Thursday, May 28, 2015

Access Switch Comparison: Brocade ICX 7450/7250 Versus Cisco 3850/3650

I wanted to do a switch comparison between the newer Cisco 3850/3650 and the newer Brocade ICX 7450/7250 switches.  I came up with a newer spreadsheet for myself and my sales guys, so that we could do quick comparisons between the newer products.  So for this post, I thought I would compare a few performance differences between the Cisco 3850 and 3650 access switch as opposed to the Brocade ICX 7450 and 7250 access switches.  Its always an interesting comparison when honestly looking at the performance specs.  Here below is an "apples to apples" comparison of the most powerful switches of each of the series.

These two are the better performing access closet switches:
Brocade 7450-48P
336 Gbps switching backplane
250 Mpps forwarding rate
160 Gbps stacking rate
12 switch capability in stack
12 10Gig ports

Cisco 3850-48P
176 Gbps switching backplane
130.95 Mpps forwarding rate
480 Gbps stacking rate
9 switch capability in stack
4 10Gig ports

These two are the lesser performing access closet switches:
Brocade 7250-48P
256 Gbps switching backplane
190 Mpps forwarding rate
80 Gbps stacking rate
12 switch capability in stack
8 10Gig ports

Cisco 3650-48PD
176 Gbps switching backplane
104.16 Mpps forwarding rate
160 Gbps stacking rate
9 switch capability in stack
4 10Gig ports

For network performance and honest comparisons, I'll be sticking with Brocade.

2 comments:

  1. I enjoy reading your blog... Just one thing to add. In your comparison, I would say that the 6610 is the top-of-the-line Brocade stackable, with the 7450 being an FCX replacement.

    That being said, the 7450 is much more cost-effective, and still gives the 3850 a real run for the money. It is the switch I lead with for client IDF's. I haven't yet run into a scenario where it isn't the right fit.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Brant. Nice to have you on the blog. I would probably disagree that the 7450 is a replacement for the FCX, as that was the purpose for the 6610s. I "feel" like you may be saying that because of the performance comparisons between the two. However, its certainly not rocket science as to which one will perform better between the 7450s and the 3850s.

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