Catalyst Switching - 2960-X
June 12, 2018
Catalyst Switching - 2960-X
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Cisco Catalyst 2960 X/XR Series
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches
Our organization supports almost 16,000 students and over 1200 staff members across 12 campuses. As is typical for most public education providers, we have a limited budget for infrastructure. Catalyst switching, especially the 2960-X, allows us to easily manage stacks of switches in each closet for high port density, with the capability to run 10Gbps (or higher with port channels) backbone connections.
- Single management IP per stack, one logical switch composed of several physical switches.
- 10Gbps to the edge switches
- Reliable - very few service interruptions due to switch failure.
- SMARTnet can be expensive for continued support
- Earlier version of code had a bug that impacted our environment
- No real netflow capability
- No SDN capability
- Fewer outages related to switching than our previous setup
- Lower administration/management costs for switch management
- Reduced power consumption - PoE has been more efficient than power adapters for all our phones.
We did not do a live comparison, but I did research both. Catalyst switching made the most sense in our environment for several reasons.
Catalyst throughput was higher, I trust Cisco Support and TAC having used them previously, and our administrators have all been trained on Cisco hardware and software.
Catalyst throughput was higher, I trust Cisco Support and TAC having used them previously, and our administrators have all been trained on Cisco hardware and software.