Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus comparison

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and Cisco are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is ranked #11, while Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise holds a 4.2% mindshare in LS, compared to Cisco’s 8.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch L...

Read 7 Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches reviews

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100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Read 108 Cisco Nexus reviews

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1,001 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch L...

Cisco Nexus

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches and Cisco Nexus are both key players in the network switching market. Cisco Nexus leads the competition due to its advanced feature set, making it preferable for high-demand environments.

Features: Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches focus on energy efficiency, seamless scalability, and a robust security framework while Cisco Nexus provides advanced virtualization capabilities, high-performance networking for data centers, and innovative automation tools.

Room for Improvement: Alcatel-Lucent could enhance its virtualization features, increase automation tools, and expand its high-performance integration. Cisco Nexus could improve its user interface, reduce deployment complexity, and further simplify its pricing model.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Alcatel-Lucent ensures swift deployment with solid customer support, which simplifies integration into established systems. Cisco Nexus, despite a more intricate deployment approach, offers extensive resources and support, emphasizing scalability and robust customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch is more economical initially, presenting an attractive option for budget-conscious businesses and still delivering a strong ROI through operational efficiency. Cisco Nexus, though requiring a higher initial investment, offers an outstanding ROI with its state-of-the-art performance and scalability, catering to organizations seeking high-level network functionality.

To learn more, read our detailed Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

December 2025

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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

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cisco Nexus

Ranking in LAN Switching

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

108

Ranking in other categories

Data Center Networking (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches is 4.2%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.7%, up from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

LAN Switching Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Nexus	8.7%
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches	4.2%
Other	87.1%

LAN Switching

Featured Reviews

reviewer2048676

App. Manager at a political organization with 501-1,000 employees

Reliable network access has improved daily connectivity and simplified graphical management

The specific network design is done by another company, and we just manage the access switches, in fact, the local access switches on the LAN. I don't think there is much prioritization in our network for the moment. I don't think that the users see much about it; it's transparent for users. Whether there is a Cisco switch or an Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switch, the user doesn't care. We are not expert users, but we are users for maintaining and keeping the situation alive, not experts of network switch programming. I'm not an expert of the switches to say what's missing. For smaller sites with 10 persons or so, it's sometimes not so easy to choose Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches.

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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.

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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

"Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches provide stable work with no issues, with less downtime and fewer maintenance windows."

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

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

"OmniSwitch LAN Switches' performance is very good."

"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."

"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."

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

"Cisco Nexus provides a reliable switching platform for our data centers."

"Nexus provides inner redundancy. It allows us to perform updates on individual switches, while still maintaining reliability and uptime on the server."

"It provides a very flexible connection to a server. When you go into history and the VPC, it provides a very flexible connection from it. Once a server goes down I can instruct it easily. So the network actually keeps quality even if onsite it is down."

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

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

"Cisco Nexus is a stable solution."

"Its low latency is most valuable. Its performance is good, and it is also very stable."

"The integrations are valuable."

More Cisco Nexus pros

Cons

"For smaller sites with 10 persons or so, it's sometimes not so easy to choose Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"I don't really deal with the pricing but I know that it's not cheap."

"Areas in which the solution have room for improvement are the interface, management, and reporting."

"Initially, the codes I received through ACI were quite unstable, causing me to frequently replace them, which led to significant issues."

"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."

"All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution."

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

"One of the problems we have is that there is no confirmation for when you try to test a system command."

"The flexibility and configuration could be better."

More Cisco Nexus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

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

"We have a virtual 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."

"I don't like the Smart Licensing models that Cisco uses."

"The solution is relatively expensive when compared with Cisco Catalyst."

"We consider Juniper switches to be more affordable."

"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100K a year for the switching part."

"If you compare Cisco hardware to any other vendors, such as HPE, they are more expensive. There is a license to use the solution. If my customer's licenses are about to expire I receive notification from Cisco, this is very helpful."

"The Nexus 9000 is very competitively priced."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

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Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	83

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

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

We are a reseller, and we sell products to our customers.

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What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

Cisco Nexus may not be very popular because of the requirements that we come across, as it will go into the core data centers, whereas we work with most of the corporate sectors, so Cisco Nexus is ...

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Comparisons

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Aruba Instant On Switches vs Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches

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HPE ProCurve vs Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches

Compared 14% of the time

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Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 28% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 12% of the time

Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 7% of the time

Juniper MX Series Universal Routing Platforms vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

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LAN Switching

January 2026

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches report

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Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

January 2026

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Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches, OmniSwitch, OmniSwitch LAN Switches

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Overview

Information not available

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

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

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

December 2025

Free Report: Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs. Cisco Nexus

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