A well designed core switch that can be expanded and configured to your needs
December 15, 2020
A well designed core switch that can be expanded and configured to your needs
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches
- Catalyst 6800 Series
Overall, the majority of our switching is being handled by the different models of Cisco Catalyst Switches. About 2 years ago we were tasked with upgrading our central/core switch. This project was meant to solve the problem of having a strong network core that has some built-in redundancies.
- Compact (as far as core switches go) but with lots of expansion options.
- Typical good Cisco hardware quality.
- A strong Support team (Cisco TAC) to stand behind the device.
- The disparate expansions and plugins can be hard to mange license-wise.
- The costs for a fully loaded Catalyst core switch is massive.
- Doing upgrades and patches can be a major project.
- A positive impact would be less time tech's need to spend on fixes.
- A negative impact would be the major initial costs in creating the core.
- Another negative is lots of time spent with Cisco support on licensing issues.
The biggest reason for such a large and expansive switch is to customize it with the blades of your choosing. There's a ton of options available for outfitting your 6800 series with specific blades based on ports needed, or a number of supervisors/etc. Also, manageability is high as you can tie the Cisco switch in with your existing management system.
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?
Yes
Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst Switches go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Cisco Catalyst Switches again?
Yes