HPE Ethernet Switches Reviews

I use HPE Ethernet switches for managing network configurations, including configuring VLAN trunking. Additionally, I work with HPE 3PAR storage, HP ProLiant servers, and HPE BladeSystem.

The most valuable features of HPE Ethernet switches include configuring VLAN trunking and the overall ease of configuration.

I do not currently have specific ideas for improving the solution. However, integrating AI features could make it better.

I have experience using HPE Ethernet switches for over six years.

The stability of HPE Ethernet switches is excellent. I would rate it a nine on a scale of one to ten.

The customer support is very good and provides excellent assistance both on-site and remotely. I would rate it a ten out of ten.

Positive

HPE Ethernet switches are cost-effective as compared to Cisco switches.

The initial setup was easy. It took a couple of hours to deploy the switches.

HPE Ethernet switches are cheaper than Cisco products.

I would recommend HPE Ethernet switches due to their cost-effectiveness and excellent support.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

One use case was using the Wi-Fi switches to integrate with Broadcom X security. They integrate well, and we haven't had any issues.

We use tools to monitor all the switches online so we can see what is happening.

So, it improved the data center operations. HPE Ethernet Switches have good security features on the switches themselves. I recommend these switches to others because they are empathetic to users and our internal network.

The switches are very important in our hospitals, which is a critical environment for our patients. They provide time-effective management and meet our needs.

The management and configuration of HPE are very easy.

The cost could be better. HPE has to study it carefully with other vendors in the market, like Cisco or Juniper.

I have been using it for more than 12 years. 

The product is really stable. We are very satisfied with the product. 

It is scalable. You can integrate it with other switches, like Cisco or other brands, easily.

I have about 250 users. We don't have an increase in users recently. We are a small hospital.

The customer service and support are fast. When we open a ticket, they answer directly, sometimes on the same day, even though our contract is for next-business-day support.

I didn't use other brands from other vendors. I only use switches from HPE, and they are really good.

For me, it was not complicated because I am familiar with networking.

It is quite easy to manage. If there is a problem, I can easily figure it out.  

The management is very effective for us to work on these switches.

Subscription is okay for me. I take a three-year subscription. My contract is three years.

I have a Wi-Fi system that I've been using for a few months. It's very nice and covers all you need. Most of the features are included in that system. It is the HPE Aruba switches with the access points.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We have an enterprise infrastructure. We are using HPE Ethernet Switches for activation on the access layer. They are placed on our sites. The technical staff use the tool.

The solution performs well for its price.

The management of the tool must be improved. The add-on tools and management of Cisco are better than those of HPE.

I have been using the solution for three years.

The tool is stable. We can rely on it. The stability depends on which models we use. If we use the 7500 series for our enterprise, the stability would be ten out of ten. Hardware errors are quite rare.

The tool is scalable for our requirements.

The initial setup is quite easy.

The list price is high. We do not buy at the list price. HPE costs almost the same as Cisco.

We also use Cisco. Cisco and HPE are similar when it comes to access and activation.

The network is managed by the command line and monitored by several systems. We have our integrations for provisioning the switches. We use standard features of the tool for the access layer. There’s nothing special. The product has a software-defined access system, but we do not use it. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

We use the product to provide users access to our local area network (LAN).

The platform is stable and easy to use.

The product needs improvement in terms of compatibility. There could be features for ransomware attack detection and enhanced anomaly detection to identify and mitigate anonymous traffic.

We have been using HPE Ethernet Switches for 14 years.

I rate the platform's stability a nine out of ten.

We have around 1000 users for HPE Ethernet Switches in our organization.

The technical support services are affordable. We have found it easy to access support when needed, and the response time has been fast. The support team is knowledgeable.

The initial setup was straightforward. The installation process typically took five to ten minutes. We designed our network infrastructure carefully, identifying the optimal locations for the switches. Once the placement was decided, deploying the switches was a simple task.

We implemented the platform with the help of our in-house team.

HP has significantly impacted our data center operations and business processes, primarily in terms of stability. We can easily replace components without incurring significant costs in an error or failure.

The security features have enhanced our network environment's overall safety and security. The scalability has been excellent for our business needs. We can easily extend our network as needed.

I would rate HP switches' ease of management and configuration as an eight.

Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

Around 90 percent of our clients have no in-house IT staff. We resell solutions and manage the hardware and software for networks and desktops. We're a provider of managed services and security. We spec out the solution they need minus the necessary software for their business. 

HPE's switches get the job done. There are a million to choose from, but this is the one I prefer. You can't have a network without them, so it's hard to say that HPE switches do anything wonderful. So all you're looking at is price point and functionality.

I like that HPE's management functions are GUI-based, so it doesn't rely on command lines.

The GUI still doesn't cover everything. The basic stuff can be done in the GUI, but you still need to use the CLI to implement the advanced features. That's the biggest complaint. Some things still need to be configured in the command line interface. I would rather not use the CLI for anything.

I would also like to see a more centralized private management console for the series of devices. Most solutions are adopting centralized cloud-based management, but my client base believes cloud solutions are too insecure. You've got a few dozen switches, so it would be nice to have the ability to manage them on a "single pane of glass." 

Everybody's doing that in the cloud. They want to charge you for the cloud, and you have no idea who has access to your network. That creates another attack vector because the switches are always phoning home. They can be hijacked, but everybody thinks that's what they want because they can manage it from anywhere. They like the convenience. However, I've been in the business for a long time, so I know it's going to come back to haunt them. It's just a matter of time before it happens.

I have been using HP switches since they bought the technology from the Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1980s. 

