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Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus
Ranking in LAN Switching
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches is 3.7%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.7%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

Attila Gyalus - PeerSpot reviewer
Highly Recommended Switches with User-Friendly Configuration Capabilities
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.
Joe Benítez - PeerSpot reviewer
Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing
Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.

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 is the ease of configuration."
"These OmniSwitches are very manageable and easy to configure."
"With Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches everything comes from one vendor. It operates very smoothly."
"OmniSwitch LAN Switches' performance is very good."
"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."
"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."
"Technical support has been very, very helpful and they offer good SLAs."
"The most valuable features are the access layer security, OpenConfig, and OpenFlow."
"We have found that logical tenant segregation to be the most useful feature."
"Cisco Nexus and Cisco Catalyst have processing power and offer good utilization of Cisco devices."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The most valuable features are the solution is robust, you are able to use it for fabric architecture as well as SPAN on exit with the controller."
"The ability to tenant-out the traffic and segment it, without having to get into separate physical hardware or trying to figure out VDCs manually, has been really powerful and extremely useful for us."
"Cisco technical support is a good backup team when you have issues with anything. If you open a case they are very good at following up and making sure that the issue's resolved according to the needs of our network."
 

Cons

"n general, the way the product is put together is not well done."
"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."
"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."
"There are some issues with the network firmware being deleted from the switches."
"I would like to see better third-party integration with third-party systems."
"Cisco Nexus is just a platform. You just set it up, give it an IP, and then start configuring it. But there are a million features to configure."
"The licensing is the area that we are working that's a challenge."
"The price could be better."
"I would love to see Active/Active FEX connectivity, which is enhanced vPC, where we could also do a vPC from a server in that type of configuration."
"Nothing is perfect."
"Enhancing the software-defined level of this solution would empower it."
"In the Nexus 3500, you can't do per-port Jumbo frames, so you have to enable it as a global configuration."
"We have encountered some software bugs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is okay. It's comparable to similar switches."
"The license is purchased one time only, it is a perpetual license with no renewal."
"OmniSwitch LAN Switches are cheaper than Cisco's switches."
"The solution’s price is at a moderate level."
"The license for Cisco Nexus is one year to three years, in this case for the SMARTnet. It is a price per unit, in terms of this specific appliance."
"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."
"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100K a year for the switching part."
"The Nexus 9000 is very competitively priced."
"We consider Juniper switches to be more affordable."
"We only have a yearly support contract, as we do not use any of the subscription-based functions at this time."
"It's around $160K a year for our license."
"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
17%
Retailer
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches?
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 serv...
What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches?
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 preferen...
What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...
 

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches, OmniSwitch, OmniSwitch LAN Switches
No data available
 

Overview

Information not available
 

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
Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
Find out what your peers are saying about Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.