Help! Foundry is replacing Cisco!

[pelusojp]

The company I work for has decided to upgrade from an access/distro layer of cabletron switches to BigIron 8000 series switches. The core layer remains as a 7500 series cloud regardless. What I need is some ways to knock down this paper tiger of a switch to favor the 6509 and 4006 line. The network here runs VTC, e-mail, intense file sharing, and other demanding programs. Please help to keep this network CISCO only.

[MickPhelps]

There are other issues besides moving packets. In this time of uncertainty, I would stand by Cisco as being one of the most stable comm hardware providers.

Also, the number of Cisco engineers and the amount of training availble for Cisco equipment far outpaces competing manufacturers'. Dollars spent on additional training and support over the years will outweigh inital capital outlay. Tough argument to prove, but after doing this (IT) for over 20 years, its a time proven philosophy.

Good luck. Arguing with bean counters sucks. :)

[orndorfffo]

I would discuss with the upper management team about the support issues and highlight on the network of field support that Cisco offers. I know that when I call for support that Cisco will respond in a very short time frame. Additionally I would tell them that retraining would need to occur in order to support the proposed equipment where if a Cisco solution were implemented it would require minor or no training. The project implementation time would be would be increased if you went with a non Cisco product. I would as well speak to the stability of Cisco as a company. I am in the process of replacing our CORE network as we speak because the company that we purchased from in the past was purchased by a telco that decided that it wanted to get into the networking business. In the process of purchasing they decided that they would no longer manufacture or support our equipment. There goes 400k out the window.

[tkresnicka]

My company tried the same thing. After a lengthy battle, I was able to sell them on a Cisco 6509 solution. Critical issues were:

Market Standing

Support capabilities (big big issue!)

Industry acceptance.

We are an OSPF shop, and were rolling out smaller Foundry's (NetIrons) as layer 3 switches in some of our call centers and ran into some significant issues with NetIrons and our OSPF. Foundry didn't help themselves with their slow and inadequate TAC support. Half the time, the guy you needed, wasn't there.

From a maintenance perspective, we have all our layer 3 Cisco on Smartnet 24x7w4, Foundry didn't initally offer that same level of equipment maintenance. They ended up customizing a program for us but when tested were not able to meet our requirement.

We are still using ServerIrons for load-balancing, but all other Foundry equipment is out-bound.

[jscinocca]

Actually man,

If you get the Switch your better off, the BIGIron 8000 is alot more powerful than the 6509

You will see,, your mind will change, the IOS is pretty much the same as CISCO.

Have fun

Here's a pointer,,the fastest backplane for a 6509 is 256Gbps, thats standard for the 8000, and can be upgraded. The IOS has a lot more functionality than CISCO also

[cmd1]

We looked at both the 6509 and the 8000 here also. We choose the 6509 for several reasons; Cisco is very strong and will be here in the long haul, the amount of R&D that is invested in the 6509 is second to none, take a look at all of the add on blades you can get for the 6509.

And remember, its not all about backplane.

[jscinocca]

Your right its not all about the backplane,

The BigIron also supports the faster blades than CISCO does

:)