Cisco Catalyst Switches Reviews

We work on level 2 and level 3 switches to connect many branches.

These switches are stable. They work well and are easy to use.

Cisco switches are expensive.

I have been selling this solution for about 10 years.

They are stable.

I have not contacted their support. Another engineer has contacted them. We have our own two people for support.

We also deal with the HP ProCurve switch, but it is not as good in Libya.

It is not complex now because we have CCNA and CCNP engineers. We have two engineers who are certified with Cisco. Overall, we have three people who work with this solution.

We implemented and finished a big project for a company. The company is still working with the same components that we installed. For deployment, I have two people with me, but in our company, we have a big team of 20 people.

They are expensive.

I would recommend these switches to others. Cisco is a good company.

I would rate Cisco Catalyst Switches a nine out of ten. 

We use Cisco switches as part of our network infrastructure. We have a LAN and we will be implementing an SD-WAN in the future.

The most valuable feature of Cisco equipment is reliability.

As we are a Cisco-based company, the interchangeability with other switches is something that is valuable for us.

These switches should have better compatibility with software-defined technology.

I have been working with Cisco Catalyst Switches for approximately 25 years. Our current Cisco equipment is about five years old.

This is a stable product, which is why we use it. The majority of our equipment is more than five years old.

Cisco switches are very scalable.

We have two organic employees and we outsource between six and ten.

The technical support that we get is great. We have another partner for support, rather than contact Cisco directly.

I have been working with similar products from Dell EMC for approximately 15 years. Our most recent Dell product is about five years old. There have been improvements made with some of the newer products that have been released since then.

The initial setup was easy. We do have experience with Cisco products and also, our setup is not very difficult or complex. It's just a simple setup.

I cannot say that the pricing is reasonable because it's a little above our expectations. If we consider the recent price increases, it is not acceptable anymore. They are trying to price us out of our budget.

We want to adopt SD-WAN technology at the switch level. We will be expanding the software-defined capabilities of Cisco equipment to the LAN side of our network. We expect that Cisco will be the primary vendor for the equipment we use to initiate that move. This is not just for the wide-area network, but also the local area network.

In summary, Cisco is a good vendor but they're quite pricey at the moment.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We generally work with small, medium and sometimes government organizations. We do layer 3 switches, as well as 9200 as layer 2 switches. I'm an integrator and we are customers of Cisco. 

We don't use any specific protocols. For us, the hardware and the security are the product's valuable features and performance of this solution is good. 

The cost of this product is very high and not all companies can afford it. Government entities can but corporations these days are hesitant to get Cisco. They're looking for other options that can cut their costs by 30% or 40% from the cost of Cisco Catalyst Switches. I think the command line in the platform could be improved because it's divided and can complicate things, maybe they can go direct to GUI. Using all the commands is a bit difficult. 

Cisco is stable. There are no issues with outages or integration. Once it's up and running, configuration is okay, and once it's on the live network, it's fine, no issues. 

Scalability is not an issue. Cisco is their own market and it works.  

If I have Smart Net, I get good technical support. Whenever I have an issue I contact them. They're very good. 

Initial setup can be a bit complex depending on the organization. Deployment time depends on the configuration. I did an installation with around 44 switches of Cisco 3850, which took me around one week to do the installation, configuration, and handover. It depends on the number of switches and configuration required. 

When we propose Cisco to a company, the only issue they are concerned with is price and the yearly subscription. You have to buy Smart Net to get a warranty and that is also expensive. 

Cisco is similar to other solutions such as D-Link. They have the same features. 

I rate this product an eight out of 10. 

We primarily use the solution for our server. It's a network solution as well.

It's a very popular solution.

We find the product very easy to configure.

The stability is very good.

The product can scale quite well. 

Cisco is basically the number one switch in the market. It makes it hard for other options to compete. 

The solution is expensive. Sometimes we will choose some cheaper options even though they are not as stable as Cisco's offering. However, if it is a small project, it may not be worth paying Cisco prices to get it done.  

