Cisco Catalyst 2960-X/XR Series Switches vs Cisco Catalyst Digital Building Series Switches

• I haven't worked on many other brands of routers/switches, but I can say with certainty that Cisco's IOS network operating system is very well written. Using the question mark helps you find a command or complete its options very easily.
• Cisco's Catalyst documentation is superb and if you can't find what you're looking for there, you can find a ton of great blogs by certified Cisco engineers.
• Cisco may be notorious for creating their own proprietary protocols, but for every proprietary protocol they also support the industry standard protocols.
• Cisco Catalyst switches are genuine workhorses; we still have some switches on our network that are older than 10 years and still performing great!
• I like the way Catalyst implements vlans; very easy and straightforward
• I like the stacking capability of Catalyst. it's very easy to configure and you are now managing a single switch, composed of multiple switches

Read full review

• They are reliable.
• They have monitoring features built in.
• They stack.

Read full review

• Cost. Always the downside with Cisco. The competition is cheaper.
• Tech support used to be incredible. It is above average now but not like it was 10+ years ago.
• Better support for third-party cables and SFP/SFP+ would be nice. I hate being warned in the logs that I'm not using a Cisco OEM accessory.
• I wish they could upgrade the stack without taking the whole stack offline. This is a real issue.

Read full review

• The ports are somewhat set back in the chassis making it hard to access the disconnect on the cables.

Read full review

• The organization was able to create a standardization of a single access switch model in our regional office and helped with equipment management.
• We've increased network security.
• We were able to connect WiFi access points without the need for an external source because they are power over ethernet.

Read full review

• They have all lasted well beyond the 5 year depreciation cycle.
• They get reused in other projects because they are still a viable solution.

Read full review