Senior Infrastructure Administrator in Information Technology at Merz North America (501-1000 employees employees)

Pros

The command line interface is very consistent and straightforward.
The build quality of these switches is top notch and we have had little to no issues with hardware failure.
Firmware and IOS updates happen regularly and newfound security flaws are patched quickly.

Cons

Price.
There is a lack of robust GUI options that some might find annoying.
One must learn the Cisco terms and nomenclature to program it.

Most Important Features

Ease of use.
Interoperability with other Cisco products in use in our environment.
Ease of setup and deployment.
Robust security features.

Return on Investment

Our uptime on network equipment has been amazing. This has prevented lost productivity due to outage.
Devices don't fail often allowing us to use the purchased equipment for long.
The price has been prohibitive at times due to budget constraints.

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), OnBase by Hyland, VMware ESXi

Cody Plassmeyer

Network Administrator II in Information Technology at Central Electric Power Cooperative (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

Cisco switches just work! They do exactly what a switch needs to do which is switch.
Cisco switches are packed with every feature possible to make sure they work in your environment.
Cisco switches are secure and highly tested. If there is a vulnerability, there will be an update available ASAP.

Cons

Cisco is the best in the business. It's hard to find a feature that's hard to use or missing.

Most Important Features

Security.
An important features of Cisco switches are the routing protocols that are available.
Reliability is a not key feature of Cisco switches.

Return on Investment

We have ran several Cisco switches for close to 10 years! Our ROI has been amazing!

Patrick Plaisance

CTO (Chief Technical Officer) in Information Technology at Pachyderm Consulting (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

Easy setup and configuration. While the web UI has its quirks, setting up VLANs and other tasks which can be exceedingly complicated on other switches, are much easier on Cisco SG switches. You also have the ability to upload an existing configuration to switches, which can speed up the task of deploying many identical switches.
Features for the price. Getting a 48 port L3 switch with PoE+ for less than $2,000 is a great value.
Reliability. We have hundreds of the SG switches in dozens of client sites, many in harsh conditions, and they just keep going.

Cons

The web UI has taken a turn for the worse with the latest firmware on the SGx50 models -- the bifurcation between basic and advanced modes and the changes to the way VLANs are modified is a step backward in my opinion.
The power bricks on smaller models are enormous. I'm sure, however, keeping this circuitry external to the switch is what keeps my switches running year after year in hot environments.
Fans can be a bit loud on larger switches -- this is true of pretty much any 1U device though.

Return on Investment

Switches are extremely reliable, haven't had to replace many (if any I can recall) due to multiple failed ports, saving annual network maintenance funds.
Convenient VLAN configuration has kept multiple networks safely segregated, helping to keep guest and other undesired traffic off of office networks.

Alternatives Considered

NETGEAR Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti Networks UniFi and NETGEAR ProSafe Managed Switches

Other Software Used

TeamViewer, WatchGuard Network Security, Amazon Glacier

Jyrki Halonen View profile

Lead Service Architect, Connectivity in Information Technology at Tieto (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

Operating Cisco devices are easy since Cisco IOS is well known by specialists
They scale well to many environments
Reliability

Cons

Price
Too many software versions available

Return on Investment

Cisco switches helps our company to focus to our core business, instead of focusing on the network

Alternatives Considered

Juniper Ethernet Switches

Paolo Della Mea View profile

Network Build Leader in Information Technology at GE (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

Extremely powerful
Predictable behavior
Easy to scale

Cons

Price
Flexibily
Easy to set up additional services

Return on Investment

Moved from chaos to a stable network
Improved performance
They last for years

Other Software Used

Cisco VoIP PBX, Cisco TrustSec, Cisco ASA

Cisco Ethernet Switches

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