I've used the solution for two or three years at this point. 

I have found the solution to be very stable. The performance is good. It doesn't crash or freeze. it's reliable. 

The scalability has been excellent. A company shouldn't have any issues with expanding it if they need to.

We have three to five people that directly work with this product.

We already use so many Catalyst switches. I'm not sure if we intend to add any more. 

We don't really need any support as we have a network engineer on staff that can help us troubleshoot if we have issues. 

I can't speak to the initial setup. In terms of the installation process, we have a network engineer that will help us to install the switches when we need them.

The solution is expensive. There are other cheaper switches on the market. However, they may not necessarily be as stable as this option. 

When you buy the Cisco, the price already includes a software license.

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. It might be the latest.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. I've been pleased with its capabilities overall. 

I use Catalyst Switches in the lines of our local networks. We also use ASR routers from Cisco in one. We have other branches and about 20 or 30 buildings. It's a very large network.

The most valuable features of Cisco Catalyst are the DHCP features that I use in our routers and the PfR connections. Someone said a long time ago that he who buys Cisco is never fired. They have good solutions. 

At present, we are adopting many cloud solutions. We are connected to several cloud platforms and do a lot of business in the cloud. So I think that in general, we don't need many features at the moment unless we want to create some applications on the cloud. But that's not the case right now. We are thinking of moving all the people from these 20 buildings to one building. So with all of them in the same building, we'll need to design a new architecture. We have the ACI in our data centers, so we must see how all of this works. We don't know if we'll go to SD-LAN too. So I don't know if we'll use Catalyst or another solution—a solution with ACI, SD-WAN, or SD-LAN. At this moment, I can't say because we are starting to think about this new design.

I've been using Catalyst Switches for about 25 years.

Catalyst Switches perform very well, and the network is stable. 

Catalyst Switches are scalable.

If we have a major problem, fixing it takes two or three days and six to eight engineers from Cisco. When they escalate a ticket, it goes through too many levels. Every time the issue is passed along to a new person at Cisco support, they ask the same questions repeatedly. However, if we have a problem that requires a quick fix, Cisco support can handle it in one or two hours. But if we need two or three guys from them, it gets complicated. I don't know if the problem is, but it seems like they spend too much time analyzing the problem and passing it along to other people. Other vendors like Palo Alto and Aruba resolve problems more quickly.

Having worked with Cisco for at least 25 years, I think it's easy, but I don't know if someone with less experience would say the same. It's easy because it's very fast. We have some labs where we implement things, and then it's mostly copy-paste — copy the configuration and paste into a new suite. So it's not difficult. Catalyst Switches don't require much maintenance. Sometimes we have problems in our network, but mostly they're not actually problems with the network itself. The business thinks that the problems are in the network, so we must call Cisco to help us prove that we don't have a problem. We can prove that, but if the data service is from Cisco, it's better. All of them. We have about seven or eight people in my company working directly with the Catalyst Switches.

Catalyst Switches are costly. When I started working with them 25 years ago, prices were a problem too. In my opinion, they are good, of course, and they are the answer to all of our questions. I can say that.

I rate Catalyst Switches nine out of 10. I would recommend them to others. I don't know when they will design a new edition of the bigger switches. Because if you have a branch, for instance, you a small Catalyst. You don't need a large Catalyst. But whether it's a small or big installation, I recommend Catalyst.

We are a solution provider and Cisco Catalyst Switches are one of the network products that we provide to our clients. Within the past year, we have implemented Catalyst 2960 switches and Cisco 1900 Series routers.

I am implementing complex solutions with the Catalyst series that include the Spanning Tree Protocol. I build these solutions for educational institutions that are servicing professors and students, including wireless services.

The performance is good for complex solutions.

The most valuable feature is load balancing.

The integration with other brands is good.

I would like to see a graphical user interface for the configuration. This is something that other brands and models have.

I have worked with the Cisco brand for the past seven years.

I am fine with the stability. With the protocol that was implemented, the network has not gone down.

Scalability is good and is suitable for an enterprise network.

My clients are normally small companies.

I don't usually contact technical support. I am familiar with the forum, so I search there when I need information. The documentation, manuals, and community support are all good.

My client is using switches from MikroTik and Ubiquiti access points. We have also dealt with other vendors, including Cisco and Huawei, in the delivery of solutions to our customers. My clients choose Cisco because of the stability and performance.

I have also worked with telecom enterprises in the past, which included working with Cisco products Catalyst and Nexus. 

I have worked with these switches and know how to configure them.

The length of time required for deployment depends on the size of the network. For a network of 15 switches, it takes me two or three days to configure.

The price is too high for this market. Catalyst switches are more expensive than the competing options.

I am currently evaluating several options for my client. Their goal is to improve the reliability and architecture of the network, to give them improved scalability and performance. They need a good switch, but the budget is small so I am searching for the most cost-economical one that suits their needs. In fact, for them, the price is essential now.

Overall, these switches are very good. I like to work with them because they have advanced capabilities. I recommend this product because Cisco has proprietary protocols and we are happy with them.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

LAN access, distribution and core. 

We are Cisco partner and sell Cisco solutions, we have sold this platform for last 20 years. Its quite robust and work in worst environmental conditions.

In terms of the switches, the uptime and the robustness of the hardware are the most valuable aspects. 

Cisco devices are quite good. They do not fail specially the Catalyst Switches. 

The solution offers quite a robust infrastructure, hardware-wise. 

Cisco provides very good support services.

Cisco is improving and investing in R&D right now. They are investing a lot in research, and keep improving their products.

For example, they have recently launched the SDA, SDWAN, ACI etc. Software Defined-Solutions, in which you can automate your operations and enhance your operations, and avoid manual stuff.

With their constant innovation and investment in R&D, there isn't really very much the solution isn't lacking or building upon in terms of features.

The pricing could be better.

We've been using Catalyst for long time. It's a very old Cisco brand, I have been deploying catalyst switches for last 20 years. 

The solution is extremely stable.

You can scale the solution quite well. It's good in that regard.

We're quite happy with their support services. They also offer very good documentation.

Since we are reseller / partner we sell different vendors solutions.

The initial setup is very easy.

On top of that, they have complete documentation available on their website. Whatever scenario you are deploying, you can search for an example of it on their website. That can help guild you during the process.

We are reseller / partner.

licensing model is changing from perpetual licenses to subscription based licensing. Subscription based licensing model is cheaper but reoccur every year or 3, 5 or 7 years.  

Not relevant. 

The main use case usually depends on the client itself. We are operating as system integrators with numerous customers and different software vendors. 

When deciding on the system, most of the clients check for switching capacity and Cisco Catalyst Switches is a very good solution for that purpose. It enables fast data transfer rates while offering stable and consistent network performance. 

With most of the Cisco devices and models, we faced a slight decrease in speed during the initial setup and while restarting the system. The performance of the solution itself is really good. 

I have been employing this solution for a year and a half. 

I would rate the stability ten out of ten. 

The scalability depends on the device that is used and the client's requests, but overall, it is a scalable solution that can accommodate growing network demands. 

Cisco provides comprehensive support and advanced management capabilities, including remote configuration and monitoring options. We had a small issue with the data center so we had to engage with the tech team, and their service was exceptional. I rate it ten out of ten. 

Positive

The initial setup was not complex at all. The only issue with the setup is that it takes a lot of time for the system to be deployed. 

The deployment of the solution is based on specific networking needs so the timing and the whole process depends on the complexity of the project.

I would say that the pricing of the solution falls within the moderate to higher range. It is still quite reasonable for the provided service. I rate it seven out of ten.

I highly recommend Cisco Catalyst Switches as they facilitate the creation of network segments and VLAN configurations for smooth traffic management and security. I rate it ten out of ten.