3Com Switch 8800
3Com’s Switch 8800 has good port diversity and features at the company’s typical bargain price, but some customers will hesitate due to the current uncertainty surrounding 3Com. (7/29/2008)

Price: $495

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 9000 Family
The OmniSwitch 9000 Family does not lead the market in density, port diversity or speed, but does make a compelling case with its management features, security features, and aggressive price point. (7/23/2008)

Price: $495

Cisco Catalyst 6500/6500-E
Cisco’s Catalyst 6500 product family continues to be the product to beat in the market with unprecedented investment protection, port diversity, and application module support. (7/29/2008)

Price: $495

Enterasys Matrix X-Series
Enterasys’s Matrix X-Series offers excellent management and security but lacks the raw speed and port diversity of many competing products. Yet the product line is still competitive on the strength of its policy-based security (7/16/2008)

Price: $495

Extreme BlackDiamond 10808
The Black Diamond 10808 is Extreme’s flagship enterprise high-capacity product, but it is only barely competitive, with average performance and port diversity. Still, it was one of the first products on the market with a modular operating system. (7/29/2008)

Price: $495

Force10 Terascale E-Series 1200
Force 10 is seeing serious competition in the high end of the data center market and it will need to continue upping the ante in the future to retain its claim to the performance and density crown. (7/29/2008)

Price: $495

Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600
The Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 from Nortel provides only minimally adequate density and performance and customers looking for a long-term dense solution will hesitate before purchasing the ERS 8600. (7/23/2008)

Price: $495

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• Sections
  
• - Current Perspective Rating
• - Product Strengths & Weaknesses
• - Product Buying Criteria
• - Product Metrics

Page count: 6-7 pages

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• Buying Criteria
  • Performance
    • Performance criteria measures the aggregate capacity of the switch fabric, switching throughput, switch latency, and other factors which contribute to the overall speed and capacity of the device.
  • Scalability
    • Scalability criteria measures the ability of the solution to grow with the needs of the enterprise, encompassing chassis size, blade/port density, and how upgradeable the overall solution is.
  • Management/Ease of Use
    • Management and Ease of Use criteria identify hardware and/or software features that differentiate the administration, maintenance, and reliability characteristics of this product.
  • Total Cost Of Ownership
    • Total Cost of Ownership takes into consideration device pricing, warranty, and service pricing/offerings, as well as soft costs such as costs associated with deploying a specific product or training staff to use a significantly different interface.

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• Product Metrics
  • Physical Characteristics
    • Device Class
    • Primary Target Market
  • Qos Features
    • Total # of Transmit Queues per Port
    • Total # of Receive Queues per Port
    • One or More Strict Priority Queues
    • Rate Limiting Support
    • Rate Limiting Granularity
    • Classify by IP DSCP/TOS
    • Write/re-write IP DSCP/TOS
  • Protocol Support
    • 802.1w Fast Spanning Tree
    • 802.1s per VLAN Spanning Tree
    • 802.3ad Trunking
    • 802.1x User Authentication
    • Network Login
    • IGMP Snooping
    • IP Routing
    • IP Routing Protocols
  • Interface Support
    • 10/100Base-T
    • 10/100Base-T with 802.3af
    • 100Base-FX
    • 10/100/1000Base-T
    • 10/100/1000Base-T with 802.3af
    • 1000Base-X (GBIC or SFP)
    • 10G - fixed optics
    • 10G - XENPAC
    • 10G - XFP
    • 10G-Copper
    • Other (specify type and port count)
    • Special Modules (non-line-cards)
  • Fixed Switch: High Availability
    • Redundant Power Supplies
    • Non-Stop Code Upgrade
  • Fixed Switch: Performance
    • Aggregate Switch Throughput
    • Forwarding Rate
    • Non-Blocking Wire-speed
    • Switch Forwarding Latency
  • Fixed Switch: Pricing
    • Switch Price
    • Expansion Module Pricing
  • Chassis: Specific Characteristics
    • Total # of Slots in Chassis
    • Reserved Slots
  • Chassis: Fabric Module
    • Fabric Type
    • Fabric Location
    • Fabric Redundancy
  • Chassis: High Availability
    • Hot-Swap Fan Trays
    • Hot-Swap Line Cards
    • Hot-Swap Management Module
    • Hot-Swap Fabric Module
    • Hot-Swap Power Supplies
    • Hot-Swap Other
    • Minimum # of Power Supplies
    • Maximum # of Power Supplies
    • Power Supply Load Distribution
    • Non-Stop Code Upgrade
  • Chassis: Performance
    • Backplane Size
    • Forwarding Rate
    • Switch Forwarding Latency
  • Chassis: Pricing
    • Bare Chassis Configuration
    • 10/100/1000Base-T Line Card Price
    • 1000Base-X GBIC/SFP Line Card Price
    • 10 Gig XENPAC Line Card Price
    • 10 Gig XFP Line Card Price
    • 10 Gig Copper Line Card Price
  • Support
    • Standard Warranty
    • Enterprise Maintenance Contract




Purchase Reports Online Purchasing and downloading reports online is quick and easy. 1. Accept the license agreement prepared by our lawyers.* 2. Select the reports you wish to purchase by clicking the "Purchase" button just below the report name and description. 3. Follow the checkout steps on our secure e-commerce site. All information you exchange with the secure site cannot be viewed by anyone else on the Web. All information is confidential and is used for internal purposes only. Under no circumstance will Current Analysis sell or otherwise redistribute this information. We accept the following credit cards: 4. Once your credit card is confirmed, you can download the reports. Reports are in a PDF format. We recommend you view the reports with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 5. Special Offer: If you purchase two or more reports in one category, we will send you a free Head-to-Head product comparison in one business day. More information. Contact us for special requirements. *The license grants rights to a single user for internal business or personal use only. Please contact us regarding licenses for enterprise-wide use, external use, and reprint rights. Contact Information Email: