Alcatel-Lucent provides the OmniSwitch family of switches, providing data center switching, Ethernet & LAN switches, support for IoT and edge solutions, SDN, ruggedization and industrial-grade solutions, and WebSmart switches.
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HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches
Score 8.4 out of 10
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HPE offers Ethernet switches under the Aruba Networks product line.
Our data management depends on the networking infrastructure and this product has provided all tools that are required. Our IT operations have been stable due to reliable security and networking services enhanced by this product. It easily identifies critical missions that may affect our operations and notify the service team for immediate action. My marketing department has discovered the most effective marketing channels that can attract more customers through a reliable internet connection.
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.
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.
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.
Like said before - I think there are better solutions in the market to solve the challenge rather than a physical appliance. Functionalities are there and capabilities are available, but, in my experience, they lack the inherent capacity a cloud solutions provides. Lacking on the capacity to have the flexibility and dynamic growth Cloud platforms enable.
I preferred the OS running on the 2530 series switches, but the ArubaOS is very usable. It's similar to the Cisco OS command line interface, but somehow more understandable. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the documentation is great and it makes sense after a while of using it.
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.
Most problems that face our company has been solved by an effective performance of this product. The operation and continuity of our business programs are boosted by great network connections. Alcatel company has been helpful in providing training and development guidelines where possible. The system performance has built a powerful operation base that can identify and provide solutions to business challenges. The digital working base for all our plans has been implemented.
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.
When comparing Aruba to Cisco and Dell there is no comparison in cost. Aruba is a better value and will not require additional licensing like it often the case with Cisco.
The Aruba OS is very simple to use and understand. A user with very little networking experience can understand the config of an Aruba switch.
Aruba's hardware warranty assures me that even my oldest switches are covered due to hardware failure.
In the 11 years I have worked with HPE/Aruba and with over 55 switches I have had a hardware failure less than a handful of times.
