Great choice of switches for most purposes
May 09, 2021

Great choice of switches for most purposes

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with HPE Networking Switches

We've used a number of different HPE switches over the years, mainly for some of our customer premises where we provide some networking support. The large number of different models and feature sets means there's something for all use cases, and they tend to be well-built and reliable. We use everything from fully managed, 48-port models to small, low power 4 port devices, depending on what level of complexity is required. We're so used to them, it makes network management and maintenance pretty painless.
  • Well priced. There's something for all budgets.
  • Choice of managed and unmanaged models. Not all of our customers require (or want to pay for) managed switches, but many do.
  • Tons of features on the higher end models.
  • I'd love to see some form of command-line access and management be introduced to the lower-end models. That's pretty much goes for all manufacturers, to be fair.
  • Some of the models with fans can be quite loud. This won't be much of a problem if it's tucked away in a server room with other equipment, but you should do some research if you want something for the office.
  • Multiple product lines and large variety of models can lead to some overlap in product choice. This isn't a bad thing as such, but if you mix product lines you lose some of the benefits of having unified management tools, etc.
  • Huge choice of models means there's something to fit all budgets.
  • Higher-end models can integrate with our infrastructure-as-code and monitoring solutions.
  • Reliable. I would guess we've deployed maybe 50 switches over the past few years and I can't recall any of them failing as such.
  • High reliability so far has required very little maintenance and upkeep.
  • Standardising on particular HPE product lines and even specific models has reduced our burden supporting multiple customers.
  • Relatively low cost of entry. As far as switches go, HPE are very reasonably priced.
I also use some Cisco and Dell switches, amongst others. I've found them all to be much the same when you get to certain feature sets (and prices), but I do find myself preferring the HPEs overall. They just seem more reasonably priced, easier to setup, and with a bigger choice of models.

Do you think HPE Networking Switches delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with HPE Networking Switches's feature set?

Yes

Did HPE Networking Switches live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of HPE Networking Switches go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy HPE Networking Switches again?

Yes

People with more specialist requirements than myself may have more reason to look elsewhere, but in general, we tend to pick a HPE switch of one model or other for most office deployments we do. The choice of managed, unmanaged, advanced features, etc., means there's something for everyone. We support several offices relying on them, and no disasters yet!