Arista 7000 series
5 Ratings
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches
18 Ratings
Switch Selector Tool

Arista 7000 series

5 Ratings
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Score 8 out of 100

Based on 5 reviews and ratings

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

18 Ratings
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Score 9.7 out of 100

Based on 18 reviews and ratings

Switch Selector Tool

Attribute Ratings

  • Arista 7000 series is rated higher in 1 area: Likelihood to Recommend

Likelihood to Recommend

10.0

Arista 7000 series

100%
1 Rating
9.7

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

97%
11 Ratings

Likelihood to Recommend

Arista 7000 series

Core and data center applications are the strengths of Arista products. The distribution layer is also a good fit. For the access layer, it would be more of a niche product.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches are enterprise-class network core switches. They are not meant for small to medium size companies or satellite offices. These switches are useful to provide a highly available network backbone where all of your firewalls, edge routers, top-of-rack switches, and fabric interconnects can terminate on a scalable and secure network.

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Mark McCully | TrustRadius Reviewer
Mark McCully
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Pros

Arista 7000 series

  • The 7304's along side our core network design has provided 100% uptime during the 5 years of deployment.
  • The multi-chassis LAG has provided near 100% connectivity to the distribution and access switches.
  • Very low maintenance attention is needed.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

  • Dual supervisors and up to 6 power supplies keep them running continuously.
  • Multigig ports and a high throughput backplane keeps the data flowing as fast as users need.

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Eric Stearns | TrustRadius Reviewer
Eric Stearns
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Cons

Arista 7000 series

  • The 7304's lack a graceful non-intrusive upgrade method even though they are dual supervisor.
  • I would like to see more integration with Aruba's ClearPass and Airwave products.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

  • Software needs improvement, where features are added (Stack wise) or removed (GLBP) without solicitation from a wider audience or depreciation, respectively
  • Software bugs recently in basic features like AAA
  • Ability to turn off all unused services or features to reduce the attack surface
  • Cisco CoPP functionality is not like it was on the Cat 6k platform - users cannot create custom policies for use at the control-plane interface

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Pricing Details

Arista 7000 series

General

Free Trial
—
Free/Freemium Version
—
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—
Entry-level set up fee?
No

Starting Price

—

Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

General

Free Trial
—
Free/Freemium Version
—
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—
Entry-level set up fee?
No

Starting Price

—

Alternatives Considered

Arista 7000 series

I have used the Catalyst 6500 series in the past. From my point of view, the Arista surpasses the Catalyst on just about every front. Originally we were planning on implementing the Nexus 7000/7700 series switches for our core. Though a little more feature rich, it did not provide features we needed that the Arista did. The Nexus also was a confusing and complex platform to work with. Also, the Nexus was a significantly more expensive solution. Although very happy with the Arista switches we may evaluate the Aruba HPE 8400 chassis-based switches along with Arista switches in the future.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

We ran a proof of concept for HPE and Cisco switches. Cisco won out due to the following:
  • Cisco's positive track record of previous Catalyst switch platforms we've had experience with (2900, 4500, 6500).
  • Large TCAM space to support large ACLs used to lock down endpoint access.
  • Cisco's community is large so it's typically easy to find answers online to questions we have about design, installation, or troubleshooting.
  • Catalyst 9000 is a newer platform than Aruba's switches that were perceived as re-branded HP Procurve switches, which have been around longer. While we can't say for sure this will amount to better ROI, we certainly felt like we'd get more life out of the Cisco 9000s.
  • ROI for Aruba Mobility Access Switches was low due to an unexpected EoS/EoL announcement, affecting our campus access switch deployment. This forced us to replace Aruba MAS switches sooner than expected, leaving a bad taste in our mouth.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Return on Investment

Arista 7000 series

  • The Arista 7000 series met or exceed our data center switching and routing needs.
  • It provided a more cost effective alternative to other products we were considering.
  • Implementation was quick and easy due to the simple standards-based configuration.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches

  • Don't need to buy services - lifetime warranty
  • Stability - even 10 year old devices are still running and doing the job
  • Sometimes lines of products are on the market for a very short time (eg. 6800 instant access) - it is hard to buy equipment to make the network bigger.

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Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Verified User
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