Deputy Manager - IT Operations (Network Infrastructure)
Chose Cisco Catalyst Switches
D-Link Ethernet Switches were being mostly used in our organization with some other lesser-known brands as well. These switches were made for small businesses and home users and they were not able to handle large amounts of traffic from hundreds of users simultaneously. Cisco …
We had about 15 different brands of network switches before adopting Cisco, and were not satisfied with any of them. Percentage of breakage on these units was very high.
D-Link switches are nice switches with many features. They are also less expensive as compared with other options in the market. However, they are not built to handle large amounts of traffic in large enterprise networks or ISPs networks. Cisco Catalyst switches on the other …
Deputy Manager - IT Operations (Network Infrastructure)
Chose D-Link Ethernet Switches
Cisco Catalyst Switches are top of the line when it comes to enterprise-grade network switches. They can handle large amounts of traffic with no impact on forwarding and they have all the features needed to manage and monitor in an enterprise environment. On the other hand, …
Our access infrastructure. If you want to bring many devices into your infrastructure and you don't want to bring the devices direct on the core routers, something like that. Or to the routers, the catalyst switches are perfectly suited for that or for top of direct switches.
The focus of the equipment is SoHo, that is, small businesses or companies and even domestic use. It meets these scenarios very well. Using for large scale, they can present difficulties to maintain throughput, that is, its use in large networks can be difficult to maintain. Another issue to be taken into account is technical assistance, they are not as agile as the competition.
I think particularly for the 2960-Xs, these are quite sturdy. I believe they don't get, even if there's a power outage out at Cole's, we usually do some electricity work just to do the electricity redundancy. We just power off the, let's say, the transformers and then see if the mains can handle the power supply. So these 2960, these switches are quite sturdy, I believe, and they don't die on us, but I've seen with the 9200s and the other switches, they don't come back usually when there's a power outage or something like that. So we have to replace the power supply units and all those things to get them working again.
I wouldn't fault the product per se. I think it's just more its integration with the SSD access network that there could be room for improvement. I think the 9300 has been a solid device by itself, and I can't think of anything that I could fault on the device itself. It's probably been doing a very good job and we are happy with it.
They are consistently reliable and this switch in particular is a very affordable solution. We can place the Cisco Catalyst 1000 Series Switches gear in areas that we normally would not place a switch because it is affordable enough to make it justifiable. And because it is a reliable solution, we are confident it will continue to provide service over the long haul.
Cisco by and far does a great job with the Catalyst line. From a layer 2 dumb switch all the way up to ISP carrier grade switching within the Catalyst portfolio. The best part about it is command parity among the various tiers of product. The only differences are going to lie in what features are available per switch.
D-Link Ethernet Switches are working fine and fulfill all of our organization's needs cost-wise and efficiency-wise. The rating that I gave would vary based on performance and durability. We used an open environment without an IP-rated network rack, but its working fine and we handle all weather issues carefully and manage the network smoothly. Takeaways: cost effective, handles complex networks, and very good performance.
No, the packets flow. Sometimes you will see collisions and broadcast storms can happen which will slow performance but that can be fixed and the packets will flow.
We rarely have issues with the product. I have only had to contact support one time since we put it in and that was to see if another vendor was giving me accurate information on an issue I was having.
I have given it 9 out of 10 just because of its low cost and additional features that have been an integral part of any product, otherwise, the load management part was far more inferior as compared to the Cisco switches, as those switches have a spanning tree protocol built-in.
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.
The implementation of the Cisco Catalyst 1000 Series Switches is fairly seamless, especially if you are familiar with Cisco products. We have had Brocade switch gear in place too, and the differences between the manufacturers [are] not a major issue.
We do have other vendors. For example, Juniper, Fortinet, and there are quite a few others. And Cisco is pretty good because we know the workflow, we know how the operating system works. We are much more familiar with Cisco products and we know the support system behind it. So in terms of comparing with others, I think it stands out. It's one of our top products to go to
They stack up great. In performance, Price, Physical style. I have been around many networks with a business that has spent three times as much on a network solution and Dlink matches up toe to toe. Has of now they are moving over to Cisco language. So this will improve the availability of engineers and support.
We are exclusive Cisco at our organization. In truth part of the reason is, with one type of switch and one manufacturer, it is easier to support. It is also easier to give consistent training to our staff in our tech department