Arista Networks Platform vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] comparison

Arista and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the Data Center Networking category. Additionally, 100% of Arista users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Arista Networks Platform

Read 34 Arista Networks Platform reviews

4,180 Views
1,463 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Read 34 Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Arista Networks Platform

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Arista Networks Platform and Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Dell Technologies, Arista and others in Data Center Networking.

To learn more, read our detailed Data Center Networking Report (Updated: April 2026).

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Data Center Networking

April 2026

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Helped 889,955 peers since 2012

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

Arista Networks Platform

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Ethernet Switches (12th), Data Center Networking (4th)

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Dibyendu Das

Director at a tech company with 11-50 employees

Ultra-low latency networking has delivered reliable video workflows and critical operations

The support of Arista Networks Platform is quite complex; it is not very easy to configure. It needs a lot of network expertise for token sheddings and different kinds of configurations. It is very difficult to configure because Arista Networks Platform does not have a flexible GUI like Huawei or Netgear; everything is a very CLI kind of mainframe architecture. Scalability at every single step has a huge upgrade cost which is required for port mapping, connectivity, and transceivers certified by Arista Networks Platform, then the fabric upgrades from a software firmware level. Arista Networks Platform should improve commercial aspects to be affordable. There is no path for growth with a perfect score because the focus is more on reducing costs globally.

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LarsEvans

Chief Technology Officer / Chief Information Security Officer at Lorton Data, Inc.

Reliable and useful for network segmentation

The solution's most valuable feature stands up well. The tool is reliable, and it stands up well. The solution works fine and lasts a long time. I think if you speak about the features that have a flow and you can measure, it is hard to say. I don't spend a lot of my time with the tool, but I know that Dell APEX is the solution's cloud. I would say the VLAN features are important. The VLAN features are really useful because network segmentation is important. I would say the tool is easy to program. I don't know if the tool has any security features that I am aware of other than the fact that the solution is for networking. The VLAN and the ability to segment your networks are easy, which is its security feature.

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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

"We find the CloudVision switching feature of this solution really useful."

"Arista Networks Platform is comfortable, easy to deploy, and easy to manage, with non-blocking technology, and it has a useful CloudVision platform and automation capabilities."

"Arista Networks Platform is known for ultra-low latency, having the fastest backplane ever built, delivering endurance and ultra-low latency, and it is the best fabric for low latency and high bandwidth traffic, being a monopoly in that aspect."

"If you have a large network, it's one of the easiest solutions to deploy and manage."

"The most valuable feature is the Linux shell, which is useful for troubleshooting or capturing traffic."

"The feedback from customers using Arista Networks Platform APs that we deployed has positively impacted our organization, as they have provided good service and a good customer experience compared to what they used before."

"The solution is scalable."

More Arista Networks Platform pros

"Dell PowerConnect Switches are very easy to configure with the GUI."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is simplicity."

"There is high reliability since we have used them for close to twenty years and only had possibly one failure."

"This is a stable product and I have not experienced any bugs."

"For me, excellent, never had any issue."

"Its throughout and compatibility are the most valuable."

"The Dell EMC Networking N1500 Switches are a great solution and are great switches for access switch on LAN which they have combined for data, high-performance access-point, IT surveillance, and cameras."

"The platform's most valuable features are network switch functionality and fiber switch capabilities."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pros

Cons

"The product fails to offer functions related to cloud orchestration, making it in areas where improvements are required."

"An area for improvement we see in Arista Networks Platform is its integration, for example, it needs to have more integration with its new products and should have good integration with multiple wireless, security, and other products they recently acquired."

"They should have a more stable code."

"In my opinion, the solution for network monitoring is quite expensive."

"The documentation did not explain that we could not vary the speed between ports that are in the same block. For example, we cannot have 1G and 10G on the neighboring ports; all four ports have to be 1G or 10G, which was very annoying for us when we realized that we needed to change the configuration and the cabling that we had already prepared."

"The intent-based networking management, together with the provider of these solutions that are already free, would be beneficial."

"Something that you will often hear about Arista products is that the price is a bit too high and, like with Cisco, we sometimes have problems with our customers because of its pricing."

"A weakness would be that in our company, we don't have many people within our team who support the product because there are different vendors, and most of them are not tier-one vendors, so the skills required sometimes are just not there."

More Arista Networks Platform cons

"There should be more port options in this switch. Currently, it has 24 or 48 ports. However, some of our customers require only 8 ports, but I have to put a switch with 24 ports. They should provide smaller solutions and complimentary access point for companies like ours with a low quantity of work. The main issue with this product is branding. They should improve their branding and promote their brand more in Mexico. Customers are more aware of brands like Cisco as compared to Dell."

"What's lacking in Dell PowerConnect Switches is SD-WAN integration, and this is what needs to be improved in it. All enterprises now move towards SD-WAN infrastructure, and because Dell PowerConnect Switches don't currently support SD-WAN, the product would be replaced, considered a secondary switch, or linked up to a different switch. Integration or support for SD-WAN is what I'd like to see in the next version of Dell PowerConnect Switches."

"The IOS software that is used on the switches could be improved."

"The configuration should be improved."

"The product's infrastructure and connectivity features need improvement."

"When it comes to the configuration, there should be documentation and interactive help available to assist people who have experience with products from other vendors."

"Their hardware is not reliable, it's faulty."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is pretty pricey for a networking platform. It is on par with Cisco."

"Cost wise, Arista Networks Platform is more expensive than other networking solutions."

"I remember that when our customers were offered the Arista Networks Platform, they used a checklist to compare the prices between Arista and Cisco for their requirements, and found that the prices were almost the same."

"Specific tools definitely require a license for the subscription. But we are not using these tools in our environment. In terms of licensing, you need to spend approximately $10,000 per month."

"Network devices are generally expensive. However, during the evaluation, Arista was the most inexpensive vendor."

"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."

"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."

"There is an annual license required to use the Arista Networks Platform."

More Arista Networks Platform pricing and cost advice

"The price of these switches is okay."

"The solution is less expensive and more cost-efficient."

"In my opinion, it is a product that is priced somewhere in the middle, making it a well-priced solution in the middle. It is not a very cheap product."

"Dell PowerConnect switches are cheaper than Cisco switches. Cisco's higher capacity switches (100 or 200 gigs) are super-expensive. With the higher capacity, the price of the switches and the price of the architecture go high. Dell is cheaper and modular. So, I don't need to invest 100% upfront. I can invest as I progress. That is an option because the chassis will not be populated with all the pluggables. I have a choice because it is modular. I can go for 25 gigs today, and after four months, I can go for 100 gigs, and after that, I can go for 200 gigs. I have a choice when it is not a fixed switch."

"Pricing for Dell PowerConnect Switches is quite competitive compared to Cisco and HP pricing. Dell has cheaper pricing and the company is trying to push for sales for its switching infrastructure because right now, the current market is dominated by Cisco. In the US market, there's Cisco, HP, Juniper, and Arista which you can buy for data center switching meant for different kinds of enterprises and ISPs. Dell PowerConnect Switches, on the other hand, is a product for people who need smaller setups or individual switches, especially those looking for a cheaper product and basic switching, though you can also buy a complete suite packaged with the switches."

"PowerConnect Switches are priced well."

"Cheaper than its competitors"

"If one is the cheapest price and ten is the most expensive, I rate the product price as an eight or nine. The tool is not cheap."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?

I do not handle the pricing for Arista Networks Platform as other departments handle the costing. I am a network engineer in my company.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?

I see some areas for improvement, particularly with pricing. I think that not all features that are needed are already in Arista. AI power is required nowadays. AI would be needed for understanding...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Arista Networks Platform?

We are still using Arista Networks Platform as system integrators. We sold the product and my customer is using this product. Mostly we sold Arista Networks Platform in data centers where customer ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerConnect Switches?

The solution is cheaper than Cisco.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Dell PowerConnect Switches?

Some proprietary commands available in Cisco are preferred by users accustomed to Cisco systems. These users might hesitate to switch because they want to continue using familiar commands and see t...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Dell PowerConnect Switches?

Dell PowerConnect Switches are primarily used at the distribution layer, but as the product evolved, higher models became available. These newer models can function closer to the core network or th...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Aruba Switches vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Nexus vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 30% of the time

NETGEAR Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Nexus vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Arista Networks Platform

April 2026

Download Arista Networks Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

April 2026

Download Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] product report

Also Known As

7000 Series

PowerConnect Switches

Overview

Arista Networks Platform is a stable and reliable solution for data center features, specifically for non-blocking switches used for spine-leaf connectivity with servers hooked to these switches. It also provides multi-layer switches for client networks, particularly in the banking sector.

Arista products are preferred for their stability, good hardware, ease of adoption and configuration, responsive and helpful support, and high throughput ratings. The solution has helped prevent screen loss and business outages in the media industry and is designed for next-generation data centers.

Arista

PowerConnect Switches family offers a set of flexible, manageable and comprehensive switch solutions supporting up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and optimized Internet iSCSI (iSCSI) performance with Dell Storage solutions, ideal for enterprise and campus LAN environments alike.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

American Internet Services

Amerijet Holdings Inc., CGD Securities, MavenWire, Tulane University

Buyer's Guide

Data Center Networking

April 2026

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