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Daniyal Khalid - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solutions Specialist at Google
Vendor
A reliable and stable product for endpoint and server connectivity
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is pretty much reliable and stable."
  • "The technical support should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I use the product for endpoint and server connectivity. I also use it as a core switch.

What is most valuable?

The product is the best in the market. It always works whether the environment is cold or hot. The product is pretty much reliable and stable.

What needs improvement?

The technical support should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for seven years.

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Ethernet Switches
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Ethernet Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution depends on the models. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted support many times. The support is good, but not that good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is not too expensive.

What other advice do I have?

If someone uses the solution for the first time, they must know that network design is the most important part. They must pick the right models. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2078835 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Analyst at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
Reliable and easy to set up with great support
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is basically issue-free."
  • "The user interface could be improved."

What is most valuable?

The solution is basically issue-free. They are constantly upgrading their technology.

It's an easy solution to set up. 

Technical support is helpful and responsive. 

It's a stable product. 

What needs improvement?

The user interface could be improved. 

The licensing is too expensive. It's one of the main reasons customers leave Cisco. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Cisco products for more than ten years. I've used the product for a very long time. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been very good. It's quite reliable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable product. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so. It's no problem. 

We've used it in a large company and had no issues. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is the best. Compared to other solutions, like Aruba, Cisco is top-notch. 

Typically, the agents are good and helpful. Sometimes we may run into issues, however, 90% of the time, they are great. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to implement. The process is not overly complex. Technically speaking, it's pretty simple. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is not cheap. Cisco is quite pricey.

What other advice do I have?

We're customers and end-users. 

I'd advise users to try out the product. I've been happy with its capabilities. 

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Ethernet Switches
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Ethernet Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Responsable Infrastructures, Réseaux & Télécoms at a university with 201-500 employees
Real User
Customizable interface with good good throughput and the ability to expand
Pros and Cons
  • "Technical support has always been helpful."
  • "We'd like the pricing to be lowered."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution in the access layer for connecting EP-phone, PC, and access points. We use Cisco, like 3850, for the aggregation layer, and we use 6500 catalyst switches for the core layer.

What is most valuable?

They have very good throughput and backup for their energy. We find, stock-wise and energy-wise, it's easy to use with the CLA command.  

I can create a lot of interfaces, or SDI interfaces for VLAN and SNMP. I can show it with my SNMP platform. I can gain much access to them. They are really, really, good switches.

The solution is stable.

The scalability has been great.

We find the setup process to be simple. 

Technical support has always been helpful.

What needs improvement?

Stock-wise, the solution can improve.

The patching and updating could be better.

We'd like the pricing to be lowered. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is quite good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the product is great, If a company needs to expand, it can. There is a lot of stacking and cascading that can happen.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support from Cisco has been great. They are helpful and responsive. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We primarily use Cisco in our company.

How was the initial setup?

It's a very easy to deploy product. It's just a question of buying the cable for stacking and getting it done.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing of the solution is pretty high.

Compared with other switches, such as Huawei or HPE, it's very, very expensive. ON top of that, the campus network, it's not an area that has a high budget. We have to have work towards minimizing this price.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

I would recommend the solution to other users and companies. It's great for small to large enterprises. Just the number of ports that we can create makes a difference. We can use a lot of switches with 48 ports. In the smaller cases, we can still use 12 ports. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1767258 - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager at a import and exporter with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Helpful support, reliable, and good feature set
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable aspects of Cisco Ethernet Switches is many engineers can work on the equipment. You can find qualified engineers that can configure Cisco equipment more than any other networking equipment."

    What is our primary use case?

     Cisco Ethernet Switches are used for directing network traffic.

    What is most valuable?

    One of the most valuable aspects of Cisco Ethernet Switches is many engineers can work on the equipment. You can find qualified engineers that can configure Cisco equipment more than any other networking equipment.

    The ease of use and features sets are very good in Cisco Ethernet Switches.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Cisco Ethernet Switches for approximately 20 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability of Cisco Ethernet Switches is very good.

    How are customer service and support?

    The support from Cisco is great. We have trained engineers working and when we need to speak to the technical support of Cisco, it is only because we see there are some errors in the software that we cannot solve ourselves. 

    I would rate the support from Cisco Ethernet Switches a four out of five.

    How was the initial setup?

    The implementation of Cisco Ethernet Switches is a straightforward process.  We're a partner for Cisco via the machine-building program, we integrate ourselves together with those solutions.

    I would rate the implementation process of Cisco Ethernet Switches a four out of five.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    They have changed over the years and now you need to purchase a three-year obligatory license and then after three years, you are free to use it or not. The model is a bit difficult for customers. This is why we have been shifting away from Cisco equipment.

    The price of hardware replacements can be expensive.

    I would rate the price of Cisco Ethernet Switches a two out of five.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    When we compare Cisco Ethernet Switches to other solutions it comes down to what you need to purchase besides the hardware. Cisco Ethernet Switches' main issue is not with the hardware, but with the software and support that might not be needed.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice to others looking to purchases Cisco Ethernet Switches is you pay perhaps a little bit more on the equipment, but there are available engineers to help with the programming, set up, and implementation of the switches. This makes it worthwhile to choose Cisco. If you perhaps have cheap equipment, but if you don't have the people that know how to configure it, do troubleshooting, or analysis, you cannot move forward. 

    The equipment might be more expensive, but when you take total ownership of the configuration, maintenance, and analysis, then it's a large benefit. Sometimes customers see only the first cost of the switches and don't look any further. This is a weak point of Cisco.

    I rate Cisco Ethernet Switches an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Consultant - Smart Buildings at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
    Reseller
    High reliability and super stable for a wide range of use cases
    Pros and Cons
    • "The features that I have found most valuable are the core reliability and the switching group. All the features are very generic switching features with high reliability. That is the main key point I can highlight."
    • "An improvement would be to change their market intention. Almost all the Cisco switches are now coming with a license called DNA. D for Delta, N for number and A for apple. That feature is required, he must purchase it and it is a mandatory thing that has been introduced. This is not matching with the Asian market."

    What is our primary use case?

    The use cases that we have delivered to our customers include for hotel enterprises, government organizations, even military locations. This includes access switches and also distribution switches - perhaps for some organizations in call and data centers, as well.

    What is most valuable?

    The features that I have found most valuable are the core reliability and the switching group. All the features are very generic switching features with high reliability. That is the main key point I can highlight.

    What needs improvement?

    Feature-wise, almost all the features are there, but an improvement would be to change their market intention. Almost all the Cisco switches are now coming with a license called DNA. D for Delta, N for number and A for apple. That feature is required, he must purchase it and it is a mandatory thing that has been introduced. This is not matching with the Asian market, because let's say you are purchasing a vehicle and you don't want to have a reverse camera, right? But if the manufacturer is forced, fully telling you that you definitely should buy it, this is not fair in that way. DNA licenses, in most cases, are not required, but it should be told to the customers and added to the quotation, because we cannot remove it. This is not matching or suitable for the Asian market. It is not a requirement of the customer and it is forcefully added by the vendor. It's just a license, which you have to purchase for one year or three years, and it will never be used in some cases. In some cases, some specific customers may require that there should be the option to add it. But if it is not required by the customer, it should be optional.

    In terms of what I would like to see in the next release, it would be good if they could introduce a switch which can work on cloud and on a local deployment. Maybe the same switch will work. Because some switches are only working alone with local deployments, and some switches are working with cloud based environments. So if the same switch could work on both cloud and from its node, that will be great.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Cisco Ethernet Switches for probably six to seven years.

    I'm an integrator. We are using the latest version. I'm doing the designing and selling. I'm selling the latest version of these switches.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Cisco Ethernet Switches have the best stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability in the sense varies with switching. Some switches are fixed, which we cannot expand with the design, but some switches are those you can expand. It's basically the design. So scalability is good.

    How are customer service and support?

    They have great, great technical support from 100 miles to 200 miles.

    How was the initial setup?

    Initial setup is straightforward to complete. It is very user friendly for the engineer to configure the deploy.

    Implementation time depends, but in general, if it is a basic pre-plan implementation, it'll take only a few hours to configure and complete the installation. Maybe one or two hours, also we can complete it if it is a pre-plan, simple deployment. If it is a complex kind of networking fast structure, it'll depend on the solution and the configuration.

    It also depends on the solution. If it is one switch, just one one engineer can deploy it. If it is two switches, also one engineer can, but if it is a complex network, it depends on how many switches and how complex it is. Basically, for switch one you can put only one engineer and that also can be done using a technician level person and by remote logging or you can manage it with over the phone instruction.

    What other advice do I have?

    Cisco is the leader of networking and I would recommend it for anyone.

    On a scale of one to ten, I would give Cisco Ethernet Switches a 10.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1693239 - PeerSpot reviewer
    IT support network at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Good features, performance, and reliability
    Pros and Cons
    • "Its performance and reliability are valuable."
    • "Its management should be improved."

    What is our primary use case?

    I am using it for core data infrastructure. I am using model 9600. 

    What is most valuable?

    Its performance and reliability are valuable.

    What needs improvement?

    Its management should be improved. 

    It is not easy to scale.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for seven years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is not easy to scale. We have between 1,000 to 2,000 users.

    How are customer service and support?

    I have not interacted with them. We have a contractor for support.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We also have Surecom and NETGEAR, but Cisco comes under a different class. They differ in price. Cisco is the best for our company. 

    How was the initial setup?

    Its initial setup is simple. The deployment duration can take 10 to 30 minutes depending on the model.

    What about the implementation team?

    We deployed it internally.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    It is expensive. There are additional costs besides the license cost.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend it for its features and reliability. I would rate it an eight out of 10.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Imtiyaj Jamadar - PeerSpot reviewer
    Information Technology Executive at Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
    Real User
    Top 10
    Responsive support, stable, and scalable
    Pros and Cons
    • "Cisco Ethernet Switches are stable."
    • "The management of the solution could improve."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have a local network and we have four Cisco Ethernet Switches that have 48 ports.

    What needs improvement?

    The management of the solution could improve.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Cisco Ethernet Switches are stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable.

    How are customer service and support?

    Cisco technical support is good. We have a better experience because we have local support when we have some technical problems. The team support is very good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup of the solution is easy.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The price of Cisco Ethernet Switches here in India is too high. There are other cheaper solutions available.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Our management has decided we should look into other solutions, and we are currently evaluating Juniper switches. We are checking the performance of the solution.

    What other advice do I have?

    Cisco products are good, but nowadays technology is changing, some other products are available in the market. We are checking some different products available. I'll see how the performance is and how it works on the network.

    I rate Cisco Ethernet Switches a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Account Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
    Reseller
    Top 20
    Very stable, scales well, and has excellent technical support
    Pros and Cons
    • "It's all-encompassing and can help you in all these different areas. If people realize that they want something that's going to work, that's pretty foolproof, then Cisco's always worth the investment."
    • "You do have to buy into the Cisco architecture to be able to use them."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have them set up for customers, including SMB, Kindergarten through grade 12 schools, higher education organizations, and some enterprises. It's pretty much been used for everything except the federal government.

    What is most valuable?

    The Cisco software does everything under one umbrella better than the competition. HP kind of has the capability. I'm not sure if they still have it, however, they used to license Cisco's iOS software for their own switches, which were decent switches as well. Now, there's Aruba, however, they've been through a bunch of different changes over the years. ThreeCom was part of HP for a while. In any case, Cisco offers sort of a one-stop-shop of options.

    It's all-encompassing and can help you in all these different areas. If people realize that they want something that's going to work, that's pretty foolproof, then Cisco's always worth the investment.

    The initial setup has gotten easier over the years.

    The stability is excellent.

    The solution is very scalable.

    Technical support is quite helpful and responsive. 

    What needs improvement?

    The thing that people usually complain about is that they're a little bit more expensive than other options. That said, you get what you pay for and it's such a good solution.

    You do have to buy into the Cisco architecture to be able to use them.

    You have to make sure you size appropriately at the outset. They're for the smaller markets usually, and you just want to make sure you don't purchase something under what you might grow to. Users should try to think a little bit bigger than what they want just so that they can have extra ports if they need them, instead of having to buy another one quicker than expected.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Our company has worked with Cisco probably for more than 20 years. The company is 31 years old, and we've actually always worked with Cisco Switches since the beginning. We have the same master engineer that has been with us for probably 28 of the 30 years. He's always been working with that.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is very stable. That's one of the main benefits of it. It's super stable, and it's been proven for years.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    They've got many solutions for small companies, which we work with, and some of our biggest customers, and even multinationals can use Cisco probably better than anybody else. That's why the fact that international community likes it so much. They can use it anywhere in the world in companies of any size. It scales very well.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is usually very good. You're paying for the best, so the tech support is really good as well. We are quite satisfied with the level of service provided. 

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We also have experience with solutions such as Juniper, Aruba, and Ruckus. 

    If the people want to save some money, they'll go with a Ruckus switch or something else as it's less expensive. With Cisco, it has you covered, however, it's a little bit more expensive, and if you don't like the fact that it's got the closed infrastructure, it's a closed architecture, you're not going to mix and match it with switches from other companies.

    How was the initial setup?

    In terms of the initial setup, I'm never really involved in it. It's our engineers that do that. It's a definite effort to get everything set up and working correctly. It's not just out of the box, however, these days they've all gotten so much better. The Cisco products of today would be much easier to put together than the ones in the past.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing is high. It's expensive, however, you get what you pay for and it is an excellent solution.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would advise new users to work with a reseller that has a good history of working with Cisco and that can do a good game plan upfront with what your actual long-term goals and needs will be.

    I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. The product is excellent, however, nothing is perfect, which is why I haven't rated it at a perfect ten. There are always ways to improve.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
    PeerSpot user
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    Download our free Cisco Ethernet Switches Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.