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Cisco Nexus vs HPE A-Series [EOL] comparison

Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are both solutions in the Data Center Networking category. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users who would recommend it.
Cisco Nexus
Read 108 Cisco Nexus reviews
  • 2,995 Views
  • 2,186 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
HPE A-Series [EOL]
Read 1 HPE A-Series [EOL] review
    100% willing to recommend
     

    Comparison Buyer's Guide

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    Executive Summary
    We performed a comparison between Cisco Nexus and HPE A-Series [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

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    To learn more, read our detailed Data Center Networking Report (Updated: March 2026).
    Buyer's Guide
    Data Center Networking
    March 2026
    Download the complete report
    Helped 885,444 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 (3rd), Data Center Networking (3rd)
    HPE A-Series [EOL]
    Average Rating
    8.0
    Number of Reviews
    1
    Ranking in other categories
    No ranking in other categories
     

    Featured Reviews

    Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
    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.
    Read full review
    Mohamed-Mousa - PeerSpot reviewer
    Mohamed-Mousa
    IT Manager at a media company with 201-500 employees
    Stable and scalable with a good user interface
    Overall, everything related to the interface is very good Some follow up from our user-partners would be useful. Letting users know what is up and coming or providing better documentation would be helpful. Overall, the solution could offer its users better support. I've been using the solution…
    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

    "The solution is very expensive. Currently, we pay an yearly licensing cost. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
    "We have found that logical tenant segregation to be the most useful feature."
    "The return on investment for this solution is very good, as it is very practical and versatile."
    "Its low latency is most valuable; its performance is good, and it is also very stable."
    "The most valuable features of this solution are scalability and throughput."
    "There are many good things about this product including the reliability, scalability, and of course, security."
    "The most valuable feature is the capacity for the number of customers that we can get onto it."
    "The best-suited environment for the Cisco Nexus is not a small office, it is used mainly for enterprise networks, providing more throughput and good capabilities, and my customers in the data center are happy with the solution."
    More Cisco Nexus pros
    "Overall, everything related to the interface is very good."
    "The solution is very stable."
     

    Cons

    "In the Nexus 3500, you can't do per-port Jumbo frames, so you have to enable it as a global configuration."
    "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."
    "Data center access is stable and high speed but it is not compatible with Cisco's server hardware devices. The solution can be technically improved and can have features like automation, better visibility, better functionality, and cheap pricing."
    "This solution should be made more affordable."
    "There are still bugs in the system that need to be fixed. Technical support could be better."
    "One improvement needed is support for Multi-CAD scale that we were concerned about. We're not hitting any limits at this point."
    "As a device meant to lead the processes related to networking and troubleshooting, I feel both aspects can be described as areas with certain concerns where improvements are required."
    "The solution could be improved in general in all aspects."
    More Cisco Nexus cons
    "Overall, the solution could offer its users better support."
    "Some follow up from our user-partners would be useful. Letting users know what is up and coming or providing better documentation would be helpful. Overall, the solution could offer its users better support."
     

    Pricing and Cost Advice

    "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 is expensive."
    "It's around $160K a year for our license."
    "We have three hundred to four hundred data centers of Nexus. So the coverage associated with Smart Net is 27 by 4, is basically what we spend each year. If the incentives get better, which I know they're working on, it would be great but right now we're buying year to year."
    "The solution is relatively expensive when compared with Cisco Catalyst."
    "The license on a yearly basis is $200,000."
    "The price of the product is reasonable."
    "We use a local distributor for support, which is very expensive."
    More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice
    Information not available
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    Top Industries

    By visitors reading reviews
    Marketing Services Firm
    8%
    Manufacturing Company
    7%
    Comms Service Provider
    6%
    Financial Services Firm
    6%
    No data available
     

    Company Size

    By reviewers
    Large Enterprise
    Midsize Enterprise
    Small Business
    By reviewers
    Company SizeCount
    Small Business19
    Midsize Enterprise17
    Large Enterprise83
    No data available
     

    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?
    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,...
    See all answers
    Ask a question
    Earn 20 points
     

    Comparisons

    Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
    Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus
    Compared 15% of the time
    Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
    Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus
    Compared 12% of the time
    Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus Logo
    Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus
    Compared 10% of the time
    Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus Logo
    Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus
    Compared 8% of the time
    Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
    Arista Campus LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus
    Compared 8% of the time
    More Cisco Nexus Competitors
    No data available
     

    Product Reports

    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Nexus
    March 2026
    Cisco Nexus reportDownload Cisco Nexus product report
    Buyer's Guide
    Data Center Networking
    March 2026
    HPE A-Series [EOL] reportDownload HPE A-Series [EOL] product report
     

    Also Known As

    No data available
    A-Series, HP A-Series
     

    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
    Information not available
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise
     

    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
    SEED Infotech, Weta Digital, BlueShore Financial
    Buyer's Guide
    Data Center Networking
    March 2026
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