H3C Ethernet Switches and Meraki MS Switches compete in the network infrastructure category. Meraki MS Switches seem to have the upper hand in cloud management capabilities, making them popular despite their higher price point.
Features: H3C Ethernet Switches are known for reliability, ease of management, and cost-effectiveness. They excel with comprehensive routing protocols, high throughput, and redundancy. The standout feature is their remote internet configuration capability. Meraki MS Switches are favored for robust cloud management, extensive dashboard capabilities, and simultaneous management of multiple switches. Enhanced security features and comprehensive monitoring options also make them attractive.
Room for Improvement: H3C Ethernet Switches can expand their product range and enhance cloud capabilities. Users report a need for more public tools for configuration and service, improved delivery times, and a better user interface. Meraki MS Switches could benefit from better pricing relative to features, reduced cloud dependency, and faster performance. Enhanced security, licensing flexibility, and consistency in support are also desired.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: H3C Ethernet Switches primarily deploy on-premises with support praised for efficiency, although language barriers occasionally occur. Meraki MS Switches offer deployment in both on-premises and cloud environments, providing flexibility. Customer service receives mixed feedback, with support accessibility and subscription terms being points of contention.
Pricing and ROI: H3C Ethernet Switches are budget-friendly, offering significant savings and efficiency without ongoing subscription costs. The affordable pricing ensures a good return on investment. Despite being expensive, Meraki MS Switches offer competitive pricing for users in the full Meraki ecosystem. While the initial cost is high, they deliver long-term value through cloud management and reduced setup time.
Machine vertical support and campus management support are both commended.
If the devices are licensed, the support team will assist you depending on the severity level of the case.
Cisco's tech support is pretty good, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.
There is room for improvement in Wi-Fi solutions, which are not optimized.
Meraki should also consider improvements in stacking features, particularly in the lower-end models like NS130, where stacking isn't supported, unlike with Cisco traditional switching.
There are compatibility issues with certain Power over Ethernet (PoE) devices, which we would like to see resolved.
Most people are familiar with the Cisco commands, and it would be beneficial if the switch could be accessed by GUI configuration and by normally accessing the console.
H3C is scalable, and it's possible to increase usage if needed.
The solution has been very cost-effective, being 70/30 in favor when compared to Cisco.
Meraki pricing is a little premium compared to other vendor products.
Pricing is affordable, and licenses for the cloud need to be purchased every three to five years.
If something happens to the device or hardware, Cisco will automatically change the device by the next business day.
We faced issues following firmware updates, which we now handle by performing updates outside of working hours.
A good SD-WAN solution.
The most valuable feature is the ability to access devices from anywhere in the world through the cloud.
The control plane is in the cloud, and the data plane is local, allowing manageability from anywhere.
One of the most valuable features of Meraki MS Switches is its precise traffic analytics capabilities, allowing us to query the system for any place at any time.
H3C S5560 High Performance Ethernet Switch is the latest development of Gigabit speed Layer 3 Ethernet switch. This powerful and highly secure series switch is built based on industry-leading high performance hardware architecture and H3C Comware V7 platform. It supports diversified services, high capacity GE access port as well as high density 10GE uplink, which meet the requirements for high density campus access and high performance aggregation.
Meraki MS Switches are first-line cloud-managed access and aggregation switches that combine the benefits of cloud-based centralized management with a reliable access platform. With cloud management, thousands of switch ports can be configured and monitored instantly over the web.
Meraki MS Switches Features
Meraki MS Switches have many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Meraki MS Switches Benefits
There are many benefits to implementing Meraki MS Switches. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Meraki MS Switches is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are its accessibility, application visibility, and flexibility features.
Jóhann T., IT Manager at Sund Upper Secondary School, says, “Accessibility is what I find most valuable in Meraki MS Switches, because I'm able to check things and see if they're working, without being on-site at all times.”
A Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company mentions, "The top feature of Meraki MS switches for me is Layer 7 application visibility. Another positive in general is that you don't need to set up a console to the switch itself; it dials into a single dashboard where you can completely manage all your network devices."
John M., user at Baseline Consulting, LLC, comments, "I like the flexibility of the Meraki firewall. It gives you the ability to lock things down. Having multiple VLANs is helpful for the switching infrastructure and firewall. It's crucial when you have a public-facing VLAN, a private-facing VLAN, and a secure VLAN."
PeerSpot user William M., Consulting Engineer at IV4, expresses, "It is easy to deploy, maintain, and update. It has been trouble-free so far. I am still a Cisco command-line bigot, but the web interface makes it a lot easier for our help desk to interact with a client. When the clients call in and say that they aren't able to connect, it takes the help desk 10 minutes or less to look at everything in the enterprise or location. They can look at the firewall, switches, or access points in the dashboard. That's why I like the dashboard."
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