[134726] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Is Cisco equpiment de facto for you?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brandon Kim)
Mon Jan 10 12:05:08 2011
From: Brandon Kim <brandon.kim@brandontek.com>
To: nanog group <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:04:22 -0500
In-Reply-To: <op.vo3pqyxqwjyiia@osprey>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
Wow=2C overall consensus is that there are quite a few that are migrating t=
o Juniper from Cisco.
I am a bit biased because I have spent an awful amount of time invested int=
o Cisco and understanding how to configure them.
But being a former business owner=2C I also am very much sensitive to costs=
and business needs.
For those that have been Cisco focused=2C do you stay fully objective=2C an=
d are you willing to pitch another vendor knowing that you will
have to learn a new IOS? And that that will be your time that you'll have t=
o spend to understand the product and support it?
We have been selling HP procurves to SMB's because of the cost factor. I do=
n't really mind them all that much. I've tried to fit Cisco switches
in the mix but their pricing is just so much more as well as the smartnet c=
osts. They really price themselves out and that is unfortunate.
I will be looking at refreshing our core switches and routers soon so I wil=
l stay objective as much as I can.=20
=3D)
> To: nanog@nanog.org
> Subject: Re: Is Cisco equpiment de facto for you?
> Date: Mon=2C 10 Jan 2011 10:36:24 -0600
> CC: brandon.kim@brandontek.com
> From: tad1214@gmail.com
>=20
> On Mon=2C 10 Jan 2011 09:31:32 -0600=2C Brandon Kim =20
> <brandon.kim@brandontek.com> wrote:
>=20
> >
> > Hello gents:
> >
> > I wanted to put this out there for all of you. Our network consists of =
a =20
> > mixture of Cisco and Extreme equipment.
> >
> > Would you say that it's fair to say that if you are serious at all abou=
t =20
> > being a service provider that your core equipment is Cisco based?
> >
> > Am I limiting myself by thinking that Cisco is the "de facto" vendor of=
=20
> > choice? I'm not looking for so much "fanboy" responses=2C but more of a=
=20
> > real world
> > experience of what you guys use that actually work and does the job....=
.
> >
> > No technical questions here=2C just general feedback. I try to follow t=
he =20
> > Tolly Group who compares products=2C and they continually show that Cis=
co =20
> > equipment
> > is a poor performer in almost any equipment compared to others=2C I fin=
d =20
> > that so hard to believe.....
>=20
> Cisco is typically not known as the fastest or most power efficient when =
=20
> compared to other vendors=2C but they usually have some advanced feature =
=20
> sets that are very nice. In the ISP space this may be less helpful=2C but=
in =20
> the SMB and Enterprise space this can be very helpful. Things such as Cal=
l =20
> Manager Express=2C Web Content Filtering=2C WebEx Nodes=2C Server Load =20
> Balancing=2C Wireless Lan Controllers=2C etc. that are either built into =
IOS =20
> or available with a line card or module=2C are nice tools to have at your=
=20
> disposal=2C and often can mean reducing the number of devices you need in=
=20
> your rack.
>=20
> As of the Tolly group=2C I find whomever pays Tolly for the survey tends =
to =20
> be the fastest.
>=20
> Example:
> Abstract:
>=20
> HP commissioned Tolly to evaluate the performance=2C power consumption an=
d =20
> TCO of its E5400 zl and E8200 switch series and compare those systems wit=
h =20
> the Cisco Systems Catalyst 3750-X and Catalyst 4500.
>=20
> This is because the Vendor is getting to pick what they want to benchmark=
=20
> rather than the company benchmarking them. No one is going to choose test=
s =20
> that their product will lose in. There isn't much in the way of "Tom's =20
> Hardware Style" testing of enterprise gear to my knowledge.
>=20
> Cisco gear is also known for long life=2C being very consistent=2C and hi=
gh =20
> reliability. A walk through colos you will often see many many Cisco =20
> 12000's for those exact reasons.
>=20
> I feel each vendor has its strong points=2C price/performance may not be =
=20
> Cisco's but Cisco's ease of configuration and feature sets=2C along with =
=20
> reliability are definitely notable.
>=20
> -=3DTom
>=20
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Brandon
> >
> > =09
>=20
>=20
> --=20
> Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
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