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.
"Mostly the LAN switching is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"The product is reliable."
"It is easy to install."
"The solution is reliable."
"The most important features are that Cisco is one of the most robust switches, it is easy to configure, and the documentation is pretty good."
"This solution has a pretty good rate of not causing unexpected behavior or failing. We're using maybe 900 switches right now. And, rarely, if ever, something fails, it's dependable."
"They have a robust monitoring system."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches are highly reliable and stable."
"The in-service software upgrade (ISSU) feature is quite valuable."
"A very solid and reliable solution."
"The scalability of the solution is well beyond anything I would ever need."
"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 solution is network visibility. It becomes the core switch. All of the devices connected route towards it."
"The solution is stable."
"Cisco Nexus meets all of our requirements."
"It is a scalable, reliable, stable and efficient solution."
"The delivery dates need to be more expedient."
"Cisco should support all of the features that are included with the suite."
"Their centralized management could be better. There should be some kind of software for centralized management so that I don't need somebody else to manage it."
"This product could be improved with cheaper pricing."
"Out of the competition, Cisco switches are easily the most expensive."
"Facilitating and adapting the security updates would be a good improvement, because usually it requires to reboot the router to get them"
"Cisco has to lower the price of its products to make them more cost-effective."
"The licensing process should be back to how it was before. Now, you have to register online, and it makes staging a bit trickier."
"This solution costs a lot."
"If I call during a high volume, I might get someone that just doesn't know as much or it takes a little bit of time and they put us on hold more. Otherwise, it's good."
"The technical support for this solution needs to be improved."
"The initial setup was somewhat complex."
"I feel that this solution should be more flexible and scalable."
"I would like to see the integration of the products into something where it's seamless where an engineer never touches the switch again, never does CLI and you move to an application based network organization."
"There is limited guidance in terms of the use and configuration of Cisco Nexus for specific use cases. The documentation is not comprehensive, and you have to do a lot of online research."
"Nexus switches should be able to support network function virtualization (NFV)."
Cisco Catalyst Switches is ranked 1st in LAN Switching with 170 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.
See our list of best LAN Switching vendors and best Data Center Networking vendors.
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