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Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches vs Cisco Ethernet Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch E...
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Ethernet Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
136
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Ethernet Switches is 10.3%, down from 17.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Ethernet Switches10.3%
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches1.1%
Other88.6%
Ethernet Switches
 

Q&A Highlights

AJ
Co-Founder at Shellios Technolabs
 

Featured Reviews

MK
Operational Manager at Astrah Technologies
Has enabled reliable access control with good scalability
The primary use case is access control and normal LAN usage, including internet and email. For example, I have deployed the solution in airport scenarios where there are many users The most valuable feature for me is the stability of the switches. They do not hang often and are very reliable,…
PM
IT Manager at Decorgel
Reliable equipment offers seamless integration and management simplicity
I really appreciate Cisco Ethernet Switches and currently don't have any improvements to recommend. The switches have technology that has worked fine over the years. An improvement for all players in the market would be to have a website or service to manage all equipment from all brands, not just Cisco. There should be a platform to manage all the equipment.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature for me is the stability of the switches."
"The most valuable feature for me is the stability of the switches."
"OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches' best features are it's easy to deploy, manage, and maintain, with services coming through one vendor."
"The fibre ports that are 10 Gb capacity helped with the travel of a lot of regular as well as video data. Fibre can handle a lot more virtual data than copper twisted-pair, so we got a lot more data and a lot more traffic signals back through the fibre ports, faster, than with copper."
"The solution has a very good web interface. It makes it easy to manage everything."
"This is a dependable switch which will help you sleep at night."
"The new web graphical interface is much better than before. We now have easy access to the command lines. They're all functional."
"It's easy to extend the stack, We don't use the smaller switches, but it's going well for the rest."
"The tool is easy to use, offering numerous options in terms of server connection."
"The quality, like all Cisco solutions, is very high. The fact that it's Cisco is one of the reasons we chose to use it."
"I have found the solution to have good scalability. Cisco is the pioneers on switching technology, they are very good."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the performance of the product."
"The most valuable feature is that we create a network as a villain."
"It's for industry products, so it's easy to use."
"Cisco switches have several valuable features like VLAN mapping. We seldom use that, but we find the security configurations helpful, like high availability with trading port channels and MAC filtering."
"They are easy to use and have low maintenance requirements."
 

Cons

"The commands for the switches could be easier as I find them more complex compared to those of Cisco."
"In future versions, I would like to see improvements in networking speed."
"We had stability issues with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches 6250. One issue is with licensing. When migrating from TDM to VoIP/ToIP solutions integrated on the same architecture, Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches don't have the same skill level or follow the same development path as companies like Cisco. They started integrating these solutions later, which is why there's a noticeable difference in advancement."
"technical support response time is sometimes very slow."
"My customer's team is not able to understand the loophole with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches, but apart from that, there are no issues."
"I find the CLI hard to use. I wish we could do more in the GUI interface."
"OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches would be improved if cloud-based technology was provided in the Gulf region."
"The product would be better if it were completely compatible with other switching products."
"Very highly priced in comparison to other similar products."
"The user interface, the UI, could be better."
"The technical support should be improved."
"Cisco's equipment is expensive, especially since it introduced the obligatory purchase of Cisco DNA."
"There is room for improvement in terms of cost."
"I don't like the fact that the product is very expensive."
"The price could be improved by being reduced."
"I would like to see this solution automatically store multiple versions of the configuration file."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is cheap compared to other vendors. When we benchmark the tool against Meraki, Cisco, and others, it is usually more affordable."
"The pricing is reasonable compared to Aruba and HPE."
"The licensing for OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches is a one-time purchase with no additional costs."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Quality comes at a price. I've been around the block a bit, and I know that good quality comes at a price. However, some of the organizations don't have big budgets, so you have to develop different solutions for them. They don't have the budget to get some of the high-end features. Cisco can consider providing entry-level hardware to suit SMBs."
"The price is very high though it is priced right for the level of quality."
"We get the SMARTnet and one of the switches has that Cisco ONE licensing. It's probably running about $12,000 a year right now."
"Cisco now has more products that are priced for small businesses, so they do have some cheaper models."
"Price is a pain point for us. We've lost a lot of bids, and the reason has been that we majorly quoted Cisco devices. Some of our competitors quoted other devices like Ubiquity or Microchip. Some even quoted this Chinese product TP-Link, and they won the bid over us because we quoted Cisco. Meanwhile, the major reason why we quoted Cisco is reliability and stability from day one. They also last longer. The prices could be worked on so that they become more affordable. We had to deploy a city-wide WiFi network, and we were working in conjunction with Google. Because of the price, even Google recommended a product called Ruckus, so we used Ruckus over Cisco. Its price and license were the main reasons. You have to pay to renew the license every year. Even though you also renew the licenses for Ruckus, but they are much cheaper than Cisco. So, while I would recommend Cisco any time, the trouble remains with the pricing."
"The solution can be comparatively cheaper."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are expensive, and you have to pay for a warranty and technical support."
"Cisco Ethernet Switches are more expensive than Huawei Ethernet Switches."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Ethernet Switches solutions are best for your needs.
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Comparison Review

it_user82779 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Jan 29, 2014
Benefits of Juniper vs Cisco
Both are decent products. I prefer Juniper for the following reasons: 1) Cleaner separation of data plane from control plane. Higher end Cisco devices are better at this but most of the lower end products still seem to be more integrated than I like. 2) The Hierarchical config design means I can…
 

Answers from the Community

AJ
Co-Founder at Shellios Technolabs
Feb 15, 2022
Feb 15, 2022
My last experience with Netgear wasn't good but it was a long time ago. It may be better now. As for me, it would be Cisco because it is easier to find network engineer with knowledge of Cisco products and many supervision or orchestration tools will support them well. Regarding my experience, they are reliable assets but the cost might be sometime a good reason to go for something else.
2 out of 4 answers
EK
Partner / Owner at Bimel Elektronik Mamuller Paz. Ltd.
Nov 29, 2021
For an Enterprise? I would definitely go with Cisco. Cisco has a wide range of products to accommodate all present and future needs of an enterprise organization.  Cisco support is very professional in case something goes wrong.  Cisco products are very stable, have lots of features to satisfy every need of an enterprise and in my experience, they don't easily fail. 
RI
Technical Support Engineer at provident technology
Nov 29, 2021
cisco ethernet switches
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise36
Large Enterprise53
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
The new web graphical interface is much better than before. We now have easy access to the command lines. They're all functional.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
In terms of pricing, Alcatel is cheaper than Cisco, however, MikroTik is the cheapest. I cannot comment on the pricing reasonability as I am a technical person, and decisions are made by those who ...
What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
The commands for the switches could be easier as I find them more complex compared to those of Cisco.
Would you recommend replacing a Cisco Catalyst Switch by a D-link one?
Hello Mesfin It depends on the real scenario, the cisco 2960 is a very good device and they usually have routing functions but there are many different models within the same 2960 line, and on the ...
Which would you choose - Fortinet Fortiswitch secure access or Cisco Ethernet Switches?
We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price. Fortinet FortiSwitch is an ethernet switch solution that provides security and performance...
In terms of ethernet switches, would you go with Cisco or Juniper?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Cisco or Juniper Ethernet switches were the better fit for us. We decided to go with Juniper. Juniper ethernet switches are a lesser-known...
 

Also Known As

Alcatel-Lucent Ethernet Switches, OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches
Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bayonette, California State University (CSU), Centre Hospitalier Carcassonne, Centro Universitšrio de Brasilia (UniCEUB), China Tianchen Engineering Corporation Co. LTD, Citta Della Speranza, City of Frankfurt, City of Ogden, City of Vila Franca de Xira
Linz AG
Find out what your peers are saying about Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches vs. Cisco Ethernet Switches and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.