Catalyst 5500 replacement

[tmesbah]

Hi guys,

I need to build a very strong case to replace our Catalyst 5500 and 5509 with Catalyst 6500. What I need is:

1) Campare the 5500 with 6500

2) Any technical justification to change catalyst 5500

3) What kind of Hardware Catalyst 5500 is using (SUP3) campare to Catalyst 6550

4) Any problem and limitation on Catalyst 5500

5) Waht is the performance of Catalyst 5500 (RSM) campare to 6500

6) Why did I need to replace catalyst 5500 now

7) Architecture of 5500 campare to 6500

I know it is a lot of question but I need to build a very very strong case to replace them (the only thing that I have right now is that Catalyst 5500 are end-of sale and bakplane is 3.6 Gbps).

Many Thanks for your help !!!

[7rbowenii]

As I see it, you should be the best person to make that call. A salesman can tell you about all of the new bells and whistles on the latest product, but if you can't justify it on your own already, then there is no reason to upgrade.

My reccomendation is this: baseline your traffic for a month or so. See what is going on in your network. What does your company want to do in the future? How will this impact performance of your network? Do your homework. Justify the need to upgrade to something. Not necessarily 6500s. Cat 4000s may very well be enough for what you need to do. Go through the basic motions first. This will not only provide you with more thorough knowledge of your network, but will also allow you to make good business judgments on when and how to upgrade. I hope this helps.

I wanted to share this because I have in the past worked with someone who wanted to upgrade to the newest technology as soon as it came out. This put a lot of undue stress on staff and finances.