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Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches vs Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches vs Meraki MS Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches is 0.7%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is 3.4%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki MS Switches is 4.6%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

OusaidAbaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Doesn't have many proprietary protocols but some models have stability issues
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. Their main focus has been IP PBX solutions like OXO and OXE. They developed their IP environment and switches later, but not as deeply as other vendors. For example, they use Aruba access points and controllers for wireless solutions rather than developing their own portfolio. A specific challenge I've faced is with access points. Due to country code restrictions, the model sold in one region (like Europe) may not work properly in another. This affects channels and features related to the electronic environment specific to each country. To resolve this issue, I've had to reconfigure access points with the correct country code. The solution uses basic protocols. It doesn't have proprietary features like Cisco's EIGRP or advanced BGP features; it's based on standard protocols.
Bona Chhith - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides campus switches and access switches that are simple to deploy, but the code isn't stable enough for a leaf and spine design
If we're building a data center and have Juniper, we have hundreds of Juniper switches in a leaf and spine design architecture, and it's horrible. Sometimes after an upgrade, half of the even port can't be detected. They don't recognize third-party SFPs, and now they claim that they don't support that anymore. There are a lot of issues with the hardware and software. Juniper needs to get their code up to par because it isn't stable enough for a leaf and spine design. If you have over 10,000 VMs or Mac addresses, it doesn't scale. I would love Juniper to have more stable features, hardware, and code. We have so many tickets open with Juniper. The switch reboot doesn't detect the port. About 80% of my problems aren't engineering problems, but are Juniper's problems. In comparison, Arista gives me 10% of the problems that Juniper gives me when it comes to hardware and software. It's falling behind compared to Palo Alto because of its features. Juniper's campus switches and data center switches for the leaf and spine design for the overlay and underlay is horrible. I wouldn't recommend that anyone use Juniper fabric, because there are so many problems, issues, and features that aren't supported.
Jóhann G. Thorarensen - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and easily accessible switches with a plug and play setup
We used Cisco switches, then we decided to go with Meraki MS Switches for several reasons. One reason was that the Cisco switches were originally set up by a company that was in charge of the whole system, which was run from a company outside the school. Then, we had someone come in to take charge here in our school, then we transferred that responsibility to an outsider. I then came in, and I started learning the system, so the outsider became the backup plan. It turned out, once we started digging into things, that the system was set up in a cumbersome and closed way, much like a banking system, rather than a setup that would be good for a school, that can rely on switches rather than closing the school into units. Another reason was that our switches were getting outdated, so we had to do something. We started looking at various solutions, and we had to decided whether to continue the way we were doing things, which we did not like because it was cumbersome and it had to be done on-site, or if we could do it in a way that would be more accessible both inside and outside the school, while having the level of security and stability we need. For example, we looked at Ubiquiti UniFi which was a cheaper system, but it was less stable, though I know that some schools were using that system. It was really just a question of stability and accessibility, and these were deciding factors in the system that we chose. Even though Meraki MS Switches were more expensive than the other solutions, we ended up with Meraki.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution doesn't have many proprietary protocols like Cisco's. It mainly uses standard protocols like VRRP (similar to Cisco's HSRP), Spanning Tree, and Rapid Spanning Tree, which can sometimes cause integration issues."
"The product is stable. It does have only one power supply. They don't have a redundant power supply."
"The new web graphical interface is much better than before. We now have easy access to the command lines. They're all functional."
"The solution has a very good web interface. It makes it easy to manage everything."
"It's easy to extend the stack, We don't use the smaller switches, but it's going well for the rest."
"This is a dependable switch which will help you sleep at night."
"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."
"Enables direct access to clusters."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches are high-end solutions."
"The GUI interface distinguishes it from other vendors and makes it easy to operate."
"The security is good."
"I would rate this solution a 10 out of 10 for scalability."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature is the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)."
"The solution has a high level of network functionality."
"This solution is impeccable."
"The solution is very stable."
"Easy access to the solution is the most valuable feature."
"We found the initial setup to be easy."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The most valuable feature is the cloud management architecture from Meraki."
"To me, this is a product that meets all of the needs that anyone could possibly have for a networking device."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to segment my infrastructure between phones, security systems, and other tasks."
"Meraki MS Switches are amazing. Whoever built it is a genius. I like that it's a plug-and-play solution."
 

