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Cisco Nexus vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series comparison

Cisco and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the LAN Switching category. Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4, while Dell Technologies is ranked #12. Cisco holds a 8.7% mindshare in LS, compared to Dell Technologies’s 3.5% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.
Cisco Nexus
Read 106 Cisco Nexus reviews
  • 1,431 Views
  • 522 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Read 2 Dell PowerSwitch N-Series reviews
  • 278 Views
  • 152 Comparison Views
50% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series and Cisco Nexus compete in the networking hardware sector. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series provides competitive pricing and reliable customer support, while Cisco Nexus offers advanced features, making each appealing based on user priorities.

Features: Dell PowerSwitch N-Series provides robust scalability, energy efficiency, and seamless integration with third-party products. Cisco Nexus offers high-performance capabilities, advanced security features, and extensive support for virtualization.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is noted for its straightforward deployment and responsive support team, ensuring a smoother installation process. Cisco Nexus, with its more complex setup, benefits from comprehensive documentation and advanced support, aiding large-scale deployments.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is preferred for its lower initial setup costs and effective ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. Cisco Nexus requires a larger upfront investment but delivers long-term value through high performance and innovative features.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Nexus vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
June 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Nexus
Ranking in LAN Switching
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Networking (5th)
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Ranking in LAN Switching
12th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the LAN Switching category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 8.7%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerSwitch N-Series is 3.5%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
LAN Switching
 

Featured Reviews

Vinayak Lokare - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhancing data center network efficiency with reliable security integrations and good switching
Cisco Nexus provides a reliable switching platform for our data centers. It allows us to run dynamic routing protocols and helps improve network efficiency with features like MPLS. Additionally, it supports integration with third-party security tools, which is advantageous for our network architecture. Security-wise, we utilize Cisco's solutions while exploring other vendor options too.
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Al Vasek - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, but the support and stability could be improved
There is a lack of support because there is a lack of adoption. Because Cisco switches are so widely used, anyone in the world can support them. It was two Cisco engineers who released Arista's code. In terms of programming functionality, they essentially duplicated the Cisco iOS, so all Cisco commands work on the Arista commands. You can do an Arista if you can do a Cisco. Aruba isn't all that different. It's a little different, but they have all of HPE's money and stuff behind it and things like that. I would say the same thing about Extreme or some of the other switches where it's penny-wise, pound-foolish. You save some money if you are a small shop with only one or two guys, it's understandable. Fortinet is now in the switch business, and they have their FortiSwitch devices, which are controlled by the FortiGate firewalls to do all of the programs. There is a lot to choose from. But, in my opinion, a lot of it is dependent on the use case and the customer type. Meraki is a nice little Cisco product for the right kind of business, but I wouldn't use it in an enterprise setting.
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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We've found their tech support to be excellent, especially in their willingness to resolve issues promptly."
"This product has improved the way our organization functions through the ability to do things in a maintenance window while allowing other teams to continue to work."
"Cisco Nexus has good overall reliability and configuration options. It is fairly straightforward to access the switching platforms."
"Tech support is good."
"We got increased bandwidth, faster performance, and newer software which has improved our organization."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is its stability."
"The solution has introduced VPC, Virtual Port Channel, which allows for more redundancy and flexibility."
"It's pretty easy to use and operates at high speed."
More Cisco Nexus pros
"Port density and port speed performance are both suitable. It has some appealing intangibles."
"For a customer, it is easy to configure and to add ports through the LAN the GUI."
 

Cons

"They need to offer fibre switches in the 9K series."
"The initial setup was pretty complex, mostly because of our environment, having to do multi-context. That's where you have a lot of different logical routes that are in one physical device, and it can get kind of complex trying to think about how to set all that up. You really have to whiteboard it out a lot."
"Our only complaint is about the licensing because it can always be a little more cost-effective."
"I would like to see some development into the SAE world where you can virtualize. That would be the only thing I would like to see because I need to start virtualizing my infrastructure gear at some of the other data centers that I have."
"Technical support could be better."
"All solutions are very expensive and not an economy solution."
"Data center access is stable and high speed but it is not compatible with Cisco's server hardware devices. The solution can be technically improved and can have features like automation, better visibility, better functionality, and cheap pricing."
"Ease-of-use and making things more human-readable is most important."
More Cisco Nexus cons
"Instead of competing at the enterprise level with that product, they should probably scale it. With all of the ports, they should develop a good mid-level business to truly scale it and gain adoption before attempting to go after the enterprise."
"Customers do not prefer this to connect to multiple cities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you compare Cisco hardware to any other vendors, such as HPE, they are more expensive. There is a license to use the solution. If my customer's licenses are about to expire I receive notification from Cisco, this is very helpful."
"We have a three-year subscription for our licensing fees."
"Cisco's licensing structures can be complex across different technologies, for example, unified communications."
"This solution should be made more affordable."
"All of our costs including subscription, licensing, and support services are bundled together, and the cost is approximately $100,000 USD per year."
"We consider Juniper switches to be more affordable."
"The solution is expensive."
"Cisco Nexus is not cheap compared to Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Check Point."
More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice
"You are selling it to larger customers and in larger environments, where it's a less expensive model than Cisco, which is attempting to use the same approach Arista did, but with a completely different programming language."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
22%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Healthcare Company
8%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?
The price of Cisco Nexus is on the higher side due to the premium services Cisco offers. Despite the cost, it offers valuable features and services.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?
When I talk about data centers, which are critical infrastructure and centralized application hubs, the Nexus platforms should be highly stable. Initially, the codes I received through ACI were qui...
See all answers
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Comparisons

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 43% of the time
Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 19% of the time
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 9% of the time
Juniper QFabric vs Cisco Nexus Logo
Juniper QFabric vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 5% of the time
VMware NSX vs Cisco Nexus Logo
VMware NSX vs Cisco Nexus
Compared 4% of the time
More Cisco Nexus Competitors
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Logo
Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
Compared 66% of the time
More Dell PowerSwitch N-Series Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus
June 2025
Cisco Nexus reportDownload Cisco Nexus product report
Buyer's Guide
LAN Switching
June 2025
Dell PowerSwitch N-Series reportDownload Dell PowerSwitch N-Series product report
 

Overview

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.
Cisco

Dell PowerSwitch N-Series bring users efficient connections to the network with highly functional access and aggregation switching. Products consist of: Dell EMC Networking N1100 Series, Dell Networking N1500 Switches, Dell Networking N2000 Series, Dell Networking N3000 Series and Dell Networking N4000 Series.

Dell Technologies
 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
Norwich University of the Arts, Shelby American, City and Islington College
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Nexus vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
June 2025
Free Report: Cisco Nexus vs. Dell PowerSwitch N-Series
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