Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches Reviews

The whole organization is using Cisco Catalyst equipment. Cisco provides the backbone of our network as well as all endpoint switching. Cisco equipment allows secure connectivity for all clients and systems on our network. The 3850 series switches particularly offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to both Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching.

We are not using any of these specific functions.

We are currently using these switches as access switches for our main campus and larger remote sites, and as core switches for small remote sites. We also have a couple clients that we support that use these as the whole stack, Core, Deployment, and Access. We also have one off temporary sites that use these switches as the whole thing: Routing, Switching and GRE tunnels back to HQ

We have not benefited as we do not use automation or virtualization at this time, as our organization does not require this. In the future, I would like to see these features used, however they are not needed for the switch to be fully functional. Docker support on the switch seems nice, however.

We use the Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series for use in a network distribution scenario. They are highly complete, robust switches with a lot of performance and technology, and have many SFP and SFP + ports. We use it to interconnect the access switches that connect users' computers in the buildings to the building where the Switch Core is located in the organization's data center. We connect these switches with single-mode fiber.

Our Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches allow you to collect and analyze traffic using the NetFlow protocol and using another platform known as Prime Infrastructure from the same manufacturer. The organization has benefited mainly from performance, intelligence, security, traffic analysis capacity, and also wireless network control and management. These switch models also have technology that saves energy and that in years is a big saving for us.

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series are used as core switches for our network in all offices all around the world. We also have implemented Wireless LAN Controller in that and using it for or Wireless Network Controller. Catalyst 3850 is connected to my WAN gateway and connects to the internal network. They are very robust and easy to work with. We also export NetFlow from the device to monitor traffic from it.

Unfortunately, we haven't looked at the virtualization feature of this platform. We don't have any need to use StackWise Virtual Technology yet. Also, we haven't looked at the automatic backup feature yet. But that's something I would want to start working on.

We use it as a core switch, replacing a 3750. It increases the performance and reduces the use of memory from 75% to 30%.

Not yet, we are in the process of evaluating DNA solution to get the advantage of analytics and be able to live monitor our network and be aware of all traffic issues faster.

We are using Cisco Catalyst 3850 Switch as an aggregation layer switch to connect multiple access switches to it then connect it to the core switch to save fiber cable running cost. We are using this type of switches as a layer 2 switch to pass traffic from access switches to be routed at core layer switch.

One of the great automation examples we are using in this switch is the archive feature to enable automatic backup capture from the switch to our backup server, this feature saves time and effort and keeps doing the backup on a specific period of time which be easier than doing it manually.

The 3850 switches are being used across our ACI corporate office environment, providing user access. They are stacked and patched to patch panels to provide said access and connect back to the 4500X core.

Our organization has not utilized any of the automation pieces with this branch switch.

We currently using Cisco Catalyst Switches as access, distribution and core network components in our campus networks. At the moment most of them are model 3850. But from the beginning of this year we need to migrate to the SDA network and are currently implementing also 9300 and 9500 series. So we are looking for the best practices for such a migration.

We are using the catalyst switches together with monitoring, config management and firmware deployment tools and it gives us the ability to save some time on deploying, operating and troubleshooting. Stacking mechanism is also very helpful and gives us great ability to plan and implement a highly scalable network. Virtualization benefits are not really necessary in campus networks.

We use it at the aggregation level and some access on campus. At the aggregation level, it permits us to have modular aggregation, thanks to stack feature. Moreover, we can mix 1G and 10G devices depending on the environment. At access level, it permits us to have dual power access switches and fiber access port for site security stuff.

We have used Cisco Catalyst Switches for our communication network in our organization for more than 10 years. These switches work for a long time without human intervention, and ours is a difficult external environment. They are very simple and flexible to configure, which allows you to quickly and accurately adjust to the current needs of the enterprise.

I used Cisco Catalyst for a large layer 3 network and it is very stable.

They have DNA automation and it help us save time.

The 3650CX is a great switch to for small or home offices (Fanless), the 3850 running 16.x code is a power house switch with great PoE resources and has all the bells and whistles. The 9Ks are great switch and I see these becoming the front line ordered switch and at some point replacing the 2960 and 3850 in the IDF.

