Industry Standard for Enterprise Switching
August 29, 2018

Industry Standard for Enterprise Switching

Michael Timms | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Ethernet Switches

Cisco Ethernet Switches are the industry standard for enterprise level networks. I have installed and helped configure the 6500 series all the way through to the 3850's which seem to be the most widely used now. I was totally against changing from the "blade" type switches to the stackable switches like the 3750 and 3850, but now I wouldn't change back even if it were possible.
  • Layer 3 routing and switching
  • Trunking
  • Scalability
  • Cisco Switches are extremely expensive (however the service that you get it outstanding)
  • Installing a third party license is a nightmare
  • At times, support ends with no warning.
  • Failure on Cisco Switches, from my experience, is rare in the first 5 years the device is up.
  • I have see the Cisco 6500 switches go 5 years without a reboot, which is nothing short of amazing.
  • The service that you get is top notch and available 24/7, and you really cannot put a price on that.
The only choices that was D-link and Netgear Ethernet swithes, and there is no comparison between them and Cisco. The only other enterprise switches that I have experience with are HP Procurve, and again there is simply no comparison. Cisco blows them out of the water on quality and service.
I would recommend Cisco Ethernet Switches for any established company, or education system of just about any size,. Basically the only place that I would not recommend Cisco Switches would be a startup that is on a limited budget, because they could get out much cheaper going with another cheaper brand.