Cisco Meraki MS vs. Ruckus ICX Switches

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Meraki MS
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers the Meraki brand of Ethernet switches.N/A
Ruckus ICX Switches
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Ruckus acquired the ICX series of campus switches, and in turn Ruckus was acquired by ARRIS in December 2017.
$835
Pricing
Cisco Meraki MSRuckus ICX Switches
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Compact Switch
$835.00
Port Switch
$1,000.00
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki MSRuckus ICX Switches
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Meraki MSRuckus ICX Switches
Considered Both Products
Cisco Meraki MS
Chose Cisco Meraki MS
Cisco Meraki MS Pricing and security helped me take a decision to go for it.
Chose Cisco Meraki MS
Cisco Meraki MS Switches beat out Juniper and Brocade switches when we did the vendor evaluation. It also beat out Cisco Catalyst switches as well, but only over Catalyst due to price. Catalyst did outpace Meraki in features, but for features we did not need. So, we got an …
Ruckus ICX Switches

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Meraki MSRuckus ICX Switches
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Score 9.1 out of 10
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Meraki MSRuckus ICX Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(76 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.3
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(57 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Meraki MSRuckus ICX Switches
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Cisco Meraki MS is brilliant in very simple environments where basic segregation is required. Many features are pre-configured as defaults and this makes it easy to configure security and stability features like STP protections and UDLD. It is capable of some more complex functions, such as dot1x authentication. TAC support is easy to access and usually timely. Bundling support into the license and making it available through Dashboard is great. We have had issues monitoring the Cisco Meraki Dashboard using legacy SNMP based system - this means we now effectively have one more network monitoring screen to watch. We also sorely lack an ageing timer for stick MAC address port security - essential in uncontrolled locations with no NAC available. We have also had issues with devices pulling DHCP leasing from the wrong VLAN on initial provisioning and then struggling to transition to our management VLAN when the full config is pulled.
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ARRIS
I love this switch for access and aggregate, especially due to the lack of needing reboots. [Other systems require this] reliable and stable platform.
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Pros
Cisco
  • Meraki MS switches are wonderful at allowing a network admin to configure a VPN mesh network without having to have highly specialized knowledge. Unlike Cisco switches, there is no CLI, there is only a GUI, and Meraki support helps you set it up as you add nodes to your network.
  • Meraki MS switches are easy to deploy. Full stop.
  • They can work with any firewall or ASA but I would strongly recommend using the Meraki MX security appliance if you are going to use Meraki MS switches because they were made to work together.
  • They easily stack. It's all done for you in the Meraki cloud control panel.
  • They will get an address from your admin VLAN's DHCP scope and keep it. Even if you unplug it and move it, you will not have to worry about addressing it.
  • The GUI is online and you can reach it from anywhere, so as long as you have the credentials, you can manage the network from any device that has a browser.
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ARRIS
  • They are relatively easy to configure and to maintain.
  • They have all of the high-end configuration capabilities as Cisco switches.
  • The switches have excellent performance and reliability.
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Cons
Cisco
  • People who are coming from enterprise switches or command line options may feel limited
  • If internet is having issue, managing the switches can become more burdensome
  • Switches do not have as many advanced features as enterprise switches
  • Delay in reporting and debugging
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ARRIS
  • Licensing for the 10GB ports is a bit pricey, but that was 5 years ago, so things may have changed
  • The CLI commands are slightly different than typical Cisco commands
  • Their rack mounting was not the prettiest in the world
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
Being on the cloud its very easy to manage. We have layer 7 visibility and Cisco has introduced stackable MX switches which is even better! The Meraki portal can be accessed via SSO which is important to my organization (although it was a bit difficult to get that implemented initially!)
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ARRIS
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
Cisco support for the Meraki products is great. I have a dedicated representative who I can reach out to at any time. They offer numerous online resources and easy to follow tutorials to help the most novice user feel like a pro. When I need support they were ready and quickly helped me solve my problems.
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ARRIS
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
Meraki MS provides the sweet spot between manageability and functionality, though not at a significantly lower cost. Desktop support engineers can manage it day-to-day and sometimes that is the most important factor, especially in our case, as a layer 2 switching solution that can also provide PoE to the Meraki MR WAPs.
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ARRIS
The switching holds up well against HP, Extreme, Juniper, et. al at the edge. Cost is also a huge factor, and played a part in the purchase. Not just for the switches themselves, but also optics can be purchased at a discount. Service delivery has been fantastic, and in 3 years I've not had to replace any of the brocade switches I've purchased.
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Scalability
Cisco
Cisco Meraki MS is intuitive and allows us to easily manage 340+ satellite locations and four corporate locations. Templates, intelligent patching, and alerting are fantastic. This has drastically improved compliance and managing such a large footprint. I would continually recommend Cisco Meraki MS for any multi-site organization because of its ease of use.
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ARRIS
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • We scaled out existing networks way faster and way easier.
  • We have added new sites with new switch and network configuration requirements way faster and easier.
  • Because Meraki switches integrate so seamlessly with Meraki Wi-Fi it makes Wi-Fi management very easy and very straightforward.
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ARRIS
  • Equipment just runs
  • Sometimes past EOL/EOS
  • Firmwares just work
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ScreenShots