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Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches

Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches

Overview

What is Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches?

Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series switches are described by the vendor as purpose-built for resiliency at scale, providing comprehensive security and helping organizations grow at low total operational cost. Built on the foundation of Catalyst 9000, the Catalyst 9600 Series is…

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Recent Reviews
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Product Details

What is Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches?

Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series switches are described by the vendor as purpose-built for resiliency at scale, providing comprehensive security and helping organizations grow at low total operational cost. Built on the foundation of Catalyst 9000, the Catalyst 9600 Series is designed to offer scale and high levels of security when "always on" is the goal.

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Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches Technical Details

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Reviews and Ratings

(25)

Reviews

(1-11 of 11)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use them [Cisco Catalyst Series Switches] as our core distribution network layer 2 and 3 switches. We see it as the future-proof platform which is highly scalable due to stacking capabilities.
  • Stacking
  • Security
  • Efficient
  • Bandwidth
  • Ease of use
[Cisco Catalyst Series Switches can] enable time-saving automation to be put in place due, but you need to put in the time and effort to achieve this. It allows to scale, due to its stacking capability and saves rack space as it is only 1 RU in height.
Michael Kerzner | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a Managed Service Provider and as such, have multiple sized clients across many varying verticals. Cisco Catalyst Switches are our go-to switch internally as well for our clients. They are very scalable and make managing larger networks a very feasible task. They offer great speeds and are very configurable.
  • Cisco Catalyst Switches are very easy to use and manage.
  • Cisco support it top notch.
  • Very easy to scale up as [the] network infrastructure grows.
  • [It's] sometimes hard to justify high price-point to clients.
  • I am not a fan of the new Cisco licensing portal.
  • Cisco products are not an easy ecosphere for lower and mid-level techs.
Once you get past the sticker-shock of Cisco's higher than average pricing, you will find yourself with a highly dependable and easy to manage network switch. As your network grows, Cisco Catalyst Switches make it very easy to scale up and add more hardware. These switches are very secure and offer a plethora of extra features.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches] are used throughout our entire internal network and we also deploy these switches for our clients. [Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches] make it very easy to scale and add more switches as the need arises. These switches are reliable and secure. Cisco has become a brand that we can depend on.
  • Cisco offers great support.
  • Hardware is very reliable.
  • Scalability is fantastic.
  • Management is very easy.
  • Price is high compared to other vendors.
  • Upgrading firmware can be difficult and sometimes confusing.
  • Cisco licensing can be difficult to understand.
Even with the higher price point compared to other vendors, we highly recommend [Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches] to all of our clients. These switches are built to last. [They] make network management very easy and will benefit any business in the long run. Cisco stands behind its product. It is very easy to add additional switches as a network grows.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We love Cisco Catalyst Switches. We use them for all of our customers' networks. These switches are reliable and have a long lifecycle. These switches make network management less time consuming than using a competitor's equipment. It is very easy to scale up as a network becomes larger.
  • Great security features.
  • Very easy to mange.
  • Support gets back to you quickly.
  • Cisco licensing can sometimes be hard to understand.
  • Lower-level techs will have to do some training to manage these switches successfully.
  • High price point.
We use these [Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series] Switches for all of our small and medium-sized business clients. These switches make it very easy to manage a network via a single pane of glass. Once our techs are up to speed, they are able to make configuration changes very quickly with minimal effort. There is a bit of a high price point to entry, but you will save in the long run.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Deploy the Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches to multiple customers who chose this line of equipment for their infrastructure. Since it provides great connectivity and security throughout the network and has not had problems with connectivity against other vendors. This line from Cisco presents a wide range of products and configurations so that customers can meet all the requirements they have to meet a great network operation.
  • Good integration with other vendros or Cisco products
  • This line of cisco products present a great scalability
  • The configuration and the security of the network infrastructure are very good in this line of cisco
  • The cost of the solution is very high
I recommend the catalyst line since for more than 10 years I never had any type of problem with this equipment, the hardware and software updates were always good for the business and the equipment evolved as time passed from the speed in the ports to the great variety of features that the software brings.
Lochan Kalicharan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our Cisco Catalyst Series switches are getting users connected to our network quickly to allow access to company resources. They are highly scalable and allow us to expand effortlessly as we open new areas and expand. A number of these switches have been used to replace older infrastructure as well, due to slower speeds and network congestion.
  • Scalability
  • Support
  • Documentation
  • Ease of use
  • Stacking is difficult/cumbersome
  • Licensing
  • Updates
Still highly recommend this switch over others. Scalability makes these a great choice. Setup and ease of use make the switches something you can implement very quickly with little downtime. Despite the licensing portion, still highly recommend it.
Daniel García Arias | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used Cisco catalyst 9600 Series Switch as a distribution switch on an enterprise network. The switch is very useful because it resolves the problem of fast packet commutation in the distribution layer.
  • Fast packet commutation.
  • High port speed.
  • Hardware with high level of reliability.
  • Very hight price
  • Stability of VSS
  • It is desirable that the switch improve the troubleshooting process with some integrated tools.
The switch performs very well in many scenarios, is fast, reliable, and relatively easy to administrate, but its high price could be a con for some organizations.
David Orellana | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
They are the backbone of our network operation--data, wireless, and VoIP solutions.
  • LAN segregation
  • VLAN trunking
  • VoIP
  • QoS rules over VoIP
  • SNMP implementation with third parties
  • Central management tool cost is too high
Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches offer a wide selection of products for SOHO and enterprise. Layer-2 switches offer one-time configuration and in our experience, the hardware can stand for a long time.
Jim Lombardi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches have been the core infrastructure product of choice for us and our customers. We've used core switches, firewalls, and converged technology devices from Cisco for over 10 years and support them for our clients across a wide array of configurations. As a product, they are indispensable for us, as they provide reliable and secure connectivity.
  • Management is superior
  • Flexibility
  • Integration with other products
  • New products sometimes had code bugs; but we usually are early adopters so we take that risk
Basically, anywhere you have a network to manage, Cisco will fit in and do very well. On the very large scale enterprises, they excel. For some very small installations, they used to be a bit difficult but they've evolved to address the less complex and sophisticated environments. Their support is expensive for small guys, so that's typically the major roadblock.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Primarily used as core switch router allowing the organization to segment portions of the their network for the purpose of sideways security.

Establishing localized campus VLANs with ACLs to mitigate against the ability for unwelcome and unnecessary sideways access to resources.

The ASICs of the Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches and the price point make it attractive for specific business sizes to get the performance for the price.
  • Routing
  • Switching and forwarding of packets
  • Security
  • The annual support can be a killer for some organizations; buying a hot spare can be more feasible
  • BOM for units should be clearer for the procurement teams
  • Firmware upgrades could be simplified for mid-level techs
It works really well as a medium business core switch and router

Simplified CLI for the purposes of administration, and when set up correctly, you pretty much forget about it with minimal changes to VLANs and ACLs.

Easy to add additional switches to a stack as well as mixing of copper and SFP.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Layer-2 switch environment for WAN (connection of 19 locations back to the main data center). The connection is over Fiber backbone provided by a third party, with a network comprised of 12 VLANs. Once configured and deployed, Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches have provided stable, secure, and reliable connections for all clients back to the main data center.
  • Support of VLAN architecture that in our environment is somewhat complicated
  • Interface well with Fiber backbone provided by third party
  • Secure configuration and operation of network infrastructure
  • Uptime has been outstanding with no outages noted
  • Programming is different from other providers; this has caused some issues with staffing
  • The training opportunities do not provide the basics of programming or migration from other vendors' products.
  • Unless you are willing to purchase renewed switches, cost can be out of line with other vendors
For the less appropriate installations, I would say that a smaller, less well funded organization would be hard pressed to justify the expense and possibly find it difficult to staff appropriately for deployment of Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches. Since the Cisco OS is so specialized and different from other vendors, a person with Cisco experience is required to properly configure. If the deployment does not require VLANs or segregation of data paths, using the switches in default mode will work, however there are less expensive options that will also provide connectivity.

Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches are well suited for a robust environment, whether it is a simple LAN with multiple VLANS or a complex WAN environment with a multitude of drops. Security and reliability continue to be a strong benefit in this type of deployment.
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