Cisco Catalyst Switches Reviews

We pretty much use the solution primarily for everything that connects to a network. For example, we use it for user work stations or some endpoint equipment.

The solution is quite stable.

We've found the product to be very easy to use.

The solution is extremely flexible.

You can scale the solution by simply adding another device.

The solution is very easy to set up.

The solution is expensive. They should work on their pricing model to try to make it more affordable for customers.

I've been using the solution for more than a year at this point. It hasn't been too long.

We haven't had any issues with the stability. It doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't bugs or glitches. It's been good. It's a reliable product so far.

The solution is not stackable. To gain any kind of scalability with the solution is just about adding another 2960 Catalyst device. IN that sense, you can scale it however you like.

In our organization, we have about 3,000 users on the solution.

I've never contacted technical support and therefore I can't speak to how knowledgeable or responsive they are.

I did use Ubiquiti switches at one point in time, however, they were not enterprise-level products. They were more designed for small or medium-sized organizations. It's hard to compare the two.

The installation of the solution is not complex. The implementation is very, very straightforward. If you have a prepared configuration, a basic configuration, for example, it takes about, 10 minutes to configure the switch. Installation is just plugging power into it, and connecting it. It's very easy. You don't need to be too technical.

We had three people that handled deployment and maintenance.

We do plan to increase usage. We bought some more devices at the end of last year. We're just waiting for them to arrive. It's my understanding that the 2960-Plus is going out of sale this year. Therefore, we'll have to find some replacement series if we want to buy more switches.

I've handled the installation myself. I did not need the assistance of anyone. We didn't need to hire consultants or integrators.

The solution is a bit expensive.

We use the Catalyst Series 2960 or the 2960-Plus and some L3 switches for distribution-level switches, such as the 3850, which are out of sale and at end-of-life now. We're using the current versions of the solution for the most part.

I'd recommend the solution to other organizations.

Overall, I would rate it at a nine out of ten.

We use it for connecting the users on the network. The performance has been good.

I've used other switches as well but, when configuring Catalyst, we are able to bring the network up in a very short time. If the company wants to extend the network or wants to get some new users on board, the usage is pretty fast and, in no time, it gets moving. For other switches, it might take some time for us to do research and get the system online. So it provides business benefits. The users don't have to wait to get on the network.

Cisco is one of the most robust switches, it is easy to configure, and the documentation is pretty good. Once you install it, you never face an issue with that switch.

One feature that I would like to add is for the following: At times, when I add an access list for a hostname, it doesn't actually add the hostname, it adds the IP address. So in the back-end, if my server changes the IP address, I have to go in manually and change the IP address. If the capability was there in Cisco to add a hostname instead of the IP address that would be really good.

It's a pretty stable product. Once you install it in the network, it keeps running without any issues. You just install it and forget it.

It's scalable. If you want to install more switches it's pretty easy to pull up a wire, configure the new switch, and connect it to the network. It starts and you won't have to worry if the other switches will be compatible with it or not. In a multi-vendor environment as well, if you want to more switches, it works pretty well.

Tech support is good. The response has been good.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. There is a guide, as well as support, on the internet. We just follow it. A person who is doing it for the first time can just follow it and get it installed.

I would definitely have colleagues go for Cisco Catalyst. It's a pretty good product, stable, and reliable.

Most important when selecting a vendor are that the connection should be stable, it should have good support, and it should not be really complex to configure.

I would rate Cisco Catalyst at nine out of 10. The one point I'm leaving is for the improvement I spoke about. There is always room for improvement. Cisco Catalyst is pretty good. I have never faced any issues or challenges with it.

I use the tool in my company for spine and leaf architectures and to deploy new data centers.

The benefit of the tool is that it is a stable product. You can find enough expertise in the market to hire someone for help if required. Cisco's technical support is great.

Cisco Catalyst Switches offer familiarity with operating systems. The operational knowledge that I have gained after working with Cisco for around ten to twelve years is the sole reason I prefer it. The stability in the operations that I get with Cisco Catalyst Switches, the support it offers to users through the articles available over the internet, and the expertise related to the tool available in the market are good.

There are multiple operating systems across Cisco's portfolio, which is problematic. Cisco's firewall has some different operating systems, while Cisco's routers have a different operating system, so you might need to have people with different expertise, and the learning curve might be a little high as compared to other network providers, which might have common operating systems across different types of devices.

I have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for ten to twelve years. Currently, I'm not working with Cisco. I have my own startup organization where I provide services related to networking devices.

It is a stable solution. I have no complaints about the tool's stability.

It is a scalable solution.

Around 100 people in my company use the tool.

I have experience with the solution's technical support. I found Cisco's support team to be one of the best in the industry.

I rate the overall tool a seven and a half out of ten.

Neutral

It doesn't take much time to set up any Cisco device, but again, it depends on how comfortable you are with the tool. From my personal viewpoint, Cisco Catalyst Switches are pretty much easy to set up.

The product's deployment phase initially starts with a discovery and a design workshop. After that, our company mostly automates a lot of stuff based on the design and discovery workshop, where we come up with some artifacts with respect to configuration, and then we leverage some automation tools to deploy it.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Depending on the size of the deployment, around eight to ten people are required from an operation standpoint, and not more than two people are required to manage the deployment process.

The solution can be deployed with help from an in-house team.

The licenses are definitely expensive. There is a need to make annual payments towards the subscription or licensing costs attached to the solution.

