Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches vs Ruckus ICX Switches

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco Catalyst [6800 Series] Switches provide good selection of models with various port densities and capabilities. We use Catalyst switches in most location in various functional setups. Chassis switches in Data Centers, stacks of multiple switches at many locations within campus, 24-48 port models at larger branches for routing and switching.

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Jurek Plona

IT Infrastructure Planner/Architect

FortisBC Energy Inc.Utilities, 1001-5000 employees

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I love this switch for access and aggregate, especially due to the lack of needing reboots. [Other systems require this] reliable and stable platform.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 201-500 employees

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Pros

In general Cisco Catalyst Switches are a nice piece of kit both in hardware and software.
You can keep these guys running for years without nary a reboot necessary.
Even if you have to reboot you have multiple fail overs and redundancies.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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They are relatively easy to configure and to maintain.
They have all of the high-end configuration capabilities as Cisco switches.
The switches have excellent performance and reliability.

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Kenneth Hess

Senior Systems Analyst

CymSTAR, LLCDefense & Space, 201-500 employees

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Cons

There are some known bugs that cause interface errors and are listed as "cosmetic" and they do not plan to address them. This makes troubleshooting very difficult to determine what are real errors and what are cosmetic.
We have had a few batches that get stuck in random reboots.
Cisco foolishly has discontinued R&D for this line of Catalyst when they were finally showing some innovation that set them apart from other vendors.

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Tim Lillis

Sr. System Engineer

Kent Intermediate School DistrictEducation Management, 501-1000 employees

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Not the most recognisable brand in networking
Lack some of the product diversity that other vendors offer

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Tom Shepherd

Technical Architect

Computerworld GroupInformation Technology & Services, 11-50 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches Editions & Modules

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Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

$835

Ruckus ICX Switches Editions & Modules

Edition

Compact Switch	$835.00
Port Switch	$1,000.00

none

Additional Pricing Details

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Likelihood to Renew

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches 9.1

Based on 3 answers

Because they work well at what they do. They are highly innovative with their hub and spoke firmware deployment. Once again Cisco was extremely stupid to stop R and D on them.

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Tim Lillis

Sr. System Engineer

Kent Intermediate School DistrictEducation Management, 501-1000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Usability

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches 8.6

Based on 2 answers

Cisco Catalyst switches are the standard for usability. The Cisco command line is 1 of 2 formats for a command line interface in the computer networking industry. They literally define the standard for the industry, so naturally the usability is going to be high -- simply because that's what everyone uses. I rated them as 9 because they have some consistency issues within the IOS for different versions/platforms.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches 9.1

Based on 4 answers

They are easy to get a hold of and are very effective.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Banking Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

The Juniper lineup offers better pricing versus the Cisco line up but you do definitely lose some hardware prowess, and stability that you can count on with Cisco devices. Also the support is not as robust from Juniper as it can take longer and be more frustrating getting a support ticket going with them.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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The switching holds up well against HP, Extreme, Juniper, et. al at the edge. Cost is also a huge factor, and played a part in the purchase. Not just for the switches themselves, but also optics can be purchased at a discount. Service delivery has been fantastic, and in 3 years I've not had to replace any of the brocade switches I've purchased.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Logistics and Supply Chain Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

It's all about making the right choice in the right time. Let's face it - CISCO Catalyst switches are not cheap. But if you take the time to research and design your network the ROI rate will be faster than you imagine. Having a stable and scalable network is the most important aspect of Catayst - upgrading the core and backbone infrastructure allows you to push the older devices to the outer edges of the network or to new, under/undeveloped regions.

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Ivan Tushev

CIO (Chief Information Officer)

UltraNET LtdInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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These switches are very good in the virtual environment. We have a highly reliable network in part because of these switches
The high uptime allows the business to offer reliable always-on connectivity to our clients
Speeds are fantastic, especially in a big data environment where speed is crucial to our remote client base

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 51-200 employees

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