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Brocade VDX (discontinued) vs. Cisco Nexus Series Switches

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Brocade VDX (discontinued)

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/AThe Extreme VDX series of switches (formerly Brocade VDX) was acquired by Extreme Networks in 2017 during the Broadcom acquisition of Brocade and the selling off of some of the company's assets. The products, including the latest ExtremeSwitching VDX 6740, are now discontinued.N/A

    Cisco Nexus Series Switches

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ACisco Nexus is a series of network switches.N/A
    Pricing
    Brocade VDX (discontinued)Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Brocade VDX (discontinued)Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Brocade VDX (discontinued)Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Would buy again
    112 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    100 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    112 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    87 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    107 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Brocade VDX (discontinued)Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Cisco Nexus Dashboard
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Cisco Nexus Dashboard
    Score8.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Brocade VDX (discontinued)Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.7
    (3 ratings)
    8.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.9
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (36 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (10 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (4 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Brocade VDX (discontinued)Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    My experience since I started working with Extreme VDX has been great and everything has been working effectively. I give it 10/10 in performance since it has never failed us during our normal operations. Networking across our company and WAN has been covered by powerful fabric technologies that enhance secure and transparent business operations. It supports both wired and wireless connections with switches that network them through our applications.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It fits perfectly in all our data centers where we are using it. For small companies or smaller racks or something. I don't think it fits there because Cisco Nexus Series Switches is a big one. It's the most advanced one.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • The VDX is very simple to configure.
    • Documentation on the product is amazing.
    • The VDX will interface with any data center hardware; there is interoperability with all the BIG vendors: Dell, EMC, NetApp.
    • I have a pair of VDXs running at my DR site that has been up for over 8 years without any issues!
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Continuous system operation:
    • Maintenance, upgrades, and software certification can be performed without service interruptions because of the modular nature of NX-OS and features such as In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) and the capability for processes to restart dynamically
    • FabricPath:
    • Enables each device to build an overall view of the topology; this is similar to other link state routing protocols. Each device in the FabricPath topology is identified by a switch-id. The Layer 2 forwarding tables are built based on reachability to each switch-id, not by the MAC address. Eliminates spanning-tree to maximize network bandwidth and flexibility in topological configurations, as well as simplify operational support and configuration. This enables a tremendous amount of flexibility on the topology because you can now build FabricPath topologies for Layer 2-based networks the same as for Layer 3-based networks
    • Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV): Enables the Layer 2 extension between distributed data centers over any transport Layer 3 network
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • I once had a problem with a USB drive and had a lot of trouble fixing it. We can use more documents and a better way to recover the drive. I understand the problems that every vendor faces with proprietary software. If you are a customer, this should not be a problem.
    • It has limited commands.
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    Cisco
    • Implementing jumbo frames on interfaces of its fabric extender series (N2k, etc.) by editing the network QoS does not have to be a global configuration that would affect all its interfaces. It can be improved to become just an interface configuration.
    • Licensing on the NXOS is a bit complicated and expensive. I understand that the Nexus is made for core data center switching but it does not have to break the bank.
    • OTV technology is for Nexus only. Based on the advantage of the technology, it should be made vendor-neutral to accommodate other vendor devices.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Actually if we need to implement or develop our actual DC we will use Cisco Nexus Series Switches again. The solution is well known and we will be able to interconnect easily the switches, as we're not using all the possibilities of features we know what is solution is a long term solution.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    The platform has a good performance. The major issue is all the bugs you can discover across the operations, and it can be a big challenge depending on the number of Cisco Nexus Series Switches you have deployed. In our case, we own more than 200 Cisco Nexus Series Switches 9k, and we face an upgrade process, it could be a long time project to grant a new software deployment in all our switches platform.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    it is reliable and we seldom encounter outages for the switches
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    These switches are very fast. They've been designed to work within the data center. We connect them to Cisco UCS-B Mini servers with the storage being directly attached. They are able to handle the data traffic pretty easily. We can also move servers pretty fast from data center to data center without overloading them. This has allowed our company to stay running during any kind of conditional outage. We have come to really rely on them for business continuity.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Overall, Cisco has great products and I believe that they believe in the philosophy of a great customer experience. Although there have been a few technical support issues that caused a lot of company anxiety, in most cases, Cisco has gone above and beyond in making a valiant effort to help the customer solve any issues.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Trainer didn't has good handon experience.. he was bookish trainer.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Never had it
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Since we already have exposure to other Cisco switching products, the implementation of these switches is very seamless;
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    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
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    Cisco
    The Cisco 9000 stacks up quite well against the Cisco Catalyst 3850 switches. The additional features available in the Nexus 9000, such as VPN, FCoE, 40 gigabits, give us the ability to support the future needs of the company in our data center. The Nexus 9000 allowed us to condense our core and aggregation environment that comprised of 2 Catalyst 6504 and 2 Catalyst 6509 to a port of Nexus 9000. Although the Catalyst 3850 would be sufficient to handle routing, those features in the Nexus 9000 made it the clear choice for us.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    No, all good
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    The Nexus 3000 series switches are data center switches, so I would say they have similar security ability to other switches in this segment. I don't have a lot of experience doing more than basic ACL security on switches, but I know these can be integrated into other security solutions like Cisco ISE and 802.1x authentication. It could also be integrated into an ACI solution to add micro segmentation, which would bring in other security functions.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    their professional services is ok and support provided is good
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • We definitely have a great ROI on the VDX cluster at my DR site; 8 years without issue!
    • It takes so very little of my time because it has been so reliable, which allows me to be productive in other areas of the network.
    • After the transition from Brocade to Extreme VDX, it was a little rocky with the code at first but things have improved with R & D.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • We expected the switches to provide ROI and they did as advertised.
    • NX-OS was pretty similar to IOS so the learning curve was pretty low.
    • Being a Non-Profit we need to be extremely cost conscience and buy gear that has a long shelf life. Nexus line of switches met this objective.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Cisco Nexus Series Switches Screenshots

    Screenshot of Cisco Nexus 9800 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Nexus 3000 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Nexus 6004 Extensible Fixed SwitchScreenshot of N3K-C3548P-10GX Switch