Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches vs Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series Switches | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.6 out of 10

Based on 65 reviews and ratings

Switch Selector Tool

Score 9 out of 10

Based on 17 reviews and ratings

Switch Selector Tool

Pros

Using Power of Ethernet to deliver the network connection for IP Phones and Wireless Access Points.
Catalyst Switch stacking capability makes it easy to use in networking management.
Hardware ready for Software Defined Access technology will protect the investment while the business decides to migrate to the campus fabric solution in the near future.

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Senior Network Architect

MacEwan UniversityEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Offer a large concentration of high speed ports, even supporting PoE.
Very robust switches that have a large MTBF.
Support all of the enterprise software requirements.

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Bart Verbaandert

Technology Manager Global Connectivity Platforms

J&JHealth, Wellness and Fitness, 10,001+ employees

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Cons

Ability to do routing network packets.
Servers, printer and PCs have been able to connect to the each other via the Cisco Switch.
The price a little bit high.
Strong security, advanced QoS, comprehensive IPv6 support, Layer 3 static routing, and true stacking.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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Software needs improvement, where features are added (Stack wise) or removed (GLBP) without solicitation from a wider audience or depreciation, respectively
Software bugs recently in basic features like AAA
Ability to turn off all unused services or features to reduce the attack surface
Cisco CoPP functionality is not like it was on the Cat 6k platform - users cannot create custom policies for use at the control-plane interface

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Verified User

Supervisor in Information Technology

Utilities Company, 10,001+ employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 8.3

Based on 5 answers

Catalyst isn't even the family, it's bigger than that. The current "family" is the catalyst 9000 series. And Cisco keeps pushing the edge of the envelope with each new family.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Usability

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 9.9

Based on 3 answers

I love them

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Retail Company, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Reliability and Availability

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 9.1

Based on 1 answer

If you install the C9300 as a switch stack, the availability is amazing. This can even be a power stack setup, where the chassis power supplies can provide power redundancy for the other member switch chassis.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Renewables & Environment Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

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Performance

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 9.1

Based on 1 answer

The C9300 is surfficiently spec'ed to support all the features it provides. We haven't yet experienced any hardware limitations, unless there's a loop in the network, which spanning-tree should take care of anyway

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Renewables & Environment Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Support Rating

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 9.1

Based on 9 answers

Honestly it really depends on who is going to take your case. You may need to contact your Cisco account manager if you don't get good support from the TAC.

Lately the 3850 and 9300 switches are affected by several bugs and sometimes it is frustrating when it's faster if you research the problem by yourself instead of rely on Cisco support. On the other hand I found also some really talented people in the cisco support team.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Pharmaceuticals Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

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In-Person Training

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 7.3

Based on 1 answer

Cisco Networking Academy partners with many local Colleges and High Schools to provide great hands-on training. You do need to drive to learn the topic. The in-class session only go so far. You really need to apply this to the real world. Cisco makes it easy for business to connect via CLC or Cisco Learning Credits.

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Justin McDermott

Information Security Architect

Wintrust Financial CorporationFinancial Services, 1001-5000 employees

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No score

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Online Training

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 7.3

Based on 1 answer

Our training for Cisco switches came from a third party instructor, e.g. CBT Nuggets. This was general training on switches and not in particular only the C9300 series. Nevertheless any hands-on experience from any other Cisco switching platform, will make you feel very acquainted with the C9300. The new switch platform just enables more perfomance and features.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Renewables & Environment Company, 10,001+ employees

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Implementation Rating

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 8.2

Based on 1 answer

It's essential to spend a few weeks on a Proof of Concept/Value test, to ensure that the equipment is ready for production. It's extremely hard to revert back to older hardware later. This testing period will also be a great opportunity for hardware burn-in, which will reveal any potential hardware failure due to production defects, etc

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Renewables & Environment Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

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Alternatives Considered

We evaluated few other vendor switches such as Juniper, and also some of the 2900 Cisco switches.. As we are Cisco shop, the Juniper evaluation did not last long, and 2900 series switches altho could of worked in our application, we decided to use newer models with DNA claws just in case we might need it in the future.

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Verified User

Director in Information Technology

Financial Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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We ran a proof of concept for HPE and Cisco switches. Cisco won out due to the following:

Cisco's positive track record of previous Catalyst switch platforms we've had experience with (2900, 4500, 6500).
Large TCAM space to support large ACLs used to lock down endpoint access.
Cisco's community is large so it's typically easy to find answers online to questions we have about design, installation, or troubleshooting.
Catalyst 9000 is a newer platform than Aruba's switches that were perceived as re-branded HP Procurve switches, which have been around longer. While we can't say for sure this will amount to better ROI, we certainly felt like we'd get more life out of the Cisco 9000s.
ROI for Aruba Mobility Access Switches was low due to an unexpected EoS/EoL announcement, affecting our campus access switch deployment. This forced us to replace Aruba MAS switches sooner than expected, leaving a bad taste in our mouth.

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Verified User

Technician in Information Technology

Insurance Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Scalability

Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches 7.3

Based on 1 answer

It seems like a very robust platform, which Cisco is constantly evolving with new features and possibilities. The standard network module gives the opportunity to customize the uplink interfaces, in both bandwidth and SFP type

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Renewables & Environment Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Return on Investment

They've definitely been a positive for our bottom line. The reliability and great technical support substantially cuts down on the amount of attention these switches require. Often we find our selves forgetting the switches are even there because they "just work". Dependability like that is in my opinion priceless.
The flexibility of modules that can be added to both the 9300, 9500 (line cards), and 3850 series Catalyst Switches is awesome. These switches are capable of 10/25/40/100 GB speeds this means that instead of replacing a switch you just upgrade the module. This has saved us tens of thousands over the last few years.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 10,001+ employees

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Don't need to buy services - lifetime warranty
Stability - even 10 year old devices are still running and doing the job
Sometimes lines of products are on the market for a very short time (eg. 6800 instant access) - it is hard to buy equipment to make the network bigger.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Oil & Energy Company, 10,001+ 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

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

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