Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs Cisco FabricPath comparison

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco FabricPath

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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

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch L...

Ranking in LAN Switching

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco FabricPath

Ranking in LAN Switching

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches is 3.7%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco FabricPath is 1.9%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

Kannan Venkatraman

Sales manager at Dyarco Technology W.L.L

Elements that are suited for the hospitality industry, easy to configure and has good technical support

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches have elements that are suited for the hospitality industry. For example, they want a phone, switches, routers, and WiFi, all from one vendor. As a result, they can provide all solutions. They don't want to approach different vendors, for support, maintenance, or any other activities. From a single vendor, or they can view the entire IT solution from any office, at any infrastructure setup. If you go with any other third-party, you would have to rely on different vendors and setups for each manufacturer. With Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches everything comes from one vendor. It operates very smoothly.

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OusaidAbaz

Security Network Architect at Inmac

Extendable and has beneficial spin and leaf architecture

Cisco FabricPath is very fast, stable, extendable, and scalable. It doesn't have issues with patches or problems because it's built on the stable NXOS operating system. In a scenario using FabricPath, the spin and leaf architecture is beneficial. For example, we can use two separate spine switches like 9980s and multiple leaf switches as access switches. These leaf switches are connected using VPC between them, with each switch separated and not directly connected to the spine. This setup improves data center architecture by allowing two ways to arrange destinations, connecting the first connection to the first spine and the second to the second spine. The spines are configured as a virtual chassis. In FabricPath, we can enhance VXLANs, VPNs, and integrate with Cisco ISE for user authentication. It can also be configured with WLC to manage wireless technology, depending on the client's architecture.

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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

"One of the main advantages of the solution is that the configuration is straightforward, offering various configuration options through CLI or web interfaces. I'm satisfied with the customer service and support. The solution is good and people should know about it."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."

"I rate the technical support an eight or a nine out of ten. So far, they've been very professional and helpful, especially when we need to raise a case for any issue."

"OmniSwitch LAN Switches' performance is very good."

"These OmniSwitches are very manageable and easy to configure."

"With Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches everything comes from one vendor. It operates very smoothly."

"The technical assistance is good."

"I like the 10G ports and the modular uplink port."

"The most valuable features are the security, web control, and traffic control."

"The setup is straightforward."

"The fact that the solution is on the cloud is its most valuable aspect. If you are on the cloud, you can manage your network from anywhere, any place. It's very good."

"The most beneficial feature of Cisco FabricPath for network performance is its reliability."

"It's a reliable product and you know that it will work in the enterprise environment."

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable soltuion."

More Cisco FabricPath pros

Cons

"There is no OEM support in India so RMAs need to be sent to France, which takes a long time if the hardware is faulty."

"n general, the way the product is put together is not well done."

"There are some issues with the network firmware being deleted from the switches."

"I would like to see better third-party integration with third-party systems."

"A customer expressed dissatisfaction with the color of the switches, preferring black over the current color, which is close to white. While the color is not a personal concern, my earlier preference was for all products to be extendable in one large stack since some equipment limits stacking to four elements instead of eight."

"The solution is complex to set up."

"While Cisco products are excellent, the problem is the cost. Cisco products are product, Cisco products are very expensive. I rate Cisco FabricPath three out of 10 for affordability."

"I would like one management console to control the network."

"Cisco FabricPath has room for improvement in areas like technical support and design."

"The product lacks AI...The initial setup of Cisco FabricPath was a bit complex."

"Cisco FabricPath can be integrated into data centers and remote sites. For example, in a bank, we can extend the architecture to remote branches by implementing switches connected to the first and second spine for redundancy. This setup allows for VXLAN, VLAN, and SGT for user authentication. We can also use wireless technology through the data plane and route it on L3. This setup provides scalability and visibility. This technology is deployed in the USA, France, and Europe. For instance, BNP Paribas in France uses this technology."

"The cloud version of Cisco Fabric Path could be improved."

"I would like to see better interoperability with other IT solutions."

More Cisco FabricPath cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"OmniSwitch LAN Switches are cheaper than Cisco's switches."

"The solution’s price is at a moderate level."

"The price is okay. It's comparable to similar switches."

"The license is purchased one time only, it is a perpetual license with no renewal."

"The pricing for this product is good."

"It is very expensive."

"The pricing of Cisco FabricPath can be quite high depending on the architecture, but it's justified by the stability it offers."

"I rate it seven out of ten on pricing as it's a bit expensive. It would be better if the price were lower, but we prioritize quality over cost."

"Cisco is expensive but offers good-quality features, so I would rate it high on the pricing scale."

"The price of Cisco FabricPath could be reduced, it is expensive in the market here in Sri Lanka. The solution is subscriptions based, if the customer wants any future integrations, or if there are any future enhancements they will have to pay. There are different license options available, such as one or three years purchases."

"The solution falls under the pricier category, but it provides value for the price charged."

"FabricPath is very reasonably priced."

More Cisco FabricPath pricing and cost advice

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845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

17%

Retailer

12%

Real Estate/Law Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

33%

Government

16%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches?

One of the main advantages of the solution is that the configuration is straightforward, offering various configuration options through CLI or web interfaces. I'm satisfied with the customer serv...

What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches?

A customer expressed dissatisfaction with the color of the switches, preferring black over the current color, which is close to white. While the color is not a personal concern, my earlier preferen...

What is your primary use case for Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches?

We work with LAN switches.

What do you like most about Cisco FabricPath?

The tool makes it easy to manage multi-layer networking and increases network efficiency. I haven't faced any challenges in integrating it into our existing infrastructure.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco FabricPath?

Cisco solutions are expensive, and because of that, moving to new upgrades is challenging due to cost considerations. For licensing, I budget approximately $100 per user annually and project future...

What needs improvement with Cisco FabricPath?

We are phasing off Cisco FabricPath due to outdated protocols. The fault isolation mechanism in FabricPath is not as effective as the newer technology, Cisco ACI ( /products/cisco-aci-reviews ). He...

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Product Reports

LAN Switching

Download Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches product report

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches report

Cisco FabricPath

Download Cisco FabricPath product report

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches, OmniSwitch, OmniSwitch LAN Switches

FabricPath

Overview

Information not available

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Cisco FabricPath is a Cisco NX-OS software innovation combining the plug-and-play simplicity of Ethernet with the reliability and scalability of Layer 3 routing. Using FabricPath, you can build highly scalable Layer 2 multipath networks without the Spanning Tree Protocol. Such networks are particularly suitable for large virtualization deployments, private clouds, and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. The benefits of Cisco FabricPath include: Minimal commands per switch ease configuration and operation, Autodiscovery simplifies addition of new links and switches, Provision additional network bandwidth without impacting network, Supports one-, two-, or three-tier architectures, VLAN extensibility across the data center.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Advocate Health Care, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Azienda Ospedaliera della Provincia di Lodi, Centre Hospitalier Carcassonne, Certis Cisco Security, China Tianchen Engineering Corporation Co. LTD, City of Frankfurt, Dongseo University

Bellevue, Calligaris, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Management Science Associates, Multi-Customer, Oediv, Roper St. Francis, SNAM

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco FabricPath