Dell PowerConnect were a series of managed and unmanaged ethernet switches for data centers, discontinued by Dell. They have been superseded by the PowerSwitch line of switches, from Dell.
N/A
HP ProCurve Switches (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
HPE Networking Switches (formerly branded HP ProCurve) were Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's network / LAN switching option, that has been discontinued in favor of the company's Aruba switches.
We work in the electric industry. These should not be used in a high-heat environment. We like to keep the temperature of the room in the low 60's so they are not suited for our Substation locations due to extreme heat and cold. However, they perform great in a server room.
People with more specialist requirements than myself may have more reason to look elsewhere, but in general, we tend to pick a HPE switch of one model or other for most office deployments we do. The choice of managed, unmanaged, advanced features, etc., means there's something for everyone. We support several offices relying on them, and no disasters yet!
Quality: The HP switches are built very well. In the 12 years that I have been working with Procurve, I have deployed them in challenging environments. Some of these environments include manufacturing plants, rooms where ventilation is somewhat poor, causing the switch to work at warmer temps, and inside of control panels for various engineering projects located in hot deserts. These switches have lasted me for 10+ years. 6-Months ago I had to replace a switch for a friend that was installed in 2010. The switch was still working when we pulled it from the rack, we just needed to move to a POE model.
Dependability: Working with HP switches, I have never had issues with lockups, unknown transmission, dead ports, or firmware updates. Once you put one in, it stays up until you are ready to replace it.
Affordable: My motivation of going with HP is because I don't care for the cost of Cisco or the need for a proprietary training. I am a big fan of the open platform. This means that we are able to deploy these quicker, save money on the expense, and have a greater range of support. We get everything we need from a modern switch, without breaking the bank.
I've had fans burn out after the warranty period. In a way that is a positive and tells you just how long the fans last. However, it would be nice if the fans lasted a bit longer.
In a perfect world, it would be nice if the switches were not so loud.
The Dell PowerConnect switch is a great switch in certain use cases. It really works well when training users to set up their own vlans in a technology class. We have a lot of different scenarios happening at this company, with 8 different buildings and multiple different affiliate entities. For some of the departments, the budget is the most crucial element. That is where the Dell PowerConnect switches are a really great option.
Dell ProSupport is outstanding. Dell ProDeploy is likewise outstanding. I prefer them even over traditional Cisco support. I've had repeated cases where Dell immediately addressed or fixed an issue with US-based support, including firmware hotfixes. Not even Cisco can boast that.
We have had very little experience with support and nothing for years really. But when we have needed support we always got what we needed in a timely fashion. Basically good support that you would expect from an enterprise class business. Definitely less hoops to jump through getting help or parts than their desktop or printer divisions.
I selected Dell mainly due to previous experience using them in a business environment. I've never had a unit fail on me and when my budget for equipment like network switches has been less than a training class on how to use those switches, it's incredible to be able to find quality equipment at the price point Dell offers and even more so when their enterprise support has been as excellent as I have been accustomed to dealing with. In all honesty, even if I had a larger budget, I would have bought these same switches since they were exactly what I needed to suit my needs. We looked into HPE/Aruba network switches, and while they would have performed everything we needed and more, they were almost four times the cost of these Dell network switches. That's a hard sell when it comes to planning a tight budget.
HPE Networking Switches are basically on the same level as the Cisco Catalyst Switches, although I find the HPE Switches to be much easier to setup and configure. Most Netgear and D-Link switches are unmanaged, so those won't work for our organization, plus the HPE Networking Switches are much faster for packet switching.
