Cisco Catalyst Switches Leading The Way To A Better Network
June 07, 2024
Cisco Catalyst Switches Leading The Way To A Better Network
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Cisco Catalyst 9300X
- Cisco Catalyst 9200CX
- Cisco Catalyst 9200
- Cisco Catalyst 9500X
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Switches
The Cisco Catalyst Switches 9k line has been a major improvement in performance and capabilities over previous switching lines. They have allowed us to be more flexible with what we use our switches for. With the SSD option we can now deploy applications inline on the network through the use of containers when needed to help us monitor the network or solve problems quickly when they occur.
Pros
- High performance and high throughput switching.
- Flexibility through the use of containerized applications.
- Excellent m-gig port density.
Cons
- The Cisco Catalyst Switches 9k line is fairly high. A lower cost option like a 9200X would be an improvement.
- The Cisco Catalyst Switches 9k line lacks a higher port density fanless switch.
- More blade combinations for the Cisco Catalyst Switches 9k chassis switches are needed.
- The 9300X Cisco Catalyst Switches line has the features that we need both now and in the future will allow us to get 8-10 years of life out of the equipment.
- The long life of the equipment allows us to save both refresh dollars, and staff costs for equipment replacements that would need to happen on a shorter timeline.
- The 9300X Cisco Catalyst Switches line allows us to utilize more automation features, in conjunction with Cisco Catalyst Center, which saves staff time that would have been previously spent on manual configuration changes.
- Webex App
- Cisco Webex Room Series
- Cisco AnyConnect
- Cisco Secure Endpoint
The main challenge we faced was VPN appliance capacity. Prior to the pandemic, our VPN appliances were sized for around half of our workforce. When everyone was forced to work remotely, we suddenly found everyone trying to connect to VPN, even if they did not need to (because all they needed were M365, other web apps, etc). So an education campaign was needed to inform users when to connect and when not to connect.
We utilize AnyConnect to connect all of our remote workers to internal resources, so Cisco's solutions have been vital to our remote and hybrid work efforts. We also use Webex room devices in our offices to facilitate meetings between on-site staff and remote staff. The ability for the room devices to join Webex, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls has been crucial to the success.
My team has functioned extremely well in our remote/hybrid work model. We utilize chat and video call functionality to stay in touch both with ad-hoc meetings and regularly scheduled touchpoints during the week. We have utilized the same methods for communicating with our vendors and partners that we work with.
We selected Cisco Catalyst Switches over the HPE Aruba switches due to the end-to-end solution that Cisco has been building and improving upon over the last 5+ years. We can now utilize the same security tagging and posturing from our access layer all the way up through our firewall/edge, and even on our SD-WAN connectivity between sites. This has saved us valuable staff time and improved our security posture.
Do you think Cisco Catalyst Switches delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst Switches's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco Catalyst Switches live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst Switches go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Cisco Catalyst Switches again?
Yes
Comments
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