Cons

"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."
"The product would be better if it were completely compatible with other switching products."
"The network connection should be improved."
"In future versions, I would like to see improvements in networking speed."
"I find the CLI hard to use. I wish we could do more in the GUI interface."
"technical support response time is sometimes very slow."
"There needs to be better integration with the interface."
"I could see them possibly creating a more intuitive software. It's very user-friendly, but there are some things that aren't very intuitive when programming the switches."
"Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is not cheap. The tool needs improvement in UI."
"The price could be a bit lower."
"Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches lack to offer the latest management tools."
"The configuration could be made simpler."
"It was very difficult to get technical support, here in Egypt. There is no local support available."
"The interface could be better. It needs improvement."
"I would like the ability to operate with other operating systems."
"There are multiple areas of improvement in Juniper EX series switches. In terms of speed and pricing, while Juniper provides good quality services, some clients still find the price very high compared to other competitors. Also there is a need for certain features to be enhanced like clear our configuration process which will help to make Juniper switches more stronger. However, there are also multiple challenges including understanding and configuration of certain aspects difficult without assistance. Despite these kinds of challenges, there have been multiple solutions and huge potential of improvement in Juniper."
"Meraki MS Switches do not offer as many features as their competitors, so we are quite limited in what we can configure on the switches and firewalls."
"Tracking native ports with IP addresses is not currently possible in Meraki. This is a potential area of improvement."
"If they added the option to manage it locally, not in the cloud, it would be better."
"The solution needs to improve its scalability."
"It can have better security. It needs more security enhancements, and in particular, a zero-trust element. If we could have external and internal users vetted in the same way as a zero-trust network, that will be handy."
"They tend to have some weird issues with fiber uplinks."
"The solution does not fit all use cases."
"It could be easier to use and easier to implement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is reasonable compared to Aruba and HPE."
"The licensing for OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches is a one-time purchase with no additional costs."
"Pricing is cheap compared to other vendors. When we benchmark the tool against Meraki, Cisco, and others, it is usually more affordable."
"We purchased the box for a one-time charge, and we are paying a yearly support fee of several hundred Euros."
"The pricing for the support is very high."
"Juniper Ethernet Switches are a less expensive solution than Cisco Ethernet Switches. There is only a one-time purchase for Juniper Ethernet Switches."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"We had a leakage in the support process and decided to end the product's life in order to purchase a new product with support. We did not renew product support as a result."
"There is a need to make a payment towards the perpetual licensing model offered by the product and also towards the subscription-based model for hardware replacement."
"Juniper costs less than the competition. As a comparison, Cisco is 33% more."
"The maintenance cost is approximately €2,000 ($2,200 USD) per year, including support, for our entire fleet."
"The pricing is overvalued in relation to the product's performance."
"Securing licenses and devices for more than a year can make the product expensive. In general, the product is expensive."
"With the solution that we currently have, I think it costs about 1,200 pounds a year. They bill on a yearly basis."
"It depends on what type of equipment you have and other things. We're about $17,000 a year."
"We paid for our switches outright, at a cost of between $15,000 USD and $18,000 USD."
"They can get the price down for small businesses. The way I bought it, I paid hardly anything, and I got all my licensing with it. The firewall appliance is around $900, and the switches are around $150. This is for the device itself. For licensing, I signed at $70 or something like that for the switch. Technical Support is included in this."
"The price of the solution has room for improvement."
"Meraki is not an expensive switch, like Cisco."
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Comparison Review

it_user82779 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
Pricing is cheap compared to other vendors. When we benchmark the tool against Meraki, Cisco, and others, it is usual...
What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches?
We had stability issues with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches 6250. One issue is with licensing. When migr...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Ethernet Switches?
If compared to Cisco, this is a well priced solution. Compared to HP, it is a little bit overpriced. Overall, they ar...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Ethernet Switches?
Juniper EX model is ok for the campus network as the ex4300 is EOL in a few years and the new ex4400 is the standard....
What do you like most about Meraki MS Switches?
The most valuable features of Meraki MS Switches are their reliability and simplicity.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MS Switches?
The solution is a bit expensive as it is on the high end. The cost depends on the model and the number of years of us...
What needs improvement with Meraki MS Switches?
There are compatibility issues with certain Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices, which we would like to see resolved.
 

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches, Alcatel-Lucent Ethernet Switches, OmniSwitch Ethernet Switches
Juniper Ethernet Switches
MS220, MS320, MS420
 

Learn More

 

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
BlackLotus, Staminus, Community Bank, BAS Group, Cloud Dynamics, Privalia, Fluidata, and Tesla Motors.
Cisco Live Milan, Hyatt
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Ubiquiti Networks and others in Ethernet Switches. Updated: December 2024.
824,145 professionals have used our research since 2012.