Cisco 550X Series Stackable Managed Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst IE3400 Rugged Series Switches

It works very well as stack of core switches in small/medium company with 4x 10Gbit SFP+ interfaces. Native stacking is simple and in ring topology every switch has 2 redundant connections. They support maximum of 8 units per stack. You could use Cisco SG500X in hybrid stack with other series of switches, but make sure if other switch is compatible with hybrid mode stacking. Hybrid stack mode lower the number of units in stack. You should consider other model of switches if you need more then four SFP+ ports to connect more access switches using fiber cables.

Incentivized

Amazing network management and extremely perfect network security production and its notification options are very responsive. Creating real time analytics and the visualization capability is fantastic. This Cisco Catalyst platform has effective insights gathering tools and its data quality control functions are good and quick on process reports preparation and workflow easy management product.

Incentivized

• Easy to create stacking
• Easy to configure using web interface or command line
• Similar command line to Cisco IOS

Incentivized

• It runs no matter how hot it gets. It's actually operated at times when it was exceeding its operational limits and continued to work.

Incentivized

• Missing command line options like show running-config "| include, exlude"
• Possibility to connect to switch using usb console cable or usb dongle
• Missing vtp protocol support, only gvrp available

Incentivized

• The portdensity is poor (when compared to competition) which means that the IE-switches takes more space then competition.
• The price is not competitive, only possible to ship/sell to customers that are set on the Brand. To say that Cisco has more features (to motivate that these units cost more then the double) is not correct, the competition solves the same stuff differently.

Incentivized

The features are excellent. We have been able to utilize and customize the features

Incentivized

The support team cares about fast workflow. They have been helpful

Incentivized

Cisco 550X switches stack using 10Gbit SFP+ ports on the front, while Dell N Series has dedicated ports (with cables) on the back of the unit. On the other hand dell N switches has number on small digital display showing stack member number, which is easier to identify. The cisco switches has dot beside the number of the switch member. I think Cisco devices are more reliable and stable than dell switches.

Incentivized

Originally, used rack mount routers with ACLs. However, cost in terms of energy and rack space made doing NAT that way was very expensive.

Incentivized

• Money savings as they are cheaper than competative Cisco IOS switches
• Cisco Business Switches has limited lifetime warranty
• Good switching capacity, and reliability

Incentivized

• Before implementing these switches, production lines were constantly stopped due to network failures. This had a huge financial impact on the company.
• In addition to mitigating those flaws, you now have complete network monitoring with the joint implementation of the Cisco Industrial Network Director.

Incentivized