Huawei vs Cisco Switch: Which to Choose?

As we all know, Cisco System is one of the biggest multinational technology conglomerate in the world for decades. Its network devices, such as routers, switches..are popular in their customers. We can believe that Cisco will develop stronger, but new and strong competitors are arising, like Huawei. Huawei is one of the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, having overtaken Ericsson in 2012. Both are the giants of network switch manufactures. Both switches offer more than enough bandwidth to be capable of forwarding at line rate for all ports. Both switches are designed to use the minimum amount of power possible at all times, earning them Green designations. Huawei vs Cisco: which one should I choose? Read on to know more about these Huawei vs Cisco switches.

huawei vs Cisco

Cisco vs Huawei Switches

Before we cut to the chase, let’s take a look at the comparison between Cisco vs Huawei switches. Although the function of the switch is the same, different brands have different features.

Switches Series

Now, Cisco switches have many series. The popular series, enterprise switches, are Catalyst series and Nexus switches. Cisco Catalyst series includes 2960 series, 3650 series, 3850 series, 4500E series, etc. Cisco Nexus series includes 9000, 7000, etc. Huawei switches also have various series. There are data centre switches, campus switches and SOHO & SMB switches. The popular one is the campus switches. In all the campus switches, the S5700 series is the hottest switches in enterprises.

Product Code Rules

Except the different series, there are also differences of their switches product code rules. Take Cisco WS-C3850-24T-L and Huawei S5700-28X-LI-AC switches as an example.

Cisco WS-C3850-24T-L Code Introduction:

  • WS=Switch, C=catalyst, 3850=3850 series
  • 24=Ethernet Port Number
  • T=Ethernet Ports
  • L=LAN Base image

Huawei S5700-28X-LI-AC Code Introduction:

  • S=switch
  • 57=5700 Series
  • 00=5700 Sub Series like 5710 series
  • 28=the biggest number of data interfaces is 48, including uplinks and downlinks
  • Li=Lite software Image
  • AC=Ac power supply
Huawei vs Cisco: Switch Comparison 

Here is a one-to-one mapping between cisco 2960x and huawei s5700 switches, covering the relationship of them and help you choose the best network switch for your need.

About Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series are stackable Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 and Layer 3 access switches that provide enterprise-class access for campus and branch applications. Designed for operational simplicity to lower total cost of ownership, they enable scalable, secure and energy-efficient business operations with intelligent services and a range of advanced Cisco IOS Software features.

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches feature:

  • 4 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports with line-rate forwarding performance
  • Gigabit Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) or 10G SFP+ uplinks
  • FlexStack-Extended capabilities for out-of-the wiring-closet distance stacking of up to 8 switches with 40 Gbps of stack throughput (optional)
  • FlexStack-Plus for stacking of up to 8 switches with 80 Gbps of stack throughput (optional)
  • Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) support with up to 740W of PoE budget
  • 4-port PoE fanless switch for deployment outside the wiring closet
  • Reduced power consumption and advanced energy management features
  • USB and Ethernet management interfaces for simplified operations
  • Application visibility and capacity planning with integrated Full (Flexible) NetFlow and NetFlow-Lite
  • AN Base or LAN Lite Cisco IOS software features
  • Enhanced Limited Lifetime Warranty (E-LLW) offering next-business-day hardware replacement
  • Identify, classify and control of trusted internal network traffic through Domain Name System as an Authoritative Source (DNS-AS)

Cisco Catalyst 2960-XR Series Switches also offer:

  • Power resiliency with optional dual field-replaceable power supplies
  • P Lite Cisco IOS software with dynamic routing and Layer 3 features
About Huawei S5700 Series Gigabit Enterprise Switches

The S5700 series gigabit enterprise switches are next-generation energy-saving switches developed by Huawei to meet the demand for high-bandwidth access and Ethernet multi-service aggregation. S5700 provides a large switching capacity and high-density GE ports to accommodate 10 Gbit/s upstream transmissions. The S5700 can be used in various enterprise network scenarios. For example, it can function as an access or aggregation switch on a campus network, a gigabit access switch in an Internet data centre (IDC), or a desktop switch to provide 1000 Mbit/s access for terminals.

  • Dual power slot
  • Intelligent stacking(iStack), supporting a maximum of 9 switches in a stack
  • Hardware BFD, hardware Ethernet OAM
  • Netstream
  • Energy-Efficient Ethernet(EEE)
Huawei vs Cisco: Comparison Chart of Cisco 2960-X and Huawei S5700

Comparison Chart of Cisco 2960-X and Huawei S5700

FS.COM White Box switches and Compatible Transceiver Modules

FS 40G/100G switches provide high performance, increased availability, low latency and better serviceability for next-generation data centres and enterprise networks in different applications. And they also support spine-leaf network topology that leverage commoditized hardware for the best price/performance, just as shown below.

100g-switches

Summary

Huawei vs Cisco, we can’t say which one is better than the other. Cisco switches meet the needs of organizations and offices of all sizes and sorts. As for Huawei, it has several product lines that are similar to Cisco devices, but have their own network hardware lines and IT solutions for different network demands. It all depends on what you need and of course your budget. Also as a global high performance data centre solutions provider, FS.COM provides various networking devices for your reference like optical transceiver, which is compliant with the major brand, patch lead for customised service and also Ethernet switches.

Related Article: Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches SFP Port Connections