Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs Cisco Catalyst Switches comparison

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and Cisco are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is ranked #11, while Cisco is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.4. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise holds a 4.2% mindshare in LS, compared to Cisco’s 24.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch L...

Read 6 Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches reviews

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100% willing to recommend

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Read 178 Cisco Catalyst Switches reviews

5,602 Views
3,025 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch L...

Cisco Catalyst Switches

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Cisco Catalyst Switches and Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches are competing products in the networking sector, both offering robust solutions for enterprise environments. Cisco Catalyst has the upper hand with cost-effectiveness and strong support, appealing to budget-conscious buyers.

Features: Cisco Catalyst Switches are known for advanced security features, energy efficiency, and a comprehensive set of routing protocols, making them reliable and effective for secure networking. Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches are remarkable for their flexibility and support for both Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocols, providing extensive customization and high availability.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Catalyst could expand its feature set to compete more closely with more customizable solutions. Adding more advanced protocol support and enhancing flexibility may benefit broader use cases. Alcatel-Lucent could lower their initial costs to increase accessibility. Streamlining deployment processes and enhancing integration with diverse systems could also enhance user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Catalyst Switches promote straightforward deployment and provide consistent customer support, leading to effortless integration with existing infrastructures. Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch requires a more intricate deployment, but delivers strong technical support and detailed guidance, ensuring users can fully leverage their solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Catalyst typically offers lower upfront costs and rapid ROI, which aligns well with budget limitations. Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch, while demanding a larger initial investment, justifies the expense with enduring, feature-rich performance promising longer-term benefits. Both companies offer distinct value propositions that cater to different organizational needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

December 2025

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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 L...

Ranking in LAN Switching

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Ranking in LAN Switching

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

178

Ranking in other categories

Ethernet Switches (5th), Data Center Networking (2nd), AV Over IP Switching (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches is 4.2%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 24.3%, down from 30.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Catalyst Switches	24.3%
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches	4.2%
Other	71.5%

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

reviewer2175855

SNOC Service Delivery Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

With a good technical support in place, there needs to be an improvement in the way the tool is put together

I am not sure from the client's perspective what can be improved in the tool. From my perspective, service provisioning in the solution needs to improve. One of the things I noticed is the physical components that need to be improved. In general, the way the product is put together is not well done. For instance, in Cisco, things come together very nicely. Also, from a price point perspective, the product is very different from the other solutions. One of the things that Cisco does a lot better than Alcatel is the way that products are put together, especially in terms of how the brackets fit or the way switches are mounted. Also, components that need to be removable components so that they can provide a better view in general to its users, like Cisco.

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Arun Giri

Unit Nos at Orange

Reliable support boosts confidence while initial setup complexities highlight improvement areas

Challenges I've encountered mostly involve the RMA part for hardware replacement, which doesn't happen regularly, but sometimes I face challenges due to limited parts in India; they offer different model devices as a stopgap arrangement. It's quite difficult to specify features I would want to see in future updates because that varies from model to model. I would definitely recommend Cisco Catalyst Switches to other users. We do maintenance for Cisco Catalyst Switches. For maintenance, we usually need three people from different regions working as a single team; our engineers handle both projects and maintenance, so there isn't a specific engineer just for maintenance. I work with firewalls and next-generation firewalls. Overall, I would rate the solution as an eight out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I rate the technical support an eight or a nine out of ten. So far, they've been very professional and helpful, especially when we need to raise a case for any issue."

"With Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches everything comes from one vendor. It operates very smoothly."

"These OmniSwitches are very manageable and easy to configure."

"One of the main advantages of the solution is that the configuration is straightforward, offering various configuration options through CLI or web interfaces. I'm satisfied with the customer service and support. The solution is good and people should know about it."

"OmniSwitch LAN Switches' performance is very good."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."

"The new series has lots of great features, it's really lovely. From a management perspective, or a policy creation perspective, which we are seeing in the Catalyst 9000 series it is great."

"It's easy to configure."

"It uses many protocols to ease operations, such as CDP and the interoperability of other Cisco products."

"The configuration and command set are user-friendly."

"It can be expanded."

"Technical support is very responsive and helpful."

"Technical support is very helpful, even during implementation."

"These switches are flexible and user-friendly."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches pros

Cons

"I would like to see better third-party integration with third-party systems."

"n general, the way the product is put together is not well done."

"There are some issues with the network firmware being deleted from the switches."

"There is no OEM support in India so RMAs need to be sent to France, which takes a long time if the hardware is faulty."

"A customer expressed dissatisfaction with the color of the switches, preferring black over the current color, which is close to white. While the color is not a personal concern, my earlier preference was for all products to be extendable in one large stack since some equipment limits stacking to four elements instead of eight."

"I think that the price should be cheaper and they should include at least one year of basic service for technical support for each product, and not just the 90 days from the time of purchase."

"The current catalyst is probably outdated so we will most likely move to the newer version of the solution soon."

"There could be improvements in the repeat configuration with some file integration that is currently missing."

"The licensing process could be a bit less complex."

"The delivery of the product lead time should be improved."

"The cost is not reasonable. It is the highest cost in the market. The pricing needs to be reduced."

"The configuration options on the Cisco Commerce website could be more efficient."

"The support is not the quickest."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"OmniSwitch LAN Switches are cheaper than Cisco's switches."

"The solution’s price is at a moderate level."

"The license is purchased one time only, it is a perpetual license with no renewal."

"The price is okay. It's comparable to similar switches."

"This is expensive, even when compared to competitors' products."

"It would be great for the user if Cisco lowered the prices for their routers and switches."

"There is a one-time license, but we pay for the smart net license every three years for support."

"The price of the solution is expensive compared to other products from America or Europe. They should have more competitive pricing."

"They are expensive."

"I would say that the pricing of the solution falls within the moderate to higher range."

"These switches are expensive."

"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."

More Cisco Catalyst Switches pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	79
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	79

Questions from the Community

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Cisco Catalyst Switches?

We are a vendor for the healthcare sector, especially hospitals, and normally, we use a full Cisco solution for stability, especially for the stability of the Access Points and the security of swit...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Switches?

For pricing satisfaction, I'd say it will be six to seven because Cisco usually is costly compared to other vendors. Regarding pricing, there is indeed room for improvement.

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

November 2025

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches report

Download Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Catalyst Switches

December 2025

Download Cisco Catalyst Switches product report

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches, OmniSwitch, OmniSwitch LAN Switches

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst

Overview

Information not available

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Cisco Catalyst Switches are a reliable and scalable network switching and routing solution, focusing on VLANs and VLAN switching. They are used as access switches, distribution switches, and core switches in various environments, deployed on-premises, and used for long connections. The switches are easy to configure, install, and upgrade and offer good pricing.

The most valuable features include warranty and firmware support, stability, security, good performance, flexibility, etc. The Cisco Catalyst Switches have provided a stable solution for the organizations and are widely used, trusted, and well-known in the networking industry.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Advocate Health Care, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Azienda Ospedaliera della Provincia di Lodi, Centre Hospitalier Carcassonne, Certis Cisco Security, China Tianchen Engineering Corporation Co. LTD, City of Frankfurt, Dongseo University

Afni, Anilana Hotels and Resorts, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Del Papa Distributing, Explorer Pipeline, Mindtree, Omaha World Herald, Radio 538, Sony Corporation, Telecom Italia, Telenor Arena

Buyer's Guide

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

December 2025

Free Report: Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Catalyst Switches

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