Cisco Catalyst 9500s, the backbone of our organization
December 10, 2020
Cisco Catalyst 9500s, the backbone of our organization
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches
- Catalyst 9500 Series
Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches are used by my organization as the backbone or core of our enterprise network switching. We implemented these switches to replace the our Cisco 6509 Series Core Switches. The use of the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches allowed for increased bandwidth between our various distribution points across our organization while adding other additional benefits.
- Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches are capable of 10g/40g with a great selection of ports for these speeds.
- The Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switch is a very capable piece of kit, supporting a lot of Cisco's new feature sets.
- Cisco IOS is the gold standard for switch operating systems.
- When initially implementing the new Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches, we had issues where features promised were not delivered until a later firmware release
- Issues with some parts of Cisco TAC providing different resolutions to the same issues that contradicted themselves
- We were able to retire our aging 6509s (and increasing SmartNet warranty costs) with the Catalyst 9500 kit. Money spent upgrading infrastructure while removing increasing warranty costs was a great benefit.
We have used Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches as the beginning of our processes to start automating processes within the networking area of our organization. While we have automated a lot of areas from other parts of infrastructure (servers, application deployments, etc.) the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches were our first stop into creating automation efforts within our networking stack. These efforts are helped by the ability to use Python module on the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches.
The first reason of our upgrade to the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches was to replace our Cisco 6509 Core Switches. While both the 6509s and the 9500s allow for as much customization as IOS allows, the 9500s brought in newer feature sets compared to the aging 6509s. These new feature sets allowed for more streamlined actions to configure and manage the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches, thus saving time for other equipment and projects. The implementation of StackWise virtual within our networks allowed for us to diversify our connection paths between core routing areas, providing us with more connectivity and availability.
While we were evaluating new options for our core distribution, we looked at various other vendors. The selection process included Meraki and other well known contenders. We are happily migrating our wireless systems over to Meraki, but we felt the options for core switching from other vendors were not up to par with the offerings Cisco had.
Do you think Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches again?
Yes