Great Reliable Switches
Updated October 20, 2022

Great Reliable Switches

Matt Rathbun | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches

  • Catalyst 2960-L Series
  • Catalyst 3560-CX Series
  • Catalyst 3650 Series
  • Catalyst 9200 Series
We use Cisco Catalyst Switches in our access edge infrastructure. They connect telephony, APs and other network devices as well as PCs. We use them in our office spaces as well as industrial environments. The switches are stable, have relatively low downtime and are familiar among all support vendors and resellers.
  • Fit our L2 access needs perfectly
  • Easily managed and supported
  • Are well known for stability
  • Recently, product availability has been a concern. We have been waiting 180+ days for products.
  • The transition to active licensing has presented challenges in our environments that are not Internet facing such as plant automation.
  • Software upgrades have been increasingly more complex.
  • We have had zero unplanned downtime in many years resulting in reliable operations to our business
  • For specialized projects, we are able to engage trained engineers more quickly
  • We have had to delay construction projects and move-in dates of employees because of long and uncertain lead times.
We have benefited through customizing the switches to minimize security risks by turning off unneeded services and processes. We've also leveraged software capabilities and routing on some devices to save core routing costs. We have been able to automate deployment and log collection without the need for new equipment.
We went with Cisco because of the reputation and support from vendors. Although HP was a player, it is not widely supported and engineers were not readily available for more complex architecture. There was a tradeoff in our opinion because we need the switches to be flexible and supported well after the sale.

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

Cisco Catalyst Switches are well suited in environments that require minimal downtime and some flexibility. Although cost can be a concern in being a premium product, I think the support and available training outweighs the more expensive price tag. To that end, I think they are not appropriate for businesses that are trying to minimize cost and don't have qualified personnel to operate them.

Cisco Hybrid Work

  • Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point
  • Cisco Catalyst Switches
  • Cisco AnyConnect
  • Working from anywhere (e.g., coffee shop, airport)
  • Working from an office or other company space
  • Working from home
During and after the pandemic, our business realized that productivity could be managed in a hybrid workforce. Not only could it be managed, it could also be leveraged as well. Having an agile workforce became a priority overnight. Our business has many remote office workers that traditionally had to return to a physical office for many things that could not be accomplished over a VPN. By leveraging security products from Cisco we were able to extend the physical office experience to these nearly full-time remote users.

Softphones and MRA phones allowed us to turn remote workspaces for individual or small (3 or 4) groups of employees into productive hubs. Meraki access points, firewalls and small catalyst switches at remote "spoke" sites have simplified employee access to information and productivity. It has also allowed our support team to better manage infrastructure and consequently deliver a better experience.

The biggest challenges we have experienced have been in the realm of hardware availability. We have experienced a 6+ month wait for hardware including Meraki MX access points and switches.
Hardware availability. We have been waiting over 6 months for some equipment and have been reluctant to offer hybrid solutions to some locations/employees because we cannot get them the needed equipment. This has caused us to explore other vendors. Our business needs have changed faster than some vendors ability to provide hardware particularly Cisco. There is no longer a way to expedite purchasing within Cisco.

It has allowed us to support individual and small groups of employees at remote locations. The remote locations could be at a home or even now at a customer's site. It provides a better experience for the customer but also ensures security of our network. To us it is a win-win situation. Previously we were at the mercy of whatever infrastructure was in place and now we can control that to a large extent even within another "untrusted" network.
We have been getting very positive reviews from our customers because the availability of our employees has increased. By working either on-site or from home, the employees can focus more of their attention on their job vs. fulfilling internal demands. Our company has begun to focus it's energy and time to the customer more.
We chose Cisco because of the robustness and longevity of their hardware. We also appreciate the great support and ease of troubleshooting. We have in-house product experts and can largely deploy the solutions without the help of outside vendors. If we were to use another company, we would have to re-train our employees to use the products and the procedures and processes would need to be adjusted.