Cisco Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Series Switches vs. Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches

As the Cisco Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Series Switches do not come with a fan, it is really good for the environment that requires quietness, as these switches are super quiet, not even with any air flow noise. Of course, if you are going to deploy it to a hot, humid environment, that's a no brainer. Plus, those switches have some built-in POE ports that make them quite handy for connecting PoE CCTV cameras and VoIP phones

Incentivized

If you have a big environment with a lot of edge switch needs and department groups, then Extreme's fabric connect can save a lot of management time. If your environment is small then you may want to stick with the traditional model since fabric connect costs more. Also if you make lots of configuration changes all the time then fabric connect will be helpful. Otherwise, making an occasional change you don't need fabric connect.

Incentivized

• First of all, if I encounter something, it's really easy for me to find an answer from Google. That's because that's a very famous company, lots of people using that. And for example, what if we have a bot or something? Hard questions, hard problems. It's really easy to find out from the outside world because everybody use it.

Incentivized

• Uptime has been fantastic. We have had no issues with our switches shutting down or crashing
• Policy, We have the ability to enforce Policy at the port

Incentivized

• we identified an unpublished bug that the devices are all generating the same engine id for snmp v3, hence could not get the snmp v3 working on all of the devices.
• for improvement, maybe Cisco can introduce some edge computing or AI driven diagnostics to preemptively flag network anomalies.
• we bought the 24 port version of the switches 9320, it would be good to introduce some switches modules that can easily get the switch port density upgrade in case we need to have more, rather than buying a whole new switch.

Incentivized

• They are working on it, but a single console to manage the policies across all switches.
• For those with a Cisco background, the CLI commands are different with Extreme so you have to get used to that. Nothing necessarily wrong though.
• If you want a chassis core switch/router then those are becoming less available and won't find many options with Extreme.

Incentivized

Great product, great support and very happy with the reliability.

Incentivized

its slightly frustrating that even the AC power supplies which are using normal power ranges, still require a licensed electrician to complete the first time connections, and that the power modules are hot swappable from the rear, so ensuring front and rear access is a must for long term servicing of the unit. Other than those draw backs the Cisco Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Series Switches is fantastic and integrates into our SDA fabric

Incentivized

Very easy to use, the CLI is a little different than competing products, but the GUI is very intuitive.

Incentivized

There hasn't been a single problem with the code or hardware that hasn't been resolved in a timely fashion. You get technicians who know the product and who will work with you to get things fixed. That being said, I never ran into a problem with Cisco tech support either. I love that both groups were willing to teach me as they fixed things.

Incentivized

I would rate the IE9300 higher than the IE3300 where space permits for a full size switch installation and where PoE requirements are higher. The IE3300 has its place in networks for works like SCADA systems and lower PoE Draw The IE9300 is a more full fledged switch, where the installation environmentals are just too harsh for a normal Cisco Catalyst 9300

Incentivized

We upgraded to Extreme Switches from Cisco SG500 and SG250 small business switches. Extreme Switches offer a much easier to use GUI management platform called Extreme CloudIQ, which makes visibility into our network much easier and user friendly. Performance wise these offered higher uplink speed as well.

Incentivized

• it reduces downtime in our harsh environment, cutting down manual maintenance cost
• the built-in PoE eliminated the external power supplies, lowering deployment cost
• operational continuity makes us more stick to the SLAs contracted with our customers, which support revenue retention.

Incentivized

• Extreme [Ethernet Switches] have a long-life. You can easily get 7 years in main production life depending on when you buy in the product life-cycle.
• Extreme [Ethernet Switches] are expensive, no doubt, but we also don't have "weird" network problems or other issues with the network randomly going down.
• If you use fabric connect switches then the ease of managing many switches is of no concern.

Incentivized