We sell NETGEAR Switches. We are exclusive distributors.
NETGEAR switches are used in office networks, Wi-Fi networks, and internal networks.
We sell NETGEAR Switches. We are exclusive distributors.
NETGEAR switches are used in office networks, Wi-Fi networks, and internal networks.
We have a wide range of switches for various applications, including a collection specifically designed for ProAV, as well as Multi-gig Switches, which are also quite well-known or unique.
I believe the pricing, support, and customization are all reasonable.
It is easy to use.
Perhaps in the future, we will have even more different types of switches and be able to fulfill more collections.
Most of our clients request VLAN functions and possibly other advanced controlling functions. I mean now netgear has it's fabulous Insight Management function, and I am happy to see it keep updating the cloud service features to even better and even more user friendly control.
I've been working with NETGEAR switches since I started working for this company a few years ago.
We sell all of the available switches.
Most of the time NETGEAR Switches are high performance and quite stable.
NETGEAR Switches are scalable because we have different collections to fulfill different scenarios.
Technical support is reasonable.
We also have PLANET Switch.
It is my understanding that the initial setup is easy.
I believe that the pricing is reasonable.
I would rate NETGEAR Switches a nine out of ten.
We are primarily using the solution on the client side. We use it in our office.
I haven't had any issues so far. It's worked quite well.
The cost of the solution is very good. We enjoy the price point they offer.
We've found the stability to be very good. The performance is excellent.
The cloud service is not so good. They can't make some application on a cloud for the switch. It's not a good idea.
The management needs to be improved. If you manage the switch by the cloud, you can't manage it by the web interface.
The initial setup takes a long time. It's a long, drawn-out process.
The problem is not on the cloud services end. It's on setup. You have to make an account and you lose a lot of time. If you don't want to manage by the cloud, I don't understand why you have to register your switch there.
They have to make the feature to manage all switches within a team.
I've been working with the solution for 20 years or so. It's been two decades. It's been a while.
The solution is quite stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
It's not very good in terms of scalability. You have to make a switch for the data center. It's limited.
I've never been in touch with technical support. I can't speak to how knowledgeable or responsive they are. We have an internal team that can handle troubleshooting for the most part.
I also use D-Link.
The installation process is long. It takes one hour to make an account, to go to the switch web interface, et cetera. If you don't make an account, if you don't notice your switch, it's not fully manageable. You have to do a lot of things before your switch will be manageable. And you have to do this for all your switches. You lose one hour for every switch. This is not good. It's so very time-consuming.
The solution has a very reasonable cost.
I sell the solution and manage it as well. However, I am not a customer.
If a client needs to switch from one solution to another, Netgear may not be right, as there may be some compatibility issues.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
They are reasonably priced and have worked pretty well for us.
They need to implement a fully-featured CLI in their enterprise-class switches if they want to compete in that space and market.
We're an IT services provider so we have them installed at various clients' sites, and for various applications. The primary use case is for local area networks.
We're able to pre-configure a device, before it gets deployed, in the cloud. We don't even have to open up the box, we can just preconfigure it in the cloud. As soon as we deploy it onsite, it automatically gets configured.
The most valuable feature is the fact that Insight is cloud-managed. The whole reason behind it is that there is one central place to manage it. You can pre-configure everything and you can get access to it without having to get onto the client's network. That makes it easy to use and deploy.
Remote troubleshooting is good and easy.
The remote management tools still need work. They're good, but they still need work.
One of the big drawbacks is that the whole tiered administration doesn't work. They've got a tiered user structure where there is a global admin, and then what they call a manager, and then there is a user. The problem is, if anywhere along the line somebody opens up a support ticket, all the correspondence winds up going to the global admin, it doesn't go to the person who opened up the support ticket. They can't seem to get that changed, even when you tell them specifically that the global admin is not the person dealing with this problem. That's very frustrating.
Another issue, a technical problem they can't seem to solve, is that it doesn't support multicast packets. In layman's terms, Mac computers can't print over the network.
Also, they've got some PoE models, but they need to expand that line a little bit.
Finally, it would be nice to have the ability to have SNMP enabled at the same time Net Insight. I would also like to see integration with Auvik.
It still needs some work. It's got a couple of quirks where it will shut off ports because it thinks there's an IP conflict when there really isn't.
The scalability is good. It could probably go to 100 connections. That would probably be the equivalent of 30 to 40 users.
We are a Netgear partner, so we get preferential support. Because we get preferential support, it's pretty good. We've had a few hiccups, but overall, they're good.
We were using Cisco and HPE. A big factor in our switch to NETGEAR vs Cisco Ethernet Switches is cost. Simplicity is another. Support is another because the support for HPE and Cisco is absolutely horrid.
The setup is straightforward. It's all done in the cloud and you can manage everything from there. It's a whole lot easier than the traditional way of doing it. Deployment takes an hour, if that.
The best strategy is to preconfigure it in the cloud before it gets physically deployed.
As to whether you need to be an IT expert to deploy it and support your network, it depends on the complexity of the network. For simple applications, no. For complex applications, like multiple VLANs, and QoS, and PoE power management, etc, you've got to know what you're doing to set all that up properly.
We see ROI in labor savings. Deployment time is probably cut in half. We're billing for a regular deployment, but it only takes half the amount of time. That's $200 profit for us.
There are two parts to the pricing. There's the pricing of the device itself, which is good. Their licensing model needs work, though. The licensing model doesn't fit the way MSPs do business. They need to revise it to something that makes more sense for an MSP. And here, I'm specifically talking about Insight Pro licensing.
The cost of hardware and additional service is low. That helps our business because it's easier to make a sale.
We were aware of lots of other options, but we didn't do any formal evaluation of any others.
If you are an MSP, you should definitely look into it and plan to use it. I would recommend it.
Overall, we're very happy with the product. It's become our standard going forward. But there are some exceptions. One being the tiered administration. The other one is lack of support for support multicast packets.
Regarding staff for deployment and maintenance, it depends on if you're looking at our entire fleet of these Ethernet switches, which is scattered across multiple clients; then it's probably a tenth of a person. If it's one switch, it's less than a tenth of a person. Switches are low maintenance as a device, it doesn't matter whose they are.
We've got half a dozen deployed at various clients right now. And there will be more because we've got projects in the queue.
Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. The issues I mentioned that still need to be resolved come to mind, as well as the licensing structure that doesn't really make sense for us.
The tool's price could be better.
I have been using the solution for one year.
The solution is stable.
My company has one user for the tool.
The solution's setup is easy. The tool's deployment depended on our vendor.
The tool's deployment can be done in-house.
The solution is expensive. You need to pay the costs one-time.
I would rate the product an eight out of ten.
We mainly use NETGEAR Switches for some switching and tethering.
I'm satisfied with the stability of NETGEAR Switches.
NETGEAR Switches could be more secure. Scalability could also be better. This infrastructure is a bit old, and we need something that will be more secure. Something that will introduce WLAN, and we will need the knowledge to go with that.
Some of the switches were used for more than seven years. I think it was just their lifespan that was exhausted. But other than that, there haven't been any issues that required us to complain or get concerned.
I have been using NETGEAR Switches for a few years.
I'm satisfied with the stability of NETGEAR Switches.
NETGEAR Switches could be more scalable. We have about 200 users using this solution.
I don't remember the initial setup. We have about five managers and technical people to deploy and manage this solution.
I can't recommend this solution to potential users.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give NETGEAR Switches an eight.
Greg, Thank you so much for reviewing NETGEAR Business switches. We've been making Switches for over 22 years, NETGEAR definitely has switching solutions that can use a full-featured CLI Command Line Interfaces in our enterprise "Managed Switching" line. We of course also have switches that are unmanaged, smart managed and even remotely cloud managed. Feel free to reach out to me here on IT Central Station or contact our support team and we can provide more info on using NETGEAR Switches in enterprise environments. I look forward to hearing from you. -Bret from NETGEAR