The switch just meets the need and runs like a champ, Cisco put the homework into get the product where companies wanted/needed it to be and is a good choice for clients adding to an installed base or even a green field installation. The uplink options from 10-40G means the switch will be in clients networks for years and years.

We are using Catalyst 3850 switches as edge devices in our metro network and datacenter. We make use of their layer 2 and layer 3 functionality. They were chosen for their feature set and their rock solid reliability. I would certainly recommend these to anyone looking for a reliable and capable edge switch. These are high-end edge switches that come with a justifiable price tag to match.

We are able to configure all our 3850 switches to a baseline that we have determined is well suited to our needs and we are able to do so very quickly which makes using them easily scalable. We use these for some basic analytics but have plans to make use of some of their more advanced analytics which will give us more insight into our network behavior.

Used as access switches configured in stacks with redundant up-links to the core, in many wiring closets.

To limited degree. We are still in the process of looking on implementing advanced features.

We use it as edge switches for the buildings. They are 1U switches and can be stackable.

We will soon be using DNA and will add 3850 as one type of edge switch.

It is a great product and we have very few problems. Usually few and far in between but overall, extremely happy with it. I would highly recommend as well as many other Cisco switches as they are typically the cream of the crop. Will continue purchasing products as long as they continue providing quality products

It is an excellent product that provides exactly what it’s intended to do

While at Diamond IT, I implemented Cisco Catalyst switches for municipal governments as well as school districts. The problems they address are the reliability of equipment, uptime, and feature requirements.

One of the great things about Cisco gear is they always work. They have a high reliability in terms of hardware lifespan, as well as stability of IOS.

I love the ability to easily update configurations across devices. The ability to update from tools, CLI, or web GUI, as well as to export configurations and modify for new switches makes configuration quick.

We currently use Cisco Catalyst Switches as our standard enterprise and WAN switch solution. They connect almost 100 WAN sites, 2,000 VOIP phones, and 300 wireless access points. The business services that we provide would cease to function without the catalyst switch.

We are currently in the begining stages of experimenting with automation. Once implemented we should be able to trust the new deployment of switches to our level one techs decreasing our personnel costs.

They are my edge devices in my large campus offices and also my small office switches as those can do all the smart things such as application visibility and also policy enforcement and QoS.

Using the plug and play feature with deploying the hardware, really simplifies the on-boarding process of new sites or areas

The switches provide access to our clients for day to day business objectives. They also provide PoE services for cameras, phones, and door locks.

We have not benefited with virtualization. We are using the capabilities of flows in the switch to monitor links which helps in capacity planning.

They are being used to configure access for users and as distribution layers for the access switches. In some cases we have these switches as core switches for buildings.

We have not used this capabilities because we have centralized all of our virtualization in a data center where we are using NEXUS technology.

Currently Catalyst Switches are being used to provide end user access to the campus area network services for the enterprise. The switches are primarily used for end-user connectivity of workstations, printers, and VoIP services. The 3850 model addresses scalability for VoIP services through its stacking capability and minimizes port density where needed to control costs in low user volume locations.

As of now, there has been no use towards these additional capabilities.

Cisco Catalyst is used across the organization. We are using them as our end-user access layer switches. We are currently refreshing old switches with these devices.

My company benefits because we are able to make everything standard across the organization

We use them for our access layer switches. We implement QoS on them for a better user experience.

We've just started using automation to save time on doing other tasks.

I have experience with the Cisco Catalyst 6500 series which is a chassis system that uses a supervisor engine as the "motor" behind the switching power and I can tell you that those things were beasts. They could run forever without a reboot, and usually the worst that would happen with them would be I might have to replace a blade from time to time.

I also have experience working with the 3750 and 3850 switches which are modular. Up to nine of them can be power and data stacked together and be used in the same way as one 6500 was used. The 3850 is the industry standard now in the education system, as one access stack can be placed in each building and it make supporting the infrastructure much easier for the IT department.