Before a user picks up any product or solution, due diligence should be followed. Though Cisco offers many services, features, and functionalities, better solutions might be available in the market. If users need only ten features, it is better to choose a solution that offers only ten features rather than opting for something like Cisco, which offers over a hundred features, making it an expensive product.

I rate the overall tool a seven and a half out of ten.

We use the solution for long connections. It is deployed on-prem.

We're using seven Cisco devices in the head office.

The stability could be improved.

I have been using this solution for about three years.

It's stable, but it could be better.

The solution is scalable.

We haven't needed to contact technical support because we haven't had any issues so far.

Previously, we used Fortinet.

We integrated the solution ourselves.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

I would recommend these switches for those who want to start using them.

I use this solution for AV, Audio-Video applications, over IP solutions. It's to forward Audio-Video IP packets based on the ITMP protocol. I also needed a POE port to power the transmitters and receivers.

One of the most valuable features is the MatchBox Switch.

I used to use the CLI, the command line, but some users may want to use the Web GUI.

They need to simplify the Cisco 2960 Web GUI control, but not the entire version or the functionality for the Web GUI control.

IT people will most often use the CLI to configure the Cisco Switch.

They need to simplify the Web GUI and make it easier to use, and more intuitive for the users.

I have more than ten years of experience working with Cisco Switches.

It's stable. The Catalyst Switches are reliable.

The scalability is good.

I have not contacted Cisco technical support.

There are several training videos available on YouTube. 

If you Google, you can very easily gather material or training videos on how to configure the Cisco switch. 

The Cisco website itself is too complicated for the user and there are too many things on it. If the users are not familiar with Cisco, it's very difficult to find useful information on the Cisco website. 

In general, I don't use the Cisco website. I just Google the Cisco user manual or training video on YouTube to learn how to configure some features. 

If you are familiar with the Cisco Switch, it is pretty straightforward to configure it using the CLI.

If you are not familiar, in general, you will use the Web GUI.

There are several YouTube videos available to help configure the Cisco switches. It is very easy to configure them.

I would rate Cisco Catalyst Switches and eight out of ten. It's a pretty good switch.

We use Cisco Catalyst Switches for the local area network.

I like everything about Cisco Catalyst Switches. It's both stable and scalable.

The price could be better. For Cisco, there is no need for improvement except for the price. It's expensive.

We have been using Cisco Catalyst Switches for about ten years.

It's a stable solution.

Cisco Catalyst Switches are scalable. We have about 1,300 users.

Technical support was okay.

The initial setup and installation were straightforward. For configuration, it took around ten minutes. For the maintenance, we have two network administrators—just two personnel.

It's expensive.

I would recommend this solution to new users.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Cisco Catalyst Switches a ten.

Access layer Switches. VLAN Segmentation, Inter-VLAN and LAN Routing. 802.1X network access device.

This platform has enabled reliable connectivity across the entire campus network. Great performance and stability ensure that the network is available where you need it. The 802.1X port security and other security features work well and help keep the network secure. PoE helped us deploy WLAN APs, security cameras, and IP phones with minimal cabling.

• Very stable and dependable switches.
• The wide range of features will be enough for almost any LAN environment.
• The CLI is pretty much the same across all switching and routing platforms from Cisco, making deployment of new switches, replacement of damaged equipment, or upgrades to newer platforms very easy.

I have found no major drawbacks in the Catalyst platforms. The price is high, but for seemingly the best LAN switching platform available, coupled with Cisco's excellent support, the price doesn't seem to be too much.

No issues with stability.

No issues with scalability.

Technical support is the best I have worked with.

Basic switching functionality works out-of-the-box, as with any other switch. Complexity will depend on the task at hand, but if you're familiar with the Cisco CLI you should have no problem finding your way.

Pricing of Cisco equipment is high, but I think these switches are worth the price.

I have been working with Catalyst switches for 10 years. Cisco support is among the best there is. Use it.

We are supporting many clients. Some of them have Cisco switches, and some of them have HPE. We are supporting their network and solving any requests. We are doing troubleshooting for them. For most of the clients, we do full support of the network, but it also depends on the service that they took from our company. Some of them don't give us access to their core switches, which is very rare. Most of the clients give us full access. If they need, for example, a new route, we edit the VLAN port configuration, port channels, etc.

We are also managing the wireless controller for all clients. We are supporting them by creating the wireless connection and changing the password periodically.

I recently discovered the DHCP feature. There is a feature with which you can make the core act as a DHCP server, and it will distribute the IPs for every device. I discovered this feature recently, and it is very nice.

Its price can be improved. Some devices can be very expensive.

I have been working with this solution for around two years.

It is stable.

If you follow the recommendation of Cisco, it is scalable. Sometimes, when there is anything wrong with it, we open a ticket with Cisco, and they recommend upgrading the IOS. 

We have many clients here. Most of them have Cisco. We have three clients with HPE. 

They are very nice and very quick.

Most of them are easy, especially if you have a stack solution. If it is arranged as a stack, it would be very easy to do an installation, and it also takes a shorter time than the standalone. One of the clients I worked with had a stack solution, and it was very easy. We just had to erase everything, put the new switch in there, and connect the stack cables and power cables. That was it. Sometimes, it can take the configuration from the flash.

The number of people required depends on the topology. If it is a big topology, you need two or three people. If it is a small topology, you need less number of people.

It is overpriced. Some devices can be very expensive.

Most of the clients have a contract with Cisco for two or three years.

There are different categories of switches. There are Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches. In Layer 2 switches, 2650 is nice. It is a good switch. In Layer 3, most of the switches are good.

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.