Arista 7000 series vs. Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Arista 7000 series
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
The Arista 7000 series is a line of networking switches, from Arista in Santa Clara, California.N/A
Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers the Catalyst 9500 series of campus LAN switches.N/A
Pricing
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Dell PowerConnect Switches
Dell PowerConnect Switches
Score 8.9 out of 10
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(20 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
Arista Networks
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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Cisco
The [Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches] is very well suited for datacenter core and distribution models, they work very well as a replacement for the 3850 switches that many smaller organizations use for core switching. The Catalyst 9500 series switches also works very well as a top of rack aggregation switch for SFP and QSFP connectivity.
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Pros
Arista Networks
  • 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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Cisco
  • Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches are capable of 10g/40g with a great selection of ports for these speeds.
  • The Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switch is a very capable piece of kit, supporting a lot of Cisco's new feature sets.
  • Cisco IOS is the gold standard for switch operating systems.
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Cons
Arista Networks
  • 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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Cisco
  • Well the ACI, so the AP, the controller give us good chances to run everything, to configure everything. But the monitoring itself, it's not that easy. You need other products like Nexus dashboard or something else to do the monitoring. This is a little bit of a con. It's another technology so everyone has to think a little bit of others to adapt this knowledge and it takes two years I think for a technician to understand what ACI is really doing and what we can do with it.
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Likelihood to Renew
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Based on the site load and requirements, the switches meets our processing and fiber ports requirements. Also they have great potential for future programmability options we are looking into.
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Usability
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
It has great potential. It can support 10, 40, 100 Gig ports. The chipset are high processing capabilities
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Support Rating
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Cisco TAC engineers are very responsive and supportive.
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Alternatives Considered
Arista Networks
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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Cisco
The Catalyst 9400 was not out when we were looking at new core switches. We thought about using a Nexus 9k but neither were as good of a fit as the 9500. Between price and performance it was a no-brainer for us to look at the 9500. We have not nor in the future would we consider other brands for core switching.
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Return on Investment
Arista Networks
  • 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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Cisco
  • These switches did require a purchase of the DNA license on top of standard switch licensing, even if the functions are no needed in the environment.
  • The increased SFP & QSFP connectivity enabled for faster processing within our compute environment. While the system is too new to quantify the value added in this, it undeniably will help with its ROI.
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