Catalyst--quick and easy to deploy!
Updated August 11, 2023
Catalyst--quick and easy to deploy!
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches
We primarily use Cisco Catalyst Switches for aggregation and demarcation of networks. Due to port density concerns, a cost-effective solution is required to act as an access layer operating on the customers' premises. The Cisco Catalyst Switches provide this with an array of features that can facilitate both basic and more complex deployments.
- Switching
- Routing
- Feature rich
- Some severe IOS bugs
- EOL/EOS components
- TAC support can be spotty at times
- Good value
- Good cost per port
- Feature rich
No problems with any of the Cisco Catalyst Switch platform features within the enterprise environment. It is very handy to have access to licensed features such as Dot1Q tunneling out of the box. This helps significantly by making more complex deployments quick and easy. Possibly a positive and a negative, but the traditional IOS makes it easy to use for legacy users.
- Cisco 900 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR)
Cisco Catalyst Switches are the fastest and easiest to deploy. That said, there are corner cases where the advanced operating system on the 900 series ISRs provides the flexibility required for complex applications. Obviously cost is a factor as well, where Cisco Catalyst Switches have enough flexibility to meet any applications needs.
Do you think Cisco Catalyst Switches delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst Switches's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco Catalyst Switches live up to sales and marketing promises?
I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process
Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst Switches go as expected?
I wasn't involved with the implementation phase
Would you buy Cisco Catalyst Switches again?
Yes
Cisco Hybrid Work
- Working from an office or other company space
- Working from home
Cisco VPN support has been around forever, and made transitioning to a hybrid work solution extremely straightforward. With built in security features and flexible access controls we were able to easily onboard additional users through the Catalyst platform. Though it is dated in a lot of ways, it is still able to get the job done.
Ciscos VPN support has always been fairly quick to deploy compared to other products. We have used Cisco across the board prior to the deployment of a hybrid work environment, so we were lucky in that way. It is very rare that we cannot accomplish what we need with the current feature set of the Catalyst.