProCurve's pricing is its strongest point. The value proposition is quite good, and we have seen a return on investment."
"The product has a good price compared to other solutions."
"We are a public company, so we are obliged to take the best offer from the vendors. They gave us the best price for the needs we had. It was considerably less than Cisco. It had maybe 40% lower cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Educational Organization
9%
University
9%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
We don't leverage the open networking standards of this Dell PowerSwitch N-Series capability. In the high availability direction, better clustering or stack functionality to connect all Dell switch...
What is your primary use case for Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
The main use case for this product is network switch for all network, including management network, network for the user, and network for the SAN.
What advice do you have for others considering Dell-Force10 Campus LAN Switches?
We don't work with solutions such as Aruba or Cisco. There are routers in our infrastructure, but they are not our responsibility or accountability. We work with servers and storage, specifically s...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE ProCurve?
We know DigitalOcean is more economical compared to AWS through conversations with DevOps teams. In AWS, as RDS tables and memory usage increase, the prices increase accordingly. For market-related...
What needs improvement with HPE ProCurve?
Sometimes the machines get stuck or disconnected, requiring a restart. When connection issues occur, we need to contact the DigitalOcean service team to restart or reboot the system. There are issu...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ProCurve, HP ProCurve
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Norwich University of the Arts, Shelby American, City and Islington College
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School, DY 4 Systems, EdgeWing, Edmonton Public Schools District, Halton Catholic District School Board, Hartwick College, Hatch Associates, Huntingdon College, Roseville Joint Union High School District, Saddleback Valley Unified School District, One Superior Place
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerSwitch N-Series vs. HPE ProCurve and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.