Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches vs HPE Networking Switches

Likelihood to Recommend

9500 is well suited if the requirement is for fiber ports. The 9500 has only fiber ports. The chip sets on the 9500 are powerful. So, they are recommended on the aggregation layer on the larger deployment at the campus or branches. However, they are not suited if there are requirements for copper ports and traffic load is not huge.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 10,001+ employees

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In our small to medium business we made HPE switches our staple data closet switch and also our core layer 3 for routing. The reliability, stability, and ease of management were all key factors for our size business with limited IT resources. Many of the switches would be up for over a year, and then only down for patching. Several of our switches are probably 7 or 8 or more years old and still doing what we need them to do.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 51-200 employees

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Pros

It supports programmability
It supports 10, 40, 100 Gig interfaces
It can be used as fusion router in the SDA deployment

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 10,001+ employees

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Quality: The HP switches are built very well. In the 12 years that I have been working with Procurve, I have deployed them in challenging environments. Some of these environments include manufacturing plants, rooms where ventilation is somewhat poor, causing the switch to work at warmer temps, and inside of control panels for various engineering projects located in hot deserts. These switches have lasted me for 10+ years. 6-Months ago I had to replace a switch for a friend that was installed in 2010. The switch was still working when we pulled it from the rack, we just needed to move to a POE model.
Dependability: Working with HP switches, I have never had issues with lockups, unknown transmission, dead ports, or firmware updates. Once you put one in, it stays up until you are ready to replace it.
Affordable: My motivation of going with HP is because I don't care for the cost of Cisco or the need for a proprietary training. I am a big fan of the open platform. This means that we are able to deploy these quicker, save money on the expense, and have a greater range of support. We get everything we need from a modern switch, without breaking the bank.

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Jeff Allen

Director of Information Technology ★ Strengthening IT Operations through Processes and Programs

Beavers HoldingsFood Production, 201-500 employees

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Cons

9500-32C is not supported in the DNA
There are some bugs on the stackwise virtual stacking uses. The stacks get splitted and manual reboot is required to fix it

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 10,001+ employees

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The ability to find firmware images or other resources could be a lot easier.
Nothing else I can think of.

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Joe Casas

Network Engineer

NISDEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches 8.0

Based on 1 answer

Based on the site load and requirements, the switches meets our processing and fiber ports requirements. Also they have great potential for future programmability options we are looking into.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Usability

Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches 9.0

Based on 1 answer

It has great potential. It can support 10, 40, 100 Gig ports. The chipset are high processing capabilities

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches 9.0

Based on 1 answer

Cisco TAC engineers are very responsive and supportive.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 10,001+ employees

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HPE Networking Switches 8.5

Based on 2 answers

We have had very little experience with support and nothing for years really. But when we have needed support we always got what we needed in a timely fashion. Basically good support that you would expect from an enterprise class business. Definitely less hoops to jump through getting help or parts than their desktop or printer divisions.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 51-200 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Cisco has a large portfolio and variety of products, especially with switches and routers. Although Cisco has been a leader for this hardware for several years these kinds of things give the customer trust. Cisco has done a good job versus competitor. Cisco's switches are very reliable and stable. Competitors don’t have the same products.

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Orlando Rosas

Gerente de ingeniería

Cuatro networksComputer Hardware, 51-200 employees

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Cisco Meraki, Rukus & Fortinet

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Thayer Ramahi

Director, IMIT

Calgary Foothills Primary Care NetworkHospital & Health Care, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Help me with the network connectivity between areas.
Enhances the connection speeds between the user and each other.
Enhances the connection speeds between users and DC.

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girgis hady

Network Manager

Wadi Degla HoldingSports, 10,001+ employees

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The initial savings is the first positive. I get everything I need and expect from a modern switch, at near half the cost of a Cisco.
Second, I typically plan everything for a 5-Year Life-cycle. I am getting an average 7+ years out of these switches. Never pulled a dead one from a rack.
Open platform means more options for support and no need for proprietary training.

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Jeff Allen

Director of Information Technology ★ Strengthening IT Operations through Processes and Programs

Beavers HoldingsFood Production, 201-500 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