Cisco Catalyst IE3300 Rugged Series Switches vs. FortiSwitch Secure Access Switches

Cisco Catalyst IE3300 Rugged Series Switches are what I would say a primary option if you are already a Cisco house that has software such as DNA Centre (they are compatible with it) or the future Catalyst Centre. This is great as it can be integrated into your existing infrastructure without compromising manageability or having to retrain staff to work on new equipment. Managing the switches is effectively the exact same. In my opinion, it is also more suited to small industrial needs in certain climate zones that are not extremes, as there are bespoke vendors that may be better hardware-wise than Cisco, but of course software wise Cisco does take some beating.

Incentivized

If you've got a large network and are already using FortiGate firewalls or FortiAP access points, integrating FortiSwitch Secure Access Switches makes for one integrated solution. Previously we had Cisco switches that had to be configured and managed separately, which was always prone to error. Now that we have our entire network backbone on FortiNet devices, managing and configuring them is smoother. We are now able to see much clearer if there are any configuration issues between networking devices.

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• small form
• switching
• Climate control

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• Makes them easy to manage within one spot
• Allows for advanced network configuration
• Has plenty of power for all our PoE devices

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• Mounting unit kit provided at sale
• Better DC power connection cabling
• More aesthetically pleasing to look at

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• Would be nice to have a bit different layout on the configuration page. Sometimes can be hard to find what you're looking for.
• When disabling ports, it would be nice to have batch setting features rather than having to make changes individually.

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Overall, a few vendors like Siemens, Moxa, Versitron. We were only after a simple solution, so Moxa could have seemed a good option but overall being a Cisco house is a no brainer for the organisation and teams. Comparisons weren't really in the decision. But these Cisco Catalyst IE3300 Rugged Series Switches are working great.

Incentivized

We have previously used both Cisco 220 Series and Dell PowerConnect 8000 Series switches that were managed separately from our firewalls and access points. The Cisco and Dell switch worked fine and we never had a problem with them, but it was always a hassle to have to make configuration changes since that would have to be done via separate GUIs. Having the ability to configure and manage firewalls, switches, and wireless access points all within one central GUI saves time and headache.

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Easy to add additional modules.

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• over priced
• Tac support is horrible
• Cisco has given up on hardware

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• It has made management of the network much easier and less time consuming
• We are more confident that our network traffic is being secured
• Ability to monitor network traffic and detect potential anomalies

Incentivized