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Catalyst Switches are AWESOME
Updated January 08, 2019

Catalyst Switches are AWESOME

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches

  • Catalyst 2960 X/XR Series
  • Catalyst 3650 Series
  • Catalyst 3850 Series
  • Catalyst 6800 Series
Many of our issues revolve around security or location of users. The Cisco Catalyst Switches allow us to integrate with intelligent security platforms to accomplish this goal.
  • Simple configuration
  • Effective redundancy
  • Layer 2 and Layer 3 capabilities
  • Modularity
  • Price
  • Configuration consistency
  • Positively affected uptime
  • Reduced mean time to resolution
  • Simplified configuration
We have not used the automation capabilities yet.
Manageability is our primary reason for buying catalyst switches
Cisco was by far the easiest to work on. Highly recommend.
  • Well suited to campus networks and any voice-enabled network.
  • Less appropriate in data center environments.

Cisco Catalyst Switches Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Immediate help available
Support cares about my success
Escalation required
Slow Initial Response
Yes
For some of the items we use we pay for 24/7 support -- these items are usually part of a critical system (backbone, core, etc). We purchase the support to ensure that if there is a serious issue that we can get it fixed/replaced within a few hours. Otherwise we tend to rely on the standard support contracts.
One particular occasion that comes to mind is a time where we had a legacy line-card installed in a newer catalyst switch. When the line-cards would burn-out (break) Cisco was able to get them to us in good time. We were also able to procure some newer ones at a reduced rate.

Using Cisco Catalyst Switches

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Convenient
Feel confident using
None
  • assigning vlans to interfaces
  • configuring routing protocols
  • creating standard configurations
  • creating tunnels
  • setting up RADIUS authentication for administrative use
  • adding or removing a vlan from a tagged interface without removing all of them
Cisco Catalyst switches are the standard for usability. The Cisco command line is 1 of 2 formats for a command line interface in the computer networking industry. They literally define the standard for the industry, so naturally the usability is going to be high -- simply because that's what everyone uses. I rated them as 9 because they have some consistency issues within the IOS for different versions/platforms.