Enterprise High Capacity Switch