Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. OpenVPN Access Server

I think the most suited ones will be of course, for example, a supermarket where you have more than 50 plus devices because there are like 48 ports in a switch. We can just use a lot of devices and connect them to it. A less use case will be, I think it depends at the end of the day how your topology looks like. If you have a very few devices, you shouldn't be going for these catalyst switches because they are of course much bigger, more processing power and all those things. If you have, again, it comes to topology. If you have the number of users who are using these switches is less than 15, it's less than 15, then you can just go for any other option and not use them.

Incentivized

OpenVPN is great for anyone who needs to access internal company resources while away from the office. For us, it's useful for our office staff if they need to work from home for a day or are at a work conference. I can see where it would not be helpful if you didn't store much on your intranet, but we do, so it's very helpful.

Incentivized

• One of the things that it does well, it's not something major, but there's a light tracking feature that the 9300 comes with that you can turn on the light and that has become critical in a data center environment where you want to help someone to make sure that you're talking about the same switch, you can turn the light on and off something that is not available in other versions of Cisco switches before the 9300. So it's not as major, but it's quite critical when you're dealing with multiple systems and multiple switches.

Incentivized

• Secure
• Easy setup
• 2 free users
• automatic updates

Incentivized

• Functionality. Well, one of the functions that we are missing is a faster route based on OSPF. Other than that, it could provide an upgrade without a hitless upgrade. Well, now it is a very fast upgrade, which is also okay. We had a case when the platform crashed, but that was a specific case. We were happy with this product.

Incentivized

• None, it accomplishes everything we need it for.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

We've never had any issues with usability. The UI is very intuitive, and our general user base (which is not very tech-savvy) can use OpenVPN with two clicks since we have SAML set up. It's the easiest thing ever for them, and I don't know how we'd even begin to improve on it.

Incentivized

We have very few is any outages due to a Cisco hardware failure. Some of our gear is exposed to some pretty harsh environments, and they keep on ticking!

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

My own personal research to get the information I want is very handy and helped me many times

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

We found OpenVPN to be more cost-effective vs Azure. In addition, it was easier to install, deploy, and manage

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

• energy costs dropped by around 11 per cent on the access layer
• management has become easier with DNA Center
• ISSU software upgrades and fabric deployments have significantly reduced "planned" down times
• network speed has increased, latency is at an all-time best within our own LAN

Incentivized

• Only 2 free users, it would be nice if they would expand to 5.
• Easy way to establish a VPN backbone between two locations
• Great for work at home or BCP events.

Incentivized