HPE switches have been rock-solid for many years. They usually outlast the servers. Their useful life is about 10 to 15 years. If you're not making major changes to the network, you never need to touch them. You can go for years without ever rebooting them. A lot of times they're only rebooted when there's a major enough power failure that they finally go down.

The scalability and backbone don't come into play often. I would say HPE switches are as scalable as anything else out there.

HPE customer service is pretty good. I rate their support eight out of 10. At times, they can be too slow to respond if you have an unusual request.  Sometimes, you have a problem that nobody on their team has seen. 

Positive

Typically, our clients haven't used anything else. Many of them have been using HPE for over 10 years, and we usually deployed the first switches, which would've been HPE. For some clients, we've completely replaced everything three times now during that time because things have reached the end of life and need to be replaced.

Deploying HPE switches is straightforward unless you have to enable some advanced features, then you need to go into the command line interface, which makes it more complex than necessary.

Usually, it takes only a few minutes to deploy because most of my clients' networks are pretty flat. The only thing we need to do is configure a few VLANs on the switch. After deployment, maintenance is minimal. 

It's like the janitor. You can't have a business without it, so it's hard to say that you're not going to save money because you put one in. You have to have it, so it's hard to say that there is a return on investment. It's just one of those things you need to do business. It's like saying the ROI for the power bill. You either make money or you don't.

I like HPE switches because you get a perpetual license with the hardware.
The initial cost is about the same as other switches, but it starts beating the competitors after three or four years because you don't have to pay for additional annual licensing costs.

We also pay for a support contract as well. It's optional, but you don't get software updates without the contract.

I rate HPE Ethernet switches a solid eight out of 10. This is the best product to get if you're not doing something special. If you're doing something odd, you should consider going with Cisco.

There are many cheaper options, but they don't have lifetime hardware support. That's one of the reasons I like HPEs better.

I have been working with HP ProCurve Switches for about 20 years. I used to be an employee at a company that was a reseller for HP and obtained some networking certifications, such as Master HPE.

For the last ten years, I have been working as an engineer with customers, setting up networks and devices with HP or Aruba solutions.

HPE Ethernet switches support some parts of our network infrastructure well, but other parts not so well.

HPE Ethernet switches perform quite well and last for a long time. They are robust and have a low frequency of breaking down or failing.

The initial support from HPE was not good. Also, the Aruba and HPE Comware operating systems are incompatible in many ways.

I have experience with HPE Ethernet Switches for about ten years.

I would rate the stability of HPE Ethernet switches a nine out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability of HPE Ethernet switches as fair - not bad, not very good, but somewhere in between.

Manageability could be improved. The clients using this solution are mainly small businesses.

The accessibility of support could be improved.

Positive

I have a long experience with HPE solutions, including ProCurve Switches, Aruba, and the legacy iLO portal or web solution.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate my experience with the initial setup a six.

The solution is deployed on-premises, and the deployment usually takes a few days.

I would recommend HPE Ethernet switches. Overall, I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We use them as a core connection throughout the entire company. Our entire company network is run by those switches. So, it's for internal Ethernet. We use it for almost everything.

They are running very robustly, so they handle the default tolerance.

There is room for improvement in the update process, especially the web UI update process, is very, very slow. That should be improved.

In future releases, I would like to see zero downtime updates. Currently, when I do updates on a certain website, I have to restart the entire device, which makes it hard to keep network connectivity going.

I have been using this solution for five years. 

I would rate the stability a solid ten out of ten.

It is definitely scalable. I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. 

We actually looked into three companies, HPE, Dell, and Ubiquiti, during our initial setup. We made our decision for HPE because the price value was quite competitive. Even though at some point, they were more expensive than Dell's tools, they had some advantages in terms of stability and availability as well.

The initial setup was actually straightforward. The onboarding was quite easy. You just have to learn some command line codes, which are very well documented. So with some experience, it was an easy task to do.

The initial deployment took me about three months throughout the entire company. We're talking about thousands of switches.

We also have Ubiquiti. We use them in our branch offices as a connection throughout the office network because they are very easy to manage. It's one of the best UI experiences I've had in the past years.

I recommend that you talk to the folks from HPE. They have real knowledge of what they are doing. They don't see you as a typical customer; they see you as a partner. So they went pretty far with engineering and ingenuity, which took me very, very far. They've made a difference for us to get this all up and running.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

HPE Ethernet Switches are scalable, and their software is also quite sturdy. The solution's security is up to the mark according to industry standards. HPE Ethernet Switches are very easy to use, and the MTBF or failure rate is very low.

The solution’s licensing could be improved.

In my current organization, I have provided HPE Ethernet Switches to one or two customers, but in my previous organization, we have provided HPE Ethernet Switches to more customers. They entered the Indian market in 2008 and have a very good reputation.

I rate HPE Ethernet Switches a nine out of ten for stability.

The technical support team of HPE Ethernet Switches is very good.

The setup of HPE Ethernet Switches depends on the SoW, and it's not complex at all. The solution's initial setup is quite straightforward.

L2 switches are deployed in half an hour to one hour. But L3 switches get deployed in one, two, or three days depending on the SoW.

Depending on the quantity, one or two L2 or L3 people are more than sufficient for the solution's implementation. Two people are required to implement L3 switches, and depending on the SoW, the job can be finished in one or two days.

HPE Ethernet Switches used to have a lifetime warranty for some of the products. We have to see only the security part when considering licenses because the licenses upgrade.

Since the Indian market is very price-sensitive, HPE Ethernet Switches are preferred from a commercial point of view. Cisco switches are more stable from a technical and commercial point of view, but commercially, HP is the choice for any enterprise. Since HPE Ethernet Switches have an SMB presence, SMB customers will buy them.

Overall, I rate HPE Ethernet Switches an eight or nine out of ten.