Wireless and Network support at BT - British Telecom
MSP
Top 5
Oct 5, 2026
My major use case with Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches is the Azure code switch in the data center. We use code switches at the local site as well, and a few big sites are using the radio distribution switch N9300. On the analytics side, regarding real-time analytics and whether it helps to monitor network performance in my case, we have two other devices to make a monitor. We are going to have Cisco DMAG and SolarRings. SolarRings sends data back from the data center with three connections. We also connect to the SMB three version. Those things look the same, but I am not an expert on that much on that. I majorly work with big enterprises only. I work in a few IT organizations but most of the time working on projects with global clients. All over the world, they have offices.
In the project, similar to the project scope, we were focusing on using Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches as top-of-rack switches. We were deploying these switches at the top-of-rack to connect to the servers and the other spines. Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches have very nice features supporting more than 10G, and I think it has reached 100 gigabits. This gives us an opportunity to improve our bandwidth, control the bandwidth, and fix the bottlenecks and the microburst and drops that we were experiencing. Additionally, since they support a lot of protocols such as BGP and EVPN, it helps us to eliminate the Spanning Tree issues, network bottlenecks, and improve traffic. Since Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches are very capable and able to download and handle high traffic, they are an excellent choice for using at the top-of-rack. I also remember a colleague who was scoping to use them to connect between other data centers by using the spine and leaf architecture and leveraging BGP and EVPN to eliminate the Spanning Tree. Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches are deployed in my organization as on-premises infrastructure. I cannot remember exactly, but I believe at that time we used them well as top-of-rack switches.
The major use case that we have with Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches is that our current switches are old and getting into end of life from Cisco. This is the reason we started looking for the right set of switches to get them replaced, and we found Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches is the right model. There are locations where we have put Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches PoE switches, and we also have non-PoE switches deployed. We do integrate Cisco ACI with Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches, but we have not yet gone into the ACI configurations. We are in the mode of exploring whether we can introduce NAC. A couple of legacy hardware and integrations are there, and the complex environment means we have not yet gone live with the NAC configurations. However, configuring the NAC would help me deploy the roaming profile and all that would be much easier, which would help us achieve boundaryless behavior.
Nowadays, essentially no one uses routers. They are using firewalls instead of routers. Previously, routers were used and maybe due to VPN or specific work requirements, they could be used, but not for every case. Whenever you use a firewall, security comes by default and you can configure it.
Learn what your peers think about Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2026.
Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches provide robust networking solutions designed to address demanding network requirements. Known for their high performance and scalability, these switches are ideal for data center environments and enterprise networks requiring reliable and efficient connectivity.The Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches stand out due to their advanced capabilities and integration features. They are equipped with state-of-the-art Cisco DNA and Cloud Scale technologies, offering...
My major use case with Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches is the Azure code switch in the data center. We use code switches at the local site as well, and a few big sites are using the radio distribution switch N9300. On the analytics side, regarding real-time analytics and whether it helps to monitor network performance in my case, we have two other devices to make a monitor. We are going to have Cisco DMAG and SolarRings. SolarRings sends data back from the data center with three connections. We also connect to the SMB three version. Those things look the same, but I am not an expert on that much on that. I majorly work with big enterprises only. I work in a few IT organizations but most of the time working on projects with global clients. All over the world, they have offices.
My client's major use case for these switches is as a top of the rack switch. Sometimes we also use it as a core switch.
In the project, similar to the project scope, we were focusing on using Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches as top-of-rack switches. We were deploying these switches at the top-of-rack to connect to the servers and the other spines. Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches have very nice features supporting more than 10G, and I think it has reached 100 gigabits. This gives us an opportunity to improve our bandwidth, control the bandwidth, and fix the bottlenecks and the microburst and drops that we were experiencing. Additionally, since they support a lot of protocols such as BGP and EVPN, it helps us to eliminate the Spanning Tree issues, network bottlenecks, and improve traffic. Since Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches are very capable and able to download and handle high traffic, they are an excellent choice for using at the top-of-rack. I also remember a colleague who was scoping to use them to connect between other data centers by using the spine and leaf architecture and leveraging BGP and EVPN to eliminate the Spanning Tree. Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches are deployed in my organization as on-premises infrastructure. I cannot remember exactly, but I believe at that time we used them well as top-of-rack switches.
The major use case that we have with Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches is that our current switches are old and getting into end of life from Cisco. This is the reason we started looking for the right set of switches to get them replaced, and we found Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches is the right model. There are locations where we have put Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches PoE switches, and we also have non-PoE switches deployed. We do integrate Cisco ACI with Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches, but we have not yet gone into the ACI configurations. We are in the mode of exploring whether we can introduce NAC. A couple of legacy hardware and integrations are there, and the complex environment means we have not yet gone live with the NAC configurations. However, configuring the NAC would help me deploy the roaming profile and all that would be much easier, which would help us achieve boundaryless behavior.
Nowadays, essentially no one uses routers. They are using firewalls instead of routers. Previously, routers were used and maybe due to VPN or specific work requirements, they could be used, but not for every case. Whenever you use a firewall, security comes by default and you can configure it.