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Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco Catalyst Switches offer scalability and performance, making them a popular choice for medium to large enterprises despite challenges.
No sentiment score available
Cisco Catalyst Switches are scalable, and I would rate them eight to nine out of ten for scalability.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.0
Cisco Catalyst Switches are renowned for their security, reliability, performance, and manageability, with excellent support and extensive documentation.
No sentiment score available
The most beneficial features for our network management are their stability and good customer support.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.5
Cisco Catalyst Switches require better pricing, user-friendly interfaces, third-party compatibility, enhanced security, adaptability, and faster delivery.
No sentiment score available
Cisco Catalyst Switches could be a little bit cheaper as they are very costly.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Catalyst Switches are renowned for long-term reliability, with improvements addressing earlier hardware issues and minimal maintenance needs.
No sentiment score available
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
9.0
Cisco Catalyst Switches support receives mixed reviews, ranging from efficient and expert service to dissatisfaction with delays and support inefficiencies.
No sentiment score available
Cisco's support is good, one of the best supports that you will get.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Cisco Catalyst Switches are costly but valued for quality, reliability, support, with complex licensing and potential cost-saving subscriptions.
No sentiment score available
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Switches
Ranking in LAN Switching
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
173
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (7th), Data Center Networking (1st), AV Over IP Switching (1st)
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Ranking in LAN Switching
12th
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Switches is 30.7%, down from 31.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

SameerBali - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and stable catalyst switch; can be easily installed
I like Cisco Catalyst Switches because most of the time, we can do what we want with the product. Cisco has good guidelines that enable us to implement anything, so we can have a multiple ability product on most of the network equipment worldwide. Cisco has communities or forums that help us implement more complicated areas in terms of network, so in addition, Cisco is not just a network equipment company, because they provide us most of the solutions, development, protocols, and new technologies, more than any other company in the world. I also like the availability of Cisco Catalyst Switches, including scalability and reliability. You can find all these in this product.
Al Vasek - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, but the support and stability could be improved
There is a lack of support because there is a lack of adoption. Because Cisco switches are so widely used, anyone in the world can support them. It was two Cisco engineers who released Arista's code. In terms of programming functionality, they essentially duplicated the Cisco iOS, so all Cisco commands work on the Arista commands. You can do an Arista if you can do a Cisco. Aruba isn't all that different. It's a little different, but they have all of HPE's money and stuff behind it and things like that. I would say the same thing about Extreme or some of the other switches where it's penny-wise, pound-foolish. You save some money if you are a small shop with only one or two guys, it's understandable. Fortinet is now in the switch business, and they have their FortiSwitch devices, which are controlled by the FortiGate firewalls to do all of the programs. There is a lot to choose from. But, in my opinion, a lot of it is dependent on the use case and the customer type. Meraki is a nice little Cisco product for the right kind of business, but I wouldn't use it in an enterprise setting.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
61%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
3%
Financial Services Firm
3%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
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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Also Known As

Cisco Catalyst, Catalyst
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Norwich University of the Arts, Shelby American, City and Islington College
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Switches vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.