We performed a comparison between Cisco Catalyst Switches and Dell PowerConnect Switches based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Users feel Cisco Catalyst Switches provide great stability, intuitive reliable analytics, seamless scalability, excellent PoE capabilities, and solid robust security. However, users are happier with the pricing of Dell PowerConnect Switches.
"The solution is durable."
"The scalability is good."
"Power over Ethernet (PoE) is one of the most valuable features. It eliminates the need for power supplies every time."
"The pricing is quite good."
"Scalable, stable, and reliable product that's easy to install. Technical support is dependable and can be contacted in a variety of ways, e.g. through their ticketing system, hotline number, and community forum."
"The solution is beneficial for interconnecting POE telephones, computers, printers, and buffering networks."
"The solution is good for computation and backup."
"The most valuable features of the solution are BGP, VPN, and spine-leaf architecture."
"The functionality is very good."
"The most valuable feature is stability."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is simplicity."
"The features I've found most valuable are that the product is very easy to configure and inexpensive."
"The product is reliable."
"Dell offers very good support."
"This is a very reliable solution."
"The product is cheap."
"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."
"It would be good if Cisco Catalyst Switches could align maintenance with one version."
"Cisco applies restrictions in relation to renewals on a yearly basis. Many other brands don't have restrictions. If Cisco lifted them, they wouldn't lose so many clients to competitors."
"The price could be improved."
"It would be good if they added some machine learning which would allow us to abandon the rigid rules for processing traffic priorities and, at the same time, save money, because equipment with similar logic (like DPI) is much more expensive."
"I think one switch should go beyond the 10 gig connectivity to 40 gigs."
"The licensing process should be back to how it was before. Now, you have to register online, and it makes staging a bit trickier."
"The price can definitely be lower."
"Their hardware is not reliable, it's faulty."
"Dell is sometimes slow to provide updates to firmware."
"I can't think of what we would want in the next release."
"Not a ten because I have to do a lot of testing on it. The correlation is okay."
"There should be more port options in this switch. Currently, it has 24 or 48 ports. However, some of our customers require only 8 ports, but I have to put a switch with 24 ports. They should provide smaller solutions and complimentary access point for companies like ours with a low quantity of work. The main issue with this product is branding. They should improve their branding and promote their brand more in Mexico. Customers are more aware of brands like Cisco as compared to Dell."
"A user can take care of the product's installation part, but it may not seem to be an easy process."
"What's lacking in Dell PowerConnect Switches is SD-WAN integration, and this is what needs to be improved in it. All enterprises now move towards SD-WAN infrastructure, and because Dell PowerConnect Switches don't currently support SD-WAN, the product would be replaced, considered a secondary switch, or linked up to a different switch. Integration or support for SD-WAN is what I'd like to see in the next version of Dell PowerConnect Switches."
"Scalability, especially with the power connect series is something that you have to take into account before starting the project because any changes to an ongoing project can be difficult."
Cisco Catalyst Switches is ranked 1st in LAN Switching with 170 reviews while Dell PowerConnect Switches is ranked 3rd in LAN Switching with 30 reviews. Cisco Catalyst Switches is rated 8.6, while Dell PowerConnect Switches is rated 8.0. 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 Dell PowerConnect Switches writes "Excellent support, good pricing, and easy setup". Cisco Catalyst Switches is most compared with Arista Networks Platform, Cisco Nexus, HPE ProCurve, ExtremeSwitching and Aruba Instant On Switches, whereas Dell PowerConnect Switches is most compared with Cisco Nexus, HPE ProCurve, NETGEAR Switches, Arista Networks Platform and Dell PowerSwitch N-Series. See our Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Dell PowerConnect Switches report.
See our list of best LAN Switching vendors and best Data Center Networking vendors.
We monitor all LAN Switching reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
