Arista 7000 series vs. Cisco Nexus 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 Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Nexus is a series of network switches.
$49
Pricing
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Starting Price
$49.00
Maximum Price
$200,000.00
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Nexus 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 Nexus Series Switches
Considered Both Products
Arista 7000 series
Chose 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 …
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Better to manage. Commit checks.
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco has a lead in maturity of its VXLAN EVPN capabilities when vendor product assessment was carried out back then.
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
More clear telemetry, and nice connectivity options.
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
We are using both Arista 7280 and Cisco Nexus 9300 devices. Arista switches have deep buffer features and helps us for handling the big data packets. But these switches are a little bit more expensive than nexus 9300 switches. And also Arista 7050x Series can be competitive …
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
They passed all the requirement that was set for the Proof of concept.
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
  • Meets feature requirements.
  • Passes quality assurance tests.
  • A trusted vendor with good past experiences with the sales and support teams.
Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
We chose the Nexus series over the Catalyst series based on performance and the future roadmap of the Catalyst series. Our vendor told us that the Catalyst system was going to begin focusing on campus networks; meanwhile, the Nexus was the future of the data center. Couple that …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Nexus 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 Catalyst Switches
Cisco Catalyst Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Nexus Series Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.6
(74 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(6 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(5 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(10 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(3 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Arista 7000 seriesCisco Nexus 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.
Read full review
Cisco
Fairly stable and easy to operate - but I haven't any experience with other brands, so I don't have anything to compare with. Fairly fast in the OS. Easy to upgrade - but with some SW issues. Sometimes clearing of log folders is needed. Access to bash is cool. Tips & cool tricks for operations could be nice to share.
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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.
Read full review
Cisco
  • Continuous system operation:
  • Maintenance, upgrades, and software certification can be performed without service interruptions because of the modular nature of NX-OS and features such as In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) and the capability for processes to restart dynamically
  • FabricPath:
  • Enables each device to build an overall view of the topology; this is similar to other link state routing protocols. Each device in the FabricPath topology is identified by a switch-id. The Layer 2 forwarding tables are built based on reachability to each switch-id, not by the MAC address. Eliminates spanning-tree to maximize network bandwidth and flexibility in topological configurations, as well as simplify operational support and configuration. This enables a tremendous amount of flexibility on the topology because you can now build FabricPath topologies for Layer 2-based networks the same as for Layer 3-based networks
  • Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV): Enables the Layer 2 extension between distributed data centers over any transport Layer 3 network
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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.
Read full review
Cisco
  • Implementing jumbo frames on interfaces of its fabric extender series (N2k, etc.) by editing the network QoS does not have to be a global configuration that would affect all its interfaces. It can be improved to become just an interface configuration.
  • Licensing on the NXOS is a bit complicated and expensive. I understand that the Nexus is made for core data center switching but it does not have to break the bank.
  • OTV technology is for Nexus only. Based on the advantage of the technology, it should be made vendor-neutral to accommodate other vendor devices.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
We will use it for a long time, since they are switches with great capacity and positive results, they promote the perfect operation of our data center, I always recommend them, because they are switches with good results.
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Usability
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
In our environment (and especially during COVID and the Work From Home era), I would really like our network devices to be more resilient [against} errors in remote configuration. Having a standard, easy to use, configure, commit/deploy, rollback system should be installed, but it's not there. Other companies have been providing this for over 20 years, and Cisco does this on some of their devices. Why not all?
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Reliability and Availability
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Our network is very well design. Any components or device failure. Doesn't affect network availability
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Performance
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
These switches are very fast. They've been designed to work within the data center. We connect them to Cisco UCS-B Mini servers with the storage being directly attached. They are able to handle the data traffic pretty easily. We can also move servers pretty fast from data center to data center without overloading them. This has allowed our company to stay running during any kind of conditional outage. We have come to really rely on them for business continuity.
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Support Rating
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Overall, Cisco has great products and I believe that they believe in the philosophy of a great customer experience. Although there have been a few technical support issues that caused a lot of company anxiety, in most cases, Cisco has gone above and beyond in making a valiant effort to help the customer solve any issues.
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In-Person Training
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Trainer didn't has good handon experience.. he was bookish trainer.
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Online Training
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Never had it
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Implementation Rating
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
It is reliable and working as expected
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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 Cisco 9000 stacks up quite well against the Cisco Catalyst 3850 switches. The additional features available in the Nexus 9000, such as VPN, FCoE, 40 gigabits, give us the ability to support the future needs of the company in our data center. The Nexus 9000 allowed us to condense our core and aggregation environment that comprised of 2 Catalyst 6504 and 2 Catalyst 6509 to a port of Nexus 9000. Although the Catalyst 3850 would be sufficient to handle routing, those features in the Nexus 9000 made it the clear choice for us.
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Scalability
Arista Networks
No answers on this topic
Cisco
The Nexus 3000 series switches are data center switches, so I would say they have similar security ability to other switches in this segment. I don't have a lot of experience doing more than basic ACL security on switches, but I know these can be integrated into other security solutions like Cisco ISE and 802.1x authentication. It could also be integrated into an ACI solution to add micro segmentation, which would bring in other security functions.
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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
  • We expected the switches to provide ROI and they did as advertised.
  • NX-OS was pretty similar to IOS so the learning curve was pretty low.
  • Being a Non-Profit we need to be extremely cost conscience and buy gear that has a long shelf life. Nexus line of switches met this objective.
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