Cisco Nexus vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] comparison

Cisco and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

Cisco Nexus

Read 104 Cisco Nexus reviews

1,898 Views
1,368 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Read 34 Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Dell PowerConnect Switches ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Nexus and Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Netgear and others in LAN Switching.

To learn more, read our detailed LAN Switching Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

January 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 831,265 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

Cisco Nexus

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

LAN Switching (2nd), Data Center Networking (3rd)

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

Joe Benítez

Systems Engineer at GAD Municipal de Guayaquil

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 And they were running outdated software.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.

Read full review

MOHAMEDELSHERIF

Senior Technical Consultant at International Turnkey Systems - ITS

You can cluster two switches together to increase redundancy in the environment

You can carry on a project without any consultation. Since the VxRail solution is experiencing significant growth and demand, integrating Dell PowerConnect switches becomes crucial. This integration enhances the VxRail server by offering three distinct solutions. Thus, this gives Dell PowerConnect an edge over Cisco. If you want to connect your virtualized environment and networks to your physical environment and users. In that case, Dell PowerConnect Switches, with VxRail, is the best choice for integrating such features into the hypervisor environment. This product is mainly targeted to virtualization environments. Therefore, Dell has considered this product's scalability, reliability, and robustness. If someone wants the server with VxRail as a free solution, I recommend going with the Dell PowerConnect. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution provides all of the routing and searching features that we need."

"The most valuable features are that it is easy to use, provides stability, easy to configure, low latency, and it provides communication to the data center."

"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."

"It's pretty easy to use and operates at high speed."

"The redundancy and the vPC are the most valuable features. We can integrate two switches together for file transfers; that is, we can operate two switches as one. This is because the network can be shared via a vPC trunk, particularly for devices that are not critical for redundancy."

"The most valuable feature is the HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol)."

"We have found that logical tenant segregation to be the most useful feature."

"Cisco Nexus has been very stable. No issues. It's been rock solid. We haven't had any issues with it in the last twelve months."

More Cisco Nexus pros

"The solution's most valuable feature is its good integration with solutions from other vendors."

"Dell PowerConnect Switches are easy to configure."

"The setup is straightforward. It takes minimum time for deployment."

"PowerConnect Switches' stability is satisfactory."

"The technology is good and the interface is simple. We haven't had any bugs, disconnections or delays."

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

"The security is the most valuable aspect of this solution. It also has good storage and resource handling."

"This solution comes with a lifetime warranty."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pros

Cons

"Enhancing the software-defined level of this solution would empower it."

"The code quality for this solution has gotten worse and needs improvement."

"The product lacks options for integration with other market products that would allow us more flexibility."

"Stability is not really up to the mark."

"In the next release of the solution, I would like to see varying integration between VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) instances so we can integrate BGB into different VRFs in a more organized way. We have some issues with tunnels and VRFs."

"It would be ideal if there was better integration with various other platforms."

"They need to understand that when we call them and have an issue, it's our production and sometimes they want us to do repairs that would cause other issues. That's the biggest problem."

"We have encountered some software bugs."

More Cisco Nexus cons

"You have to build the stackable interface by yourself in Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL], making it an area that can be considered for improvement."

"More stable firmware releases would be an improvement because we have had them randomly power on and off."

"The solution's ROI for generic networking is not extraordinary."

"I can't think of what we would want in the next release."

"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."

"Scalability, especially with the power connect series is something that you have to take into account before starting the project because any changes to an ongoing project can be difficult."

"Not a ten because I have to do a lot of testing on it. The correlation is okay."

"A big issue with this product is that when our customer migrated the data center, one cluster blocked the whole network and because we had a new approach, some commands were not compatible with the new version."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I thought that it would be less expensive."

"Cisco's licensing structures can be complex across different technologies, for example, unified communications."

"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $800,000 USD annually."

"We only have a yearly support contract, as we do not use any of the subscription-based functions at this time."

"Costs more than most, but the reliability pays for the difference."

"Licensing is annual or every three years. We were one of the big customers, and we used to get good prices, but the cost of the support can be improved."

"The solution should be more cost-effective in general."

"Every Cisco product is more expensive than competitors on the market, which is just a fact, but from my perspective, it is worth it."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

"I would rate the pricing as a seven or eight."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"PowerConnect Switches are priced well."

"The product has a low price for the features it provides."

"The price of these switches is okay."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which LAN Switching solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Educational Organization

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?

Cisco pricing is at the same level as many competitors, however, due to competition, they sometimes lower prices and offer large discounts.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

Cisco's security features are in line with other OEMs, however, for data center security in terms of layer seven security, we prefer to have different OEMs rather than relying solely on Cisco.

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell PowerConnect Switches?

Dell PowerConnect Switches have a VTL feature similar to Cisco's VSS. With VTL, using this technology, you can cluster two switches together to increase redundancy in the environment.

See all answers

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

Comparisons

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 44% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 22% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 16% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 4% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 57% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

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

Compared 8% of the time

HPE ProCurve vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

NETGEAR Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

January 2025

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

January 2025

Download Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] product report

Also Known As

No data available

PowerConnect Switches

Learn More

Cisco

Video not available

Dell Technologies

Overview

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.

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.

Sample Customers

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

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Netgear and others in LAN Switching. Updated: January 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best LAN Switching vendors and best Data Center Networking vendors.

We monitor all LAN Switching reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.