As we all knew, Cisco is the best brand of Networking devices. It provides a large scale of switches to meet various customers’ needs. For Dell, you may say “I only know that they have servers and storages”! However, Dell also provide us some switches, like N series and S series.
You may also say, “ Cisco switch is the better, and we don’t need to compare it with Dell switch.”
If you have no trouble of budget, you can buy Cisco switches as more as you like. But, in fact, we are always confused by our limited budget.
Why?
Let me introduce.
How many series of Cisco and Dell switches?
Cisco switches family is very big. There are various series, like Catalyst series, Nexus series, IE series, SMB series and Meraki series. In the meantime, each series provides many sub-series. Just take Catalyst 2960 family for example. To meet more needs, Cisco Catalyst 2960 provides 2960X, 2960XR, 2960L, 2960C and those eos-and-eol 2960 plus, 2960, etc. No matter what scale of your business, you can find the suitable switch in Cisco 2960 switches.
However, Dell doesn’t provide so many series. The popular series is S series and N series. The S series provides Dell EMC PowerSwitch S-Series 10GbE Switches, Dell EMC PowerSwitch S-Series 1GbE Switches and Dell EMC PowerSwitch S-Series 25-100GbE Switches. The N series includes
Dell EMC PowerSwitch N1100 Series, Dell EMC PowerSwitch N1500 Series, Dell EMC PowerSwitch N2000 Series, Dell EMC PowerSwitch N3000 Series and Dell EMC PowerSwitch N4000 Series.
You can check the switches comparison from these tables below.
| Cisco | Dell |
| Catalyst 3850 | N3132PX |
| Catalyst 2960X | N3000 |
| Catalyst 2960L | N1500 |
| SMB SG550X | N2000 |
| SMB SG350 | N1500 |
| SMB SG220 | X1000 |
Multigigabit Switch w/ 40Gbps Uplink
| Features | Cisco Catalyst 3850 | Dell N3132PX-ON |
| Number of Ports | 24/48, 40GE Uplink | 24 + 8 2.5/5 GbE w/4 SFP+ |
| Speed | GE/10GE, 40GE Uplink, mGig | GE/10GE, 40GE Uplink, 2.5/5 GbE |
| PoE | PoE, PoE+, UPoE | PoE, PoE+, UPoE |
| Stacking | 480 Gbps | 84 Gbps |
| L2 or L3 | L3, Dynamic, MPLS | L3, Dynamic |
| Flexible NetFlow | Yes | No |
| WLC Controller | Yes | No |
GE Switch w/ Premium Security Feature
| Features | Cisco Catalyst 2960-X | Dell N3000 |
| Number of Ports | 24/48 w/4 SFP or 2 SFP+ | 24 / 48 w/ 2 SFP+ |
| Speed | GE / 10GE Uplink | GE / 10GE Uplink |
| PoE | PoE, PoE+ | PoE, PoE+ |
| Stacking | Yes, 80Gbps | Yes, 84 Gbps |
| L2 or L3 | L3 – Static | L3 |
| Flexible NetFlow | Yes | No |
| uRPF | Yes | No |
GE Switch w/Cisco Catalyst Software
| Features | Cisco Catalyst 2960-L | Dell N1500 |
| Number of Ports | 8/16/24/48 w/ 2 or 4 SFP | 24/48 w/ 2 SFP+ |
| Speed | GE | GE |
| PoE | PoE, PoE+, Persistent PoE | PoE, PoE+ |
| Stacking | No | Yes, 40Gbps |
| L2 or L3 | L2 | L3, Static or RIP |
| Fanless | Yes | No |
| OS | Cisco IOS SW | / |
Small Business Enhanced L3 GE Switch
| Features | Cisco SG550X | Dell N2000 |
| Number of Ports | 24/48 w/ 4 10GE | 24/48 w/ 2 SFP+ |
| Speed | GE / 10GE Uplink | GE, 10GE Uplink |
| PoE | PoE, PoE+ | PoE, PoE+ |
| Stacking | Yes, Up to 8 | Yes, Up to 12 |
| L2 or L3 | L3 – Dyn, IPv6 Routing | L3 – Static, RIP |
| SDN Controller | Yes (FindIT) | Cloud-based |
| Warranty | LLW w/ NBD | LW |
Small Business Basic L3 GE Switch
| Features | Cisco SG350 | Dell N1500 |
| Number of Ports | 8/24/48 w/ 2 GE/SFP Combo | 24/48 w/ 4 SFP+ |
| Speed | GE | GE, 10GE Uplink |
| PoE | PoE, PoE+ | PoE, PoE+ |
| Stacking | No | Yes, 40Gbps |
| L2 or L3 | L3 – Static | L3, Static or RIP |
| DHCP Server | Yes | No |
| Warranty | LLW w/ NBD | LW |
Small Business L2 GE Switch
| Features | Cisco SG220 | Dell X1000 |
| Number of Ports | 24/48 w/ 2 GE/SFP Combo | 8/16/24 w/ 2 SFP |
| Speed | GE | GE |
| PoE | PoE, PoE+ | 8/16/24 Port |
| Stacking | No | No |
| L2 or L3 | L2 | L3, Static |
| SDN Controller | Yes (FindIT) | No |
| Warranty | LLW | LLW |
How about their Technology Support Services?
The CCIE is the most famous of Cisco that provide technology support for customers. If you have bought the highest level of tech support, you can get the 24/7/365 services. It means, you can be on the phone with true support CCIE within the first hour.
Although Dell also says they provide tech support services, buy the support may be not quick and good.
How about the functions of Cisco and Dell switches?
For campus, Cisco provides Catalyst switches and Dell provide S and N series. Cisco Catalyst switches have many series and all of them are very good. However, Dell N series have some problems at some basic functions, like stacking, L3 routing, etc.
Can we use all the functions when we got the switches?
Although Dell N series is not good to use, but Dell S series is better. The S series is from Force10, the company that Dell bought their S series switches. Force10 developed a very stable and reliable full featured open OS.
It’s an important information that Dell doesn’t license features on their switches. So, unlike Cisco, when you get a Dell switch you own all the switching and routing features out-of-the box.
Now, you know why I should tell you consider the budget. If you have much money, you can buy Cisco switches and ready to buy many licenses in order to get more functions. If you don’t have enough budget, you can choose Dell S switches.
Learn More:
Info:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/switches/sc/switches
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1956064-cisco-vs-dell-switches-2017
