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Cisco Nexus Series Switches vs. Juniper EX Series Switches

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Nexus Series Switches

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ACisco Nexus is a series of network switches.N/A

    Juniper EX Series Switches

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AJuniper Networks offers the EX Series Ethernet switches, as cloud-grade switches designed for the converged enterprise branch, campus, and data center, and for service providers. They address growing enterprise demands for high availability, unified communications, and virtualization.

    $1,680

    one-time fee approx

    Pricing
    Cisco Nexus Series SwitchesJuniper EX Series Switches
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    EX2300-C
    $1680
    one-time fee approx
    EX4100-F-12P
    $4,585.00
    one-time fee approx
    EX230
    $5830
    one-time fee approx
    EX4100-24MP
    $8,640.00
    one-time fee approx
    EX4100-F-48P
    $8,665.00
    one-time fee approx
    EX4300-48P
    $9,169.99
    one-time fee approx
    EX4400-24X-AFI
    $9,824.99
    one-time fee approx
    EX3400-48P
    $12,322.99
    one-time fee approx
    EX4400-24MP
    $14,315.00
    one-time fee approx
    EX4400-48MP
    $15,510.00
    one-time fee approx
    EX4600
    $31,273.99
    one-time fee approx
    EX4650
    $33,030.00
    one-time fee approx
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Nexus Series SwitchesJuniper EX Series Switches
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pricing is dependent on type of switches and the vendor selling them.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Nexus Series SwitchesJuniper EX Series Switches
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Pretty much we're a Cisco shop. I have used Juniper before, their EX series, but it more of an access type switch, stackable, so it's really hard to compare the two. So nothing really comparable to the Nexus.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches are reliable and scalable for data and security center operation. Cisco Nexus Series Switches give competition to other sw vendor on feature and continuous functionality like VPN feature, High Data Bandwidth, required less maintenance over year.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Cisco has better support than Juniper. Cisco techs/engineers are more available in [the] market than Juniper. Cisco has better documentation available on google/online platforms than Juniper or other vendors in [the] networking domain. Cisco has popular certifications in …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    In retrospect, I think the Juniper EX Series would have been a better purchase for our environment. However at the time we choose Cisco Nexus due to future support of Netflow, the Juniper EX did not and had no plans to provide Netflow data (which was important to our …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Nexus and Juniper switches we have compared are both performing well in our environment and both are capable to deliver what they promise. From an operations point of view, Cisco is more familiar to many people than Juniper, so small pros to Cisco Nexus on that part.
    Incentivized
    Juniper Networks
    Chose Juniper EX Series Switches
    Juniper is a pretty good competitor compared with these lines. It has the easiest CLI and they are very easy to manage. The most amazing thing about [the] Juniper EX line is [that] they are pretty stable as compared to the other vendors. Also [another] thing is that they have …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    112 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    7 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    100 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    112 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    87 Answers
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    107 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Nexus Series SwitchesJuniper EX Series Switches
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Nexus Dashboard
    Score8.2 out of 10
    RUCKUS Ethernet Switches
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Nexus Dashboard
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Cisco Ethernet Switches
    Score9.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Nexus Series SwitchesJuniper EX Series Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (107 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (36 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.5
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (10 ratings)
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.5
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.5
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Nexus Series SwitchesJuniper EX Series Switches
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    They work great as core switches, data center switches, top of rack switches. They can even serve as routers, their routing capability is great, except for where you need lots of routing processing power. I would not use many of them for branch office switches though, due to noise and slowness of bootup
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    • Very stable.
    • Cost efficient
    • Easy management
    • Great Juniper 24*7 TAC support
    • Different variants available for different requirements.
    • Easy to replace faulty hardware
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    • Virtual chassis new switch has overwritten existing config if not performed in a particular way.
    • Applying a configuration to a range of interfaces could be done in a better way.
    • Applying firewall rules to multiple security zones could be done a little more efficiently.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    The Mist portal is extremely easy to use. I only have a few issues with it. The configuration between Mist and the CLI is not uniform. If you push some command line configurations to the switch, they won't be mirrored in Mist. You need to use the CLI portion on the switch config page to push some CLI only configurations. If you want to remove those lines, you need remember to do the inverse of the config. You need to make sure your juniper admins understand this as well. Simply removing the line from the CLI text box of the Mist page does not remove the config line from the switch itself.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    it is reliable and we seldom encounter outages for the switches
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    When you open ticket, normally a L2 support engineer request support file and give you a valid fast solution. They replace switch if no solution are available due to minimize downtime
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    Trainer didn't has good handon experience.. he was bookish trainer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cisco
    Never had it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Since we already have exposure to other Cisco switching products, the implementation of these switches is very seamless;
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    Juniper EX Switches are far more reliable than NETGEAR Ethernet Switches. The Juniper EX Series Switches offer a wider scope of options for configuration. The EX switches can be deployed faster and easier to configure. The Juniper EX Series Switches offer more value for their price point than most switches on the market, in my opinion
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    No, all good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    their professional services is ok and support provided is good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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
    Read full review
    Juniper Networks
    • The Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches have provided a life span beyond what our replacement cycle allots, which allows us to have more time to budget for replacements.
    • The initial purchase price is very competitive with other enterprise network switching companies.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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