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Brocade BigIron [EOL] vs Cisco Nexus comparison

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Extreme Networks and Cisco are both solutions in the Data Center Networking category. Additionally, 100% of Extreme Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Cisco users who would recommend it.
Cisco Nexus
Read 108 Cisco Nexus reviews
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  • 4,185 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Brocade BigIron [EOL] and Cisco Nexus based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Data Center Networking
October 2026
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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

Brocade BigIron [EOL]
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Nexus
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (2nd), Data Center Networking (3rd)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user1068
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Just like its name, BigIron does big things; i have never had switching problems.
BigIron allows for improved reliability, Quality of Service, Total Cost of Ownership, security and scalability that enables future growth and expansion of the network for many years to come.It provides switching of high density for core tiers, aggregation and access to the data center server. Its compact design (high density and no-blocking) allows for high performance computing as well as data mining. Biglron also ensures a low latency and high throughput.In case of failure, BigIron switches supports restarts that are faithful for faster convergence, failover and software upgrades that are hitless.
Read full review
Fakhar Mahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"BigIron allows for improved reliability, Quality of Service, Total Cost of Ownership, security and scalability that enables future growth and expansion of the network for many years to come."
"This solution has helped the data center in the bank's infrastructure to expand over the past ten years, and both the reliability and scalability of this solution helped to support this growth."
"Cisco is refining the features all the time and you can see this in all the different vendors."
"The durability exceeded our expectations."
"The setup was very easy, but managing it in operations was very complex."
"This product has absolutely surpassed our expectation of throughput."
"This product has improved the way our organization functions through the ability to do things in a maintenance window while allowing other teams to continue to work."
"I like the fact that they are a well-supported product."
"Cisco Nexus is a very powerful switch; we have been, for almost five years, using Nexus, and it has been virtually problem-free, very stable, smooth to use, very user-friendly, with a very easy-to-maintain GUI, easy login, good and easy-to-understand reporting, very helpful technical support with good SLAs, and very good scalability."
More Cisco Nexus pros
 

Cons

"BigIron switches are expensive, take time to configure and maintain, but have capabilities not found in most switches and thus are an excellent networking investment."
"We have encountered some software bugs."
"They could improve on having different technologies between product models."
"I would like to see the integration of the products into something where it's seamless where an engineer never touches the switch again, never does CLI and you move to an application based network organization."
"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. It is not as reliable as Catalyst."
"There are limitations on some of the lower level 9K solutions where you can't do the same things that you would normally be able to do, like for instance the number of static maps that you can configure on it."
"In the Nexus 3500, you can't do per-port Jumbo frames, so you have to enable it as a global configuration."
"Some of the DHCP features need improvement."
More Cisco Nexus cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is relatively expensive when compared with Cisco Catalyst."
"Cisco Nexus is not a cheaply priced product."
"Our licensing costs for this solution are approximately $200 USD per month."
"Costs more than most, but the reliability pays for the difference."
"The price of this solution is good when compared to others in the market."
"The subscription model and price could be better."
"Licensing is annual or every three years. We were one of the big customers, and we used to get good prices, but the cost of the support can be improved."
"We consider Juniper switches to be more affordable."
More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise83
 

Questions from the Community

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Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
Cisco Nexus switches are generally priced at the higher end of the market, but their performance, scalability, and reliability make them a strong option for enterprise data centers. The overall cos...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
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,...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus?
Cisco Nexus is used in data centers with a simple Nexus OS deployment model. In our environment, we do not use programmability with Cisco Nexus. The switches are used very basically in our infrastr...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

No data available
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 12% of the time
Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 9% of the time
Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 8% of the time
ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus Logo
ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 7% of the time
Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 6% of the time
More Cisco Nexus Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Data Center Networking
October 2026
Brocade BigIron [EOL] reportDownload Brocade BigIron [EOL] product report
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus
October 2026
Cisco Nexus reportDownload Cisco Nexus product report
 

Also Known As

BigIron
No data available
 

Overview

The BigIron Series switch provides high-performance L2/3 switching for the Enterprise, large data centers, and grid computing topologies. The BigIron Series incorporates the latest advances in switch architecture, system resilience, QoS, and switch security in a family of modular chassis, setting industry-leading benchmarks for price/performance, scalability, and TCO.
Extreme Networks

Cisco Nexus delivers flexibility, scalability, and performance for data centers, offering stability and ease of management. The integration with third-party security and high port density support are key features, making it ideal for core network infrastructures.

Cisco Nexus stands out in data centers for backbone switching and network management, known for its modularity and Virtual Port Channels. Organizations value its capacity for handling large data volumes and automation capabilities. The system's redundancy features enhance reliability in complex network environments. Despite its strengths, technical support, licensing complexity, and integration require improvement. Users benefit from features like Active/Active FEX connectivity and wish for enhancements in routing support, interface usability, and documentation. Cost concerns and port overheating issues are noted, with calls for better training and simplified configurations.

What are the key features of Cisco Nexus?
  • Modularity: Enables customization and upgradability.
  • Virtual Port Channels (VPCs): Offers resilience and high availability.
  • Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF): Supports routing domains within a network device.
  • High Port Density: Allows connection of multiple devices in a compact space.
  • Automation: Simplifies network management and operations.
  • Redundancy Features: Provides network reliability and uptime.
What benefits and ROI should users expect from Cisco Nexus?
  • Scalability: Supports growing network demands.
  • Stability: Offers a reliable operational environment.
  • Efficiency: Enhances data center connectivity and management.
  • Security Integration: Works seamlessly with third-party security solutions.
  • High Performance: Optimizes data handling and throughput.

In enterprise settings, Cisco Nexus is essential for switching, routing, and server connection aggregation. It's integral in spine-and-leaf architectures for scalability in multi-tenant environments, often integrated with hyper-converged technology to ensure reliable, secure server connectivity. Implementations span industries, each leveraging its strength for improved network efficiency.

Cisco
 

Sample Customers

Ajubeo, Akquinet AG, Big Data Analytics Provider Boligkontoret Danmark Bristol is Open, CDE Lightband, Cicero School District 99, City and County of San Francisco, Department of Emergency, City of Chattanooga, Cloudscale.sh
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
Data Center Networking
October 2026
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