Cisco Nexus vs Juniper QFabric comparison

Cisco and Juniper are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6, while Juniper is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.5. Cisco holds a 9.5% mindshare in LS, compared to Juniper’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Juniper users who would recommend it.

Cisco Nexus

Read 103 Cisco Nexus reviews

2,146 Views
1,549 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Juniper QFabric

Read 10 Juniper QFabric reviews

371 Views
282 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Juniper QFabric

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Nexus and Juniper QFabric based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two LAN Switching solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFabric Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFabric

October 2024

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Helped 816,406 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Nexus

Ranking in LAN Switching

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

103

Ranking in other categories

Data Center Networking (3rd)

Juniper QFabric

Ranking in LAN Switching

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 9.5%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper QFabric is 1.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching

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 And they were running outdated software.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.

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OusaidAbaz

Security Network Architect at Inmac

Ensures reliable operation and consistent performance but lifecycle management need improvement

QFabric simplified our data center network architecture by reducing configuration complexity compared to Cisco devices. It required fewer CLI commands, making configuration quicker and easier, especially for scalable deployments. QFabric improved scalability in our data center by simplifying the addition of new switches to existing configurations. The process was straightforward to manage. Implementing QFabric can affect overall IT infrastructure costs differently based on configuration needs. For small businesses with stable configurations, costs remain unchanged. However, for scalability and expansion, additional configuration and time may increase costs. My advice for those using Juniper is to ensure staff are well-trained and certified in Juniper technologies, such as JNCIA, JNCIS, JNCIP, or JNCIE. With these skills, you can effectively manage and troubleshoot Juniper solutions, minimizing potential issues and maximizing performance. Overall, I would rate Juniper QFabric as a seven out of ten.

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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

"Cisco Nexus and Cisco Catalyst have processing power and offer good utilization of Cisco devices."

"This solution has allowed us to better prepare our network for 10-gigabit."

"This solution improves network speed and provides high availability for our users."

"We now have one box that does multiple services."

"The solution is very expensive. Currently, we pay an yearly licensing cost. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is network visibility. It becomes the core switch. All of the devices connected route towards it."

"The initial setup is easy."

"In terms of stability, this solution is rock solid."

More Cisco Nexus pros

"The solution is stable."

"The most valuable feature of QFabric for network performance is its stability."

"Juniper QFabric has various advantages including scalability, simplicity, performance, and flexibility."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the fabric backplane having upwards of 160 GB of communication. It is a top-of-the-rack solution where you have your directors sitting in the main area and then you have your nodes expanded out to your multiple cabinets. It has a very good design and could be your server backbone."

"It is known for being agile, flexible, and cost-effective when working with various vendors."

"It's user-friendly."

"The vendor maintains the product well."

"The solution is easy to use and has good performance."

More Juniper QFabric pros

Cons

"I would like to see Duo directly integrated with the Nexus hardware, instead of it being through the proxies, like how Duo works today."

"Ease-of-use and making things more human-readable is most important."

"There are too many different model numbers and too much complexity."

"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."

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

"The cost of the support can be improved. We had critical operations, and we needed 24/7 support for 365 days, which was quite expensive. We had to go for a very costly support contract, which was really a concern. The availability of spare parts, especially in a remote location such as Egypt, can also be improved."

"My only complaint is that not all of the ports on it are enabled from the start."

"Nothing is perfect."

More Cisco Nexus cons

"The disruptive upgrade was an issue for us."

"It works too much on rebooting and there is some memory leakage."

"They are working on the virtualization of the actual fabric layer. They are moving away from the original spine-leaf design to a different infrastructure. Instead of having three tiers, which was the director of the interconnected nodes, they cut them back, and they still have that kind of structure."

"It would be nice if Juniper provided the system integrator with training, similar to that of Cisco."

"The stability needs to be improved."

"Improvements could be made to QFabric's life cycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support."

"Having support for all OpenFlow versions would be beneficial."

"I do not use GUI's very much for switch stacks. I am always in the CLI. However, I do know that Juniper in the past has lacked on their GUI's, but they have been working on it."

More Juniper QFabric cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The Nexus 9000 is very competitively priced."

"It is very expensive. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."

"We consider Juniper switches to be more affordable."

"We have a virtual license."

"The solution is expensive."

"The license for Cisco Nexus is one year to three years, in this case for the SMARTnet. It is a price per unit, in terms of this specific appliance."

"The problem with Cisco, from what I see, is that their costs are much higher."

"The subscription model and price could be better."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is high and it is possible to find better pricing option solutions on the market, but the licensing model is quite flexible."

"The price is relatively high, but it offers an advantage over its competitors by providing better performance and functionality."

"In terms of price, the QFabric solution is going to be probably in the middle of the road for a fabric solution."

"The price for Juniper QFabric could improve. There are subscription, maintenance, and add-on feature fees."

"Juniper QFabric is a high-level solution but it could be less expensive."

"The pricing is high."

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816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

11%

University

10%

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?

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. If you want to upgrade to iO...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

In my company, we encountered some challenges since the network was not stable. The network is unstable, making it an area where improvements are required. If you do some kind of configuration on t...

See all answers

What do you like most about Juniper QFabric?

The most valuable feature of QFabric for network performance is its stability.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper QFabric?

Juniper QFabric is not overly expensive. Licensing is required for certain features like vRRP, but setting up a virtual chassis does not necessitate a separate license.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Juniper QFabric?

Improvements could be made to QFabric's lifecycle management, particularly in maintaining stable versions and extending product support. The rapid release cycle and short life span compared to comp...

See all answers

Comparisons

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 41% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 20% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 20% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 4% of the time

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 2% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Cisco FabricPath vs Juniper QFabric

Compared 48% of the time

More Juniper QFabric Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

November 2024

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Buyer's Guide

LAN Switching

November 2024

Download Juniper QFabric product report

Also Known As

No data available

QFabric

Learn More

Cisco

Juniper

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.

Juniper QFabric System is composed of multiple components working together as a single switch to provide high-performance, any-to-any connectivity and management simplicity in the data center. The QFabric System flattens the entire data center network to a single tier where all access points are equal, eliminating the effects of network locality and making it the ideal network foundation for cloud-ready, virtualized data centers.The highly scalable QFabric System improves application performance with low latency and converged services in a nonblocking, lossless architecture that supports Layer 2, Layer 3, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) capabilities.

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

MCB Bank

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFabric

October 2024

Free Report: Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFabric

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus vs. Juniper QFabric and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

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