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 108 Cisco Nexus reviews

3,803 Views
1,711 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

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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: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

March 2026

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Helped 886,858 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

7.7

Number of Reviews

108

Ranking in other categories

LAN Switching (2nd), Data Center Networking (1st)

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

Fakhar Mahmood

Sr. Network Administrator at i2c

Migration between data centers has strengthened core connectivity and simplified segmentation

The biggest problems during migration were corporate issues, including dependencies on other devices such as F5, HSMs, and firewalls from Palo Alto. Everything was connected over the core switches, which made this a quite difficult part to manage and to onboard the teams and to understand the impact of the migration. We encountered an issue where we have two data centers, and unknowingly we were configuring the devices with the same VPC number on both devices. By doing that, we were not able to terminate the lease lines over those core switches. According to Cisco, we had to change the VPC number of one of the data center's core switches since they are in a VPC. We are still waiting, and it has been more than five to six years just to change the VPC number and migrate back the lease line. Now we are having cabin switches for the lease line and then the core switch. That VPC number issue was quite surprising for us. However, we have a very frequent issue with Cisco Nexus, particularly with the SFPs. Every time a port or the SFP heats up, it gets faulty. We have almost sixteen Nexus switches per data center. In a year, we experience one or two port issues per annum. We have standard Equinix data centers with standard installations, but somehow the temperature is always maintained and there is no ducting, yet the ports and the SFPs heat up or become faulty. This is a very frequent issue with the SFP-based port.

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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 have a much more stable network now using the Cisco Nexus."

"I like the supportability because it's Cisco, I like the fact that they are a well-supported product, I am comfortable with the operating system, and I like the regularity of them as they are quite straightforward and easy to develop."

"The most valuable feature is the capacity for the number of customers that we can get onto it."

"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."

"We used older versions of Cisco Cloud. The reason why we switched was just adapting with the times."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Nexus is modularity. It's like the Swiss Army knife of switches."

"We are a Cisco shop. This solution is better compared to other options."

"It is a scalable, reliable, stable and efficient solution."

More Cisco Nexus pros

"The most valuable feature is stability."

"It's much less expensive than Cisco, and yet it has the same functionalities."

"When the price is competitive the customers tend to choose the cheaper brand and then look at the features. So having a competitive price is a plus."

"The solution’s technical support is good."

"The most valuable feature is its ability to multitask."

"We have these switches installed in an environment with hardware from many other vendors, and so far, so good."

"The product is cheap."

"We evaluated numerous options before choosing Dell including Fortinet, HP and Cisco, but really it was this solution that worked given our budget and for installation, it was a good solution in terms of technical support, scalability, availability and a lot of things, and it satisfied our requirements."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pros

Cons

"I would like to see more on-device programmability, as it seems to be lacking in this platform."

"For a very small subset, Cisco Nexus caused port flapping within the applications, which was weird."

"We have encountered some software bugs."

"It is a bit expensive to get started."

"The initial setup of the Cisco Nexus platform takes a long time. It's a complex system because we have a lot of security layers."

"There's been a little bit of bugginess in the code, but that happens."

"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."

"I would like to see more automation and for it to be easier to use."

More Cisco Nexus cons

"The CLI for Dell PowerConnect Switches is sometimes confusing, especially with the LAN, but for the GUI it is simple."

"I would like to see better scalability and more features on these switches in the future."

"However, we are now having a problem where it does not integrate well with SDN."

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

"A user can take care of the product's installation part, but it may not seem to be an easy process."

"Because of the stackings you lose some boards and switches."

"The pricing could always be a bit lower."

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

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's worth the money we're paying for Nexus."

"In most cases, there is a need to secure perpetual licenses to be able to use the product. When I set up the product, there isn't just a one-time cost that is involved."

"Cisco Nexus is not cheap compared to Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Check Point."

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

"The Nexus 9000 is very competitively priced."

"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."

"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."

"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100K a year for the switching part."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

"PowerConnect Switches are priced well."

"The product is cheaper than Cisco and licensing is yearly. We have to pay additional costs for support."

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

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

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

"On a scale of one to ten, if one means it is a cheap solution, and ten means it is a very expensive tool, I rate the product's price as seven. The tool is a bit pricey."

"Its price is okay. Sometimes, it is lower than a Cisco solution."

"The price of these switches is okay."

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Marketing Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

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	19
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	83

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

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?

We are a reseller, and we sell products to our customers.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

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

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

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 11% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 8% of the time

Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 30% of the time

NETGEAR Switches vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 17% of the time

HPE ProCurve vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 16% of the time

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

Compared 12% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

More Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

April 2026

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL]

April 2026

Download Dell PowerConnect Switches [EOL] product report

Also Known As

No data available

PowerConnect Switches

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.

Cisco

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

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: March 2026.

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