Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches

Likelihood to Recommend

There are so many scenarios where Cisco Catalyst Switches are well suited like if the switch needs to move multiple frames in the same port, switch the frames directly to the memory, sending them one at a time, thus avoiding collisions. Selecting specific endpoints prevents Ethernet collisions from happening. The switch is very secure, as it makes any hole directly in contact with any other port. The cost of the number of ports is relatively high.

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Chetan Swaroop

Executive Assistant

MultitechserversInformation Technology & Services, 11-50 employees

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We work in the electric industry. These should not be used in a high-heat environment. We like to keep the temperature of the room in the low 60's so they are not suited for our Substation locations due to extreme heat and cold. However, they perform great in a server room.

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Seth Urbanczyk

Network Administrator

Deaf Smith ElectricUtilities, 51-200 employees

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Pros

Stability and Reliability - We have not had many failures over the past years using Cisco Catalyst switches.
Flexibility - Cisco Catalyst switches offers a wide portfolio of switching equipment which can address a variety of needs. This includes switches with stacking and non-stacking capability, fixed rackmount and chassis options which can be mounted in data centre racks and and also compact switching which may be more feasible for small SOHO offices.
Scalable Performance - Cisco Catalyst switches offers various port speeds from 1Gbps 10Gbps, 100Gbps etc. This is available in both copper (RJ45) and fibre (SFP). Many models also offer a variety of uplink speed options which future proofs the invest in Cisco technologies allowing us to upgrade depending on our changing business requirements and available budgets.

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Zakarieya Abderoef

Solutions Architect

Baraka Technology GroupInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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Reliable.
Excellent hardware support from Dell including 4 hour parts/replacement.
Excellent technical support from Dell on software, troubleshooting, and configuration.
More affordable than its main enterprise competitors.
Easy to use CLI.

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Verified User

Executive in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 11-50 employees

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Cons

Would like to see a second power supply so it can get power from two different sources.
Hard to find a USB flash drive that will work when loading images for upgrade.
IOS upgrades are a pain to perform. Upgrades should be an easy process. Would like to perform the upgrade through a web browser.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

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

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Precarious graphical (GUI) mode, needing to be updated for more efficient technologies such as HTML5
Short support time, given how much these devices support in terms of use. I have owned the devices for years, but no longer have a warranty

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Roni Peterson Alvarenga

Diretor de Tecnologia da Informação e Telecomunicação

Câmara Municipal de CampinasGovernment Administration, 501-1000 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

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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Support Rating

Cisco Catalyst Switches 9.0

Based on 1 answer

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.

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Ryhlen Schoeberl

Systems Administrator II

Vast BroadbandTelecommunications, 201-500 employees

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Dell PowerConnect Switches 9.1

Based on 3 answers

Dell ProSupport is outstanding. Dell ProDeploy is likewise outstanding. I prefer them even over traditional Cisco support. I've had repeated cases where Dell immediately addressed or fixed an issue with US-based support, including firmware hotfixes. Not even Cisco can boast that.

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Verified User

Executive in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

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 hand are enterprise-grade switches which perform really well under heavy loads.

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Umair Ali Khan

Network Administrator

Pak Suzuki Motor CompanyAutomotive, 1001-5000 employees

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I selected Dell mainly due to previous experience using them in a business environment. I've never had a unit fail on me and when my budget for equipment like network switches has been less than a training class on how to use those switches, it's incredible to be able to find quality equipment at the price point Dell offers and even more so when their enterprise support has been as excellent as I have been accustomed to dealing with. In all honesty, even if I had a larger budget, I would have bought these same switches since they were exactly what I needed to suit my needs. We looked into HPE/Aruba network switches, and while they would have performed everything we needed and more, they were almost four times the cost of these Dell network switches. That's a hard sell when it comes to planning a tight budget.

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Chris Funk

IT Director

Clark County Juvenile CourtGovernment Administration, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Cisco catalyst switches have allowed our networks to run smoothly with no interruptions.
These switches are scalable so we were able to add more switches as needed, without interrupting the network activity.
Automation techniques allowed us to deploy configuration with minimum effort.

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