Adtran NetVanta Routers and Switches vs. HPE Aruba Networking Switches

Adtran NetVanta series switches are a very desirable switch set at a reasonable price point with a large amount of configuration ability for both L2 and L3. They are best suited for medium to large institutions that are not Cisco Dependent. They work well for small businesses as well but may be too high of a price point and too large of a feature set needed for a SOHO type set up which may turn away customers in that range. The 1531/P series does offer a smaller switch with the option of PoE in the P model and gives a total of 12 individual ports between the 8 PoE ports, 2 non PoE ports, and 2 SFP ports capable of Gigabit or 2.5Gbps with Adtran's interconnect cable. This may be more suitable for a SOHO set up but again may offer more than many small businesses need and may seem daunting.

Incentivized

These devices are rock solid, you will se them up once and not have to mess with them for years. They are work horses that don't die. We use them in an office environment and have only ever had 1 fail due to a PSU issue, we got a replacement next day and it's been working great.

Incentivized

• In industrial environments, Adtran NetVanta switches are robust and have a very long lifetime.
• In office environments, Adtran NetVanta switches are low profile and easy to install.
• Adtran NetVanta switches have multiple options for mounting, racks or wall mount are equally simple and well implemented.

Incentivized

• REST API capability
• Wired & Wireless 802.1x configuration easiness
• Wireless Access Points (APs) zero touch provisioning
• Its high-end family (running the AOS-CX firmware) supports a virtualization technology called VSX (Virtual Switching Extension) which allows 2 switches to present itself as one virtualized switch under Layer 2, and as 2 separate routers under Layer 3; thereby providing high availability.

Incentivized

• PoE can be a little slow to initiate as the switch communicates with the device to determine the proper power level.
• 1550 Series seem to come flashed with a non-standard Firmware initially that must be upgraded before any configuration can be done.
• USB Driver for 1550 Series USB Serial connection is a non-standard driver that must be downloaded from Adtran vs Windows Plug and Play.

Incentivized

• I have had issues finding monitoring software that natively supports Provision/Aruba OS. Most are designed primarily with Cisco in mind.
• HPE/Aruba switches have historically had issues with corrupt flash. This seems to be less common in more recent models.
• HPE/Aruba's switching portfolio can be confusing. Some models run on the Aruba OS while some others run on Comware. There is some overlap in these model lines so at times is can be tough to tell which switch is right.

Incentivized

I have not had that many issues with these products. Aruba Central has been really helpful. The Integration Capabilities allows us to use Clearpass . For individuals new to enterprise-grade networking, there can still be a learning curve associated with understanding the concepts and the specifics of the Aruba configuration.

Incentivized

HPE Support is very easy to reach. A knowledgable rep can be reached in a few minutes. After some basic troubleshooting if the failure is due to hardware I can receive a replacement within a day or even in a few hours.

Incentivized

We have used everything from Foundry/Brocade, to Cisco, to Extreme, and nothing lives as long and performs as well as NetVanta switches.

Incentivized

We used to have a lot of Cisco switches which are great, but
the support contracts and other expenses mount up quickly; one of the main
reasons for switching to HP for networking was the cost, but the hardware and
software have gotten so much better over the years.

I can’t see us changing network hardware unless the price increases dramatically.

Incentivized

• High Performance and reliability have allowed for a 'set it and forget it' type installation, giving greater customer satisfaction.
• The price point of the switches, while higher than other models such as HP or Dell potentially, is in line with their reliability and functionality and comes in less than Cisco much of the time.
• Having a long time relationship with Adtran as a company has allowed us to quickly assist customers with their needs, saving everyone time and money.

Incentivized

• I really like the idea of paying for the switches one time and just pay for support going forward. The prices are on the high end but I think it is worth it. I wish they would include all the features in one go so we would not have to pay for every new feature.

Incentivized