Arista 7000 series vs. Brocade VDX (discontinued)

Core and data center applications are the strengths of Arista products. The distribution layer is also a good fit. For the access layer, it would be more of a niche product.

Incentivized

The VDX is very well suited for any virtual environment; it is reliable along and easy to configure and maintain. It is great for inter-switch links on inter-cluster communication. I love our cluster configuration; allows for seamless, no downtime upgrades. It is actually fascinating to witness the upgrade; it takes about 10 minutes per chassis. This switch would not be well suited for intermediate distribution frame switching, it would be a waste of technology in an IDF!

Incentivized

• The 7304's along side our core network design has provided 100% uptime during the 5 years of deployment.
• The multi-chassis LAG has provided near 100% connectivity to the distribution and access switches.
• Very low maintenance attention is needed.

Incentivized

• Hosting applications.
• Controlling workflow processes.
• Provision of security to all data channels.
• Automation of network services.

Incentivized

• The 7304's lack a graceful non-intrusive upgrade method even though they are dual supervisor.
• I would like to see more integration with Aruba's ClearPass and Airwave products.

Incentivized

• I had issues with the USB drive once and had a devil of a time resolving. We could use a little more documentation and a better manner in which to recover the drive. I do understand the issues every vendor faces regarding proprietary software. If you are a customer, it should never be an issue.
• The VDX has been a champ in my environment, if I had issues I could probably come up with additional comments.
• I am glad that Extreme VDX has continued the VDX product line because it really is a phenomenal piece of hardware that was very well made.

Incentivized

I have used the Catalyst 6500 series in the past. From my point of view, the Arista surpasses the Catalyst on just about every front. Originally we were planning on implementing the Nexus 7000/7700 series switches for our core. Though a little more feature rich, it did not provide features we needed that the Arista did. The Nexus also was a confusing and complex platform to work with. Also, the Nexus was a significantly more expensive solution. Although very happy with the Arista switches we may evaluate the Aruba HPE 8400 chassis-based switches along with Arista switches in the future.

Incentivized

I have not had an opportunity to use a similar featured platform in my networking journey. All I have learned is that Extreme VDX has great potential for controlling and managing networking operations in our company. The data analytics insights that we receive from data analysis have developed great planning and decision-making infrastructure. The speed of operation is always stable with high data transfer rate.

Incentivized

• The Arista 7000 series met or exceed our data center switching and routing needs.
• It provided a more cost effective alternative to other products we were considering.
• Implementation was quick and easy due to the simple standards-based configuration.

Incentivized

• It could be a product in other fields of the network because it has been very trusted because it has been very recognized.
• It has stable connection.