Cisco 350X Series Stackable Managed Switches vs. Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches

Well Suited : For Medium to Large Organization networks where Scalability, Advanced features, efficient management of different network segments and robust security is required. Less Suited : For small offices where simple and unmanaged switch is enough and in temporary and frequently network setup reconfigured.

Incentivized

If you have a big environment with a lot of edge switch needs and department groups, then Extreme's fabric connect can save a lot of management time. If your environment is small then you may want to stick with the traditional model since fabric connect costs more. Also if you make lots of configuration changes all the time then fabric connect will be helpful. Otherwise, making an occasional change you don't need fabric connect.

Incentivized

• Scalability
• Redundancy and High Availability
• Easy and User friendly Web based management interface
• High Performance , it provides fast and reliable data transfer
• Inter-Vlan routing is very good.

Incentivized

• Uptime has been fantastic. We have had no issues with our switches shutting down or crashing
• Policy, We have the ability to enforce Policy at the port

Incentivized

• Process of firmware Update
• Need Cloud Management Capabilities
• Enhanced Reporting
• Find difficulty in process of VLAN configuration so need simplified

Incentivized

• They are working on it, but a single console to manage the policies across all switches.
• For those with a Cisco background, the CLI commands are different with Extreme so you have to get used to that. Nothing necessarily wrong though.
• If you want a chassis core switch/router then those are becoming less available and won't find many options with Extreme.

Incentivized

Great product, great support and very happy with the reliability.

Incentivized

Very easy to use, the CLI is a little different than competing products, but the GUI is very intuitive.

Incentivized

There hasn't been a single problem with the code or hardware that hasn't been resolved in a timely fashion. You get technicians who know the product and who will work with you to get things fixed. That being said, I never ran into a problem with Cisco tech support either. I love that both groups were willing to teach me as they fixed things.

Incentivized

It provide the best reliability and redundancy which is most important. We choose this product because of comprehensive feature set, Interoperability, scalability and quality of service.

Incentivized

We upgraded to Extreme Switches from Cisco SG500 and SG250 small business switches. Extreme Switches offer a much easier to use GUI management platform called Extreme CloudIQ, which makes visibility into our network much easier and user friendly. Performance wise these offered higher uplink speed as well.

Incentivized

• Positive : Increase Scalability
• Positive : Increase Performance
• Positive : enhanced security
• Negative : Initial investment cost
• Negative : Potential downtime during implementation

Incentivized

• Extreme [Ethernet Switches] have a long-life. You can easily get 7 years in main production life depending on when you buy in the product life-cycle.
• Extreme [Ethernet Switches] are expensive, no doubt, but we also don't have "weird" network problems or other issues with the network randomly going down.
• If you use fabric connect switches then the ease of managing many switches is of no concern.

Incentivized