Extreme Networks Wired Access - Switches vs. Huawei CloudEngine Data Center Switches

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

The focus of the solution is datacenter, so it is a waste of resources to use them as SOHO or as access switches. All your robustness needs to be used correctly, so that there is no wasted investment. I also note that, as good practices, it is necessary to ensure redundancy and availability of assets and connections, so the investment is high, even more so if you need to mix fiber and twisted pair solutions.

Incentivized

• Cloud management
• SFP+ uplinks
• Stacking capability
• Robust CLI

Incentivized

• connection stability
• Simplified port-channel configuration
• Interoperability with various solutions

Incentivized

• Improved Extreme Management Console UI.
• More robust CLI auditing/logging.
• Easier log harvesting for adverse events.

Incentivized

• Documentation, like every huawei product, needs improvement
• The official training of this solution is extremely boring and theoretical. It is necessary to make something more practical and useful in everyday life.
• As it is a line for datacenters, I believe that the product needs a better development in its chassis. It seems very fragile to me.

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

Foundry, HP, Cisco, Brocade. Extreme performance is equivalent or better without the price tag added just for their name

Incentivized

The Huawei CloudEngine Data Center Switches solution, as the name implies, is aimed at Datacenters and ToR applications. The development of such equipment was all designed to meet high processing loads and connections of servers, storages and other high-performance assets. The other solutions evaluated (and some we even have in our park) are for other purposes, such as access and edge.

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

• The investment ensured a better response, at the network level, of the applications
• Support for 60 months guarantees better predictability when evaluating new investments of this type.
• Product redundancy ensures greater availability of the entire infrastructure and applications, thus reducing downtime.

Incentivized