Cisco Catalyst Switches are primarily used at the access and core of our network. They provide an enterprise solution that is well supported in the industry.
Along with providing wired ports for end users, the switches are powering POE devices and securing the network edge using dot1x.
Pros
Scale to support hundreds of users
Standalone switches can be deployed in core, distribution or access layer
Can be used at a small site or a site with thousands of users
Cons
More cheaper options
Dedicated fibre line card/model without buying hundreds of SFP
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited for scenarios where reliable network equipment with good uptime is required.
May be less appropriate when a cheap network expansion is required
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (Mining & Metals company, 10,001+ employees)
Cisco Catalyst Switches provides secured security of the network and high speed backbone. The switches provide flexibility and easier to manage and able to have access remotely.
Pros
Port Management
Remote access
Speed
Cons
Automated firmware updates
Likelihood to Recommend
The Cisco Catalyst Switches are easily integrated with other non Cisco networking devices. Hosting of multiple VLANS, including voice, data, etc.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (Mining & Metals company, 51-200 employees)
The catalyst switches that our company chose to use for the switching requirements we needed to resolve were of the Cisco C9300 variety, it was chosen for the high switching capabilities that the devices can produce. the data plane boosts of high switching rate and can be monitored on the Meraki dashboard.
Pros
they can can switch data packets fast
they can be stacked up to seven chassis
they also have dual power, but be aware of the POE budget trickery
they also power stack so if both power supplies fail they can continue to be operational, subject to the power supply wattage
Cons
if your DC requires labelling as all should, on the C9500-48Y4C there is no room for hostname labels.
the noise from the small replicable fans are very loud on the C9500-24/48Y4C chassis. They do not ramp down - thinks its an airplane taking off???
the C9500-24/48Y4C be stacked with stackwise virtual, but only 2 physical chassis can be members. This should be increased to four, although that would remove the need for the C9400 modular switch come to think of it.
Likelihood to Recommend
It all depends on Capex budgets, if you have a huge taxable write off budget then Cisco Catalyst Switches are available in all shapes and sizes to suit every scenario. If looking from an opex budget, then they can be quite costly to that budget. All in all, nothing screen corporate more than rows of Cisco Catalyst Switches.
We have a need to bring a lot of users into our network and Catalyst switches provide the port density that we need to bring on our users. It also provides performance to move that traffic through our network at the speeds that we're required at the scaling that we require. It also gives us the flexibility to have a mixture of fiber and copper ports to bring on those users and build fiber actions out to the data center along with the reliability of having a Cisco product that we know we can depend on the trust.
Pros
Being a mining company, we've seen Catalyst switches deployed out in the field when it comes to doing a lifecycle upgrade. We've taken these switches out 37 fifties in particular and opened them up and they were still working when we pulled them out and when we opened them up, they're completely full of dust and they've seemed to have survived for many years in deployment and we're hoping for the same longevity out of the current range of nine K series shallow switches.
Cons
Can't think of anything to improve
Likelihood to Recommend
Being a mining organization, we have a mixture of use cases where we need IoT products to suit environments as well as catalyst switching in the data center in controlled environments, we tend to use color switching while in other environments we use other products. I found the colorless switch used to be quite reliable in both environments, which is outstanding. One of the major problems with our deployments is that we have limited capability to express dust. Iron ore dust gets into permeates the right data centers and coats the switches, which makes cooling a problem. But in reality we've had color switches running for many years in tough environments and the reliability has been fantastic.
high speed data access in the campus. perfect switch for scalability and ease of management
Pros
ISE integration
high speed uplinks 25G/40G
Cons
cost is high, could be lower
Likelihood to Recommend
less appropriate in the OT industry where the cisco IR series are more suited. company has remote sites where it would be ideal to have cat 3850 but not good enough IP rating
VU
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology (Mining & Metals company, 10,001+ employees)
We use Cisco Catalyst Switches everywhere from basic office access switches to branch layer three switches, in both stacked and individual configurations.
Pros
Performance
Reliability
Efficient
Cons
Licensing
Cost
Availability
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have a Cisco-trained engineer that can configure your switches, it's a great solution. If you need a reliable managed switch, Cisco is one of the best candidates.
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (Oil & Energy company, 501-1000 employees)
We use them as core and edge switches. They give us the option to manage VLANs and take advantage of access lists. With advanced VLAN and routing capabilities, we separate our access control, iPhones, regular traffic, and also guest network. Integration is seamless and switches play well with other branded network products as well.
Pros
Vlan.
Access control.
Network integration.
Cons
Installing GUI should be easier.
For edge switches, surge protection should be standard and components should be more durable.
Console cable should be USB.
Likelihood to Recommend
For core switches and backbone switches, they are great, packed with features and options. Boot up takes time, but after switches boot, they work almost indefinitely without any issues. For edge switches, they are not well suited for remote or mobile locations, if surge protection is not above standard or absent switches get burned easily even they are fed by ups. They don't play well with solar-fed power sources as well.
We use Cisco Catalyst 3560-CX switches for our core and IOT networking across our enterprise. They enable us to use the latest protocols, services, and maintain the highest level of uptime for our business users.
Pros
Aggregating different network protocols together and enable very fast network speeds.
Ease of management and low incident rates.
Versatile to deploy into almost any networking situation.
Cons
Cisco's switch code backup tool isn't the greatest and easiest to use.
[It's] a lot more money than competitor's products.
[Cisco Catalyst 3560-CX Series Switch] is a very diverse product line for even one model. [It] can be daunting to find the switch you need without Cisco's help.
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco Catalyst 3560-CX Series switches are great for core, IOT, and some perimeter situations. However, brand office networks, there are [in my opinion] other products that do it better, cheaper, and faster in deployment. If you are already a Cisco customer, its really easy to procure and set up their gear when replacing aging gear. Super easy to pull the old configs usually and load to new devices. if its the same make/model in most cases.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (Oil & Energy company, 201-500 employees)
