No one gets fired for buying Cisco!
Updated March 09, 2025

No one gets fired for buying Cisco!

Andrew Bulman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Cisco Catalyst 3560 - CX
  • Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series
  • Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches

They used to say "no one gets fired for buying IBM", the saying now extends to Cisco. Not the cheapest, but very reliable, well supported, and decent feature set. They are easy to get engineers to support, have good turnaround on hardware spare parts and have a solid user base for design review and ideas. We extensively use Cisco 48 Port switches as access switches across our offices.

Pros

  • PoE
  • Switching
  • Routing

Cons

  • Cost
  • Open source protocols
  • Less packaging
  • Reliability
  • Performance
  • Simplification
  • Cisco AnyConnect
The number of AnyConnect licenses exploded overnight due to the lockdowns - the Cisco team were awesome in that they handed out a heap of temporary licenses to get us going - with the idea that we'd figure it out once things settled down. It was an awesome 'get out of jail free' card - the team were and are still very appreciative of Cisco for helping out in a time of need.
AnyConnect allowed our team to VPN in and work remotely, we were already using it, but the use exploded over night. Given our configuration - it meant that staff had full access to the systems and services that they needed to do their work, as if they were working from the office.
Different usage patterns on our internet links - naturally if people are working remotely we'll have more ingress traffic on our internet links. We also had to 'educate' our workforce about how the VPN works - that if they are working from home, maybe pulling / pushing a large amount of data from local (to the office) file shares to their laptop might not be the best way to work.
They weren't the cheapest, but they had the greatest skills available in the market, they were reliable and they fitted well into our environment. The sales team were thorough and comprehensive, although not much spin needed - they are rock solid, everyone knows how to use them, our engineering team are well versed (and qualified) to operate and configure them.

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

Large scale, enterprise deployments where performance and reliability are important. Particularly reliable when support is outsourced as the skills are readily available in the market (change over in support engineers). Probably less suited to small deployments or in organisations where budgets are very very small. Whilst they probably could hold up as 'core switches' (they do layer 3) - they are probably best suited to access / distribution switching.

Cisco Hybrid Work

  • Working from anywhere (e.g., coffee shop, airport)
  • Working from an office or other company space
  • Working from home
We've always had Cisco AnyConnect as our CPN client / solution and it's worked well. I've enhanced endpoint security scans when connecting to ensure that when our staff are connecting they are doing so securely, even if working from a coffee shop. We're largely complete in our implementation, it's more about making services more efficient to be run from anywhere (e.g. migrate to cloud)
Cisco AnyConnect has been really reliable and manageable for rolling out to our fleet. I've used other open source / free VPN clients, which work well - but just don't seem to be as solid at AnyConnect. The flex up in licensing from Cisco was very welcomed during the lockdowns - it showed that Cisco wasn't going to stop us from doing business.
We use WhatsApp as well, its not an officially supported IT platform, however our users have naturally migrated to it - it's hard to get them off. We're largely a Microsoft Teams / Share Point organisation. Slack is used in the event of an outage / backup collaboration platform. I'm sure there are other platforms used, but not with the support of IT.

Cisco Catalyst Addtional Questions

  • Distribution switching
  • Layer 3 routing
  • Power over Ethernet (PoE)
  • Integration with Other Systems
  • Ease of Use
We're a Cisco networking shop, so we know that it would fit in well with our other networking hardware. Generally when we choose which model of switch to use, it'll be able to port throughput and density - as the Cisco Catalyst Switches that we were using were just for access / distribution - the feature set isn't really important (besides PoE).
There is extensive literature and guides available online, they are pretty straightforward and should be configured in line with your individual needs. General / generic advice would be - don't do anything too complicated / difficult to explain, or apply the kiss principle (keep it simple stupid). Oh, and always opt for an extra power supply, you don't want to have to scramble when one dies.
Super easy, pretty straight forward. Cisco Catalyst Switches have been around forever - it wasn't much of a discussion.
I gave Cisco a 10, but really, there wasn't any need for after sales support, Cisco Catalyst Switches are so easy to use / configure / implement, unless something physically dies (or you hit a bug) and you need to log a case with TAC, then it's very much smooth sailing for these.
No we didn't

Using Cisco Catalyst Switches

4000 - Cisco Networking provides the backbone to our network, they provide distribution within the Data Centre as well as Access ports across the campus network. We use them in multiple locations and they've proven reliable and efficient. Admittedly they're not the cheapest, but they are well supported and have a decent feature set. Nobody gets fired for buying Cisco Catalyst Switches
3 - We've got a very small internal team that manage our network internally, however have a managed service provider to back them up. Cisco skills are easy to source in the market, with CCNA's a dime a dozen. Cisco TAC support is efficient and knowledgeable. We don't have trouble in supporting our Catalyst fleet.
  • Layer 3 switching (in a pinch)
  • Security enhancement through microsegmentation
  • Continued access network
  • Distribution network
  • Core switching in smaller data centres
We're currently in the process of going to market to replace the hardware with like for like (or equivalent) Cisco hardware. We're extremely happy and don't have a risk appetite to migrate away from a seemingly stable platform. It wont be cheap, but the ability to maintain continuity and stability is important to us.

Evaluating Cisco Catalyst Switches and Competitors

I think Cisco networking is somewhat of a yard stick - its the default option that arguments need to be stacked against. Sure there are plenty of cheaper alternatives, that may be more feature rich, however innovation comes with risk. Cisco are a secure, conservative choice for those with low risk appetites.

Cisco Catalyst Switches Implementation

Wasn't around for the initial implementation, but seem to be stable and well implemented now.
  • Don't know
  • Don't know
  • Don't know
Cirrus / Atturra - t

Cisco Catalyst Switches Training

Configuring Cisco Catalyst Switches

We've found that they are configurable to fit into almost any part of our network
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
n/a

Cisco Catalyst Switches Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Immediate help available
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
Need to explain problems multiple times
We have standard support with Cisco, however have other contracts that provide additional third party support for configuraiton support. Overlapping contracts, whilst potentially inefficienct, work well and provide the support, coverage and knowledge that we require to maintain our network. With a larger team - we would be able to cover this internally.
Cisco are great with cases that get escalated within TAC. We've had issues that have been handed betweek global support teams and engineering. I'm always surprised how quickly Cisco can get the right person on the phone, with guidance to resolve our issues in a timely manner. We also get good personalised support form our account team.
Generally pretty good, with a large install base - TAC support have generally seen most issues before we do.

Using Cisco Catalyst Switches

ProsCons
Like to use
Easy to use
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Unnecessarily complex
Requires technical support
Lots to learn
  • Command line usage is intuitive
  • Basic switch configuration
  • VRF configuration
  • Network wide policies
Easily approachable, plenty of support in house, TAC, online etc. Would consider it the standard of usability

Cisco Catalyst Switches Reliability

Cisco are the gold standard for reliability - they just work... no one gets fired for buying Cisco
Solid as a rock generally speaking.
They get the job done. Might not be as flashy as some other brands, but they are a reliable workhorse.

Integrating Cisco Catalyst Switches

Pretty standard for the industry - can't really complain.
  • Service Now
  • Catalyst Center
  • Netflow
  • VMware
  • File import/export
  • Single Signon
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
Theres plenty of support online or through TAC

Relationship with Cisco

Generally discounting was somewhat fixed based off volume, however value add services, training, training credits etc. were able to be bundled in. We also got favourable terms for additional feature sets
Cisco shoot pretty straight in my experience, no need to play games with these guys.

Upgrading Cisco Catalyst Switches

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