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.
"One of the main features of this solution is it is easy to manage."
"It is an infrastructure tool, so it is just providing a backend service. Its most useful feature is that it operates on a regular basis. It is reliable."
"The Cisco software ties all the hardware together better than the competition."
"They are pretty good. They are stable. Cisco has been around in the industry for a long time, so they are reliable, as well."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is managed switching."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco equipment is reliability."
"Cisco Catalyst Switches are very stable."
"The configuration is easy."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the power."
"We now have one box that does multiple services."
"We got increased bandwidth, faster performance, and newer software which has improved our organization."
"The most valuable feature is its reliability."
"The most valuable feature is that it is high-density, ten-gig."
"The flexibility, how accurately the VPCs operate as well as the redundancy built into it with the VPCs are the most valuable features."
"It's pretty easy to use and operates at high speed."
"We have continuity with Cisco, which provides a very high-end solution."
"The product is expensive."
"Cisco forces end-users to accept billing for some capabilities or services that they may not want."
"In terms of what could be improved, more integration is the main thing they should be focused on."
"The solution could improve by allowing administrators to create scripts to help automate processes to make tasks easier."
"These switches should have better compatibility with software-defined technology."
"They should make so that they let users know five to ten minutes before productivity is restored in the case of power loss."
"The configuration process is hard."
"The solution could improve by adding a user-friendly GUI. We use third-party applications for log monitoring that are expensive and if Cisco could provide log monitoring as part of this solution it would be beneficial."
"Ease-of-use and making things more human-readable is most important."
"The product lacks options for integration with other market products that would allow us more flexibility."
"Data center access is stable and high speed but it is not compatible with Cisco's server hardware devices. The solution can be technically improved and can have features like automation, better visibility, better functionality, and cheap pricing."
"They could improve on having different technologies between product models."
"Some of the DHCP features need improvement."
"The solution is more expensive than other options on the market."
"Stability is not really up to the mark."
"The product could be updated more frequently for other phone model support."
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.
See our list of best LAN Switching vendors and best Data Center Networking vendors.
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