We compared Cisco Catalyst Switches and Cisco Nexus based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
Overall, the user reviews highlight that Cisco Catalyst Switches are valued for their stability, performance, scalability, ease of use, and flexibility, with emphasis on excellent customer support and significant ROI. On the other hand, Cisco Nexus is praised for its ease of use, scalability, redundancy capabilities, and technical support, with attention to its reliability and suitability for data center management. The key differences between the two products lie in their target markets, feature sets, and user experiences.
Features: The valuable features of Cisco Catalyst Switches include flexibility, ease of use, stability, performance, scalability, easy configuration, interconnectivity of devices, streaming audio and video management, and robust security features. On the other hand, Cisco Nexus is praised for its stability, user-friendly GUI, scalability, helpful technical support, and features like VDC and VPC that enhance flexibility and redundancy capabilities. It is especially suitable for data center management. ISSU feature allows for changes and testing before implementing them in the production environment.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Catalyst Switches are known for their reasonable and competitive pricing in the market. The setup cost is straightforward and easy to integrate into existing networks. The licensing process is hassle-free and flexible. On the other hand, Cisco Nexus also offers competitive pricing, with a straightforward and hassle-free setup cost. Users appreciate the flexibility of licensing options provided by Cisco Nexus., Cisco Catalyst Switches offer a significant ROI with improved network performance, reliability, security features, and scalability. Users appreciate the ease of installation and management, leading to increased efficiency and cost savings. On the other hand, Cisco Nexus also provides a highly positive ROI with increased network performance, enhanced security measures, improved scalability, and simplified management. It offers cost savings through reduced downtime, improved productivity, and streamlined operations. Users praise its reliability, ease of implementation, and comprehensive feature set.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Catalyst Switches could benefit from enhanced firmware stability, better compatibility with third-party software and devices, improved user interface, faster response times, and enhanced troubleshooting capabilities. In contrast, Cisco Nexus could be improved in terms of reliability, performance speed, configuration simplicity, and compatibility limitations.
Deployment and customer support: The reviews for Cisco Catalyst Switches mention that deployment can take either three months or just a week, with some users using "deployment" and "setup" interchangeably. On the other hand, Cisco Nexus reviews indicate varying durations, with some users spending three months on deployment and an additional week on setup, while others only need a week for both., The customer service for Cisco Catalyst Switches has been praised for its prompt, reliable, and effective support. Users value the helpfulness and knowledge of the support staff. On the other hand, the customer service for Cisco Nexus is also highly regarded for its prompt, knowledgeable, and efficient support. Users appreciate the helpful and attentive support representatives and the availability of comprehensive documentation and online resources to assist them. Overall, users are satisfied with the assistance and support provided by Cisco Nexus.
The summary above is based on 87 interviews we conducted recently with Cisco Catalyst Switches and Cisco Nexus users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"A good feature of Cisco Catalyst is that it records crash log files which can be used to literally identify the cause of a crash because there is a lot of information. And Cisco Catalyst supports the use of external flash disks for storing of images and file systems."
"It can be expanded."
"Technical support is always very helpful and fast to respond."
"The solution is reliable."
"As there are many who are knowledgeable of this technology, this translates into extensive support for it."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuring a switch."
"Catalyst switches are easy to use and simple to work with."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco equipment is reliability."
"We have a much more stable network now using the Cisco Nexus."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it scales well. It supports a lot of servers. We don't have to come up with different designs for anything. That's the best part about it."
"The most valuable feature of the 7700 series is probably the multi-context subset VRS, which lets you use multi-VRS, multi-context, and also VPC setup, where you have two logical devices that are still separate in terms of management planes, but have shared, virtual core channels."
"The most valuable features of this solution are scalability and reliability."
"We got increased bandwidth, faster performance, and newer software which has improved our organization."
"The scalability of the solution is well beyond anything I would ever need."
"We now have one box that does multiple services."
"The biggest benefit to this solution is a high port density with high bandwidth."
"To make it a ten they should simplify the licensing, add the cloud-managed feature, and it should be more cost-effective."
"Cisco should focus more on this type of product instead of on data center switches. They stopped improving the software of these switches and they are focusing on the data center. They should focus on this type of product, more than any other thing."
"We'd like Cisco to integrate with other solutions, including their own."
"The solution is expensive. They should work on their pricing model to try to make it more affordable for customers."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches' pricing can be cheaper."
"The delivery of the product lead time should be improved."
"Compared to other switches, the Cisco products are expensive."
"Their price should be cheaper. We lose a lot of work because of the price that they have."
"There are limitations on some of the lower level 9K solutions where you can't do the same things that you would normally be able to do, like for instance the number of static maps that you can configure on it."
"There is an ongoing problem with the limitation of the TCAM table, which is that it doesn't have enough memory to allow you to be really granular with your policy."
"The product lacks options for integration with other market products that would allow us more flexibility."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing. The solution is expensive. Compared to other vendors, it's costly for similar products."
"They need to offer fibre switches in the 9K series."
"It would be nice if the solution offered multiple types of port support."
"Nexus switches should be able to support network function virtualization (NFV)."
"The initial setup of the Cisco Nexus platform takes a long time. It's a complex system because we have a lot of security layers."
Cisco Catalyst Switches is ranked 1st in LAN Switching with 171 reviews while Cisco Nexus is ranked 6th in LAN Switching with 101 reviews. Cisco Catalyst Switches is rated 8.6, while Cisco Nexus is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco Catalyst Switches writes "Reliable and stable catalyst switch; can be easily installed". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Nexus writes " Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing". Cisco Catalyst Switches is most compared with Arista Networks Platform, Dell PowerConnect Switches, HPE ProCurve, ExtremeSwitching and Aruba Instant On Switches, whereas Cisco Nexus is most compared with Juniper QFX Series Switches, Arista Networks Platform, Dell PowerConnect Switches, VMware NSX and Juniper QFabric. See our Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Cisco Nexus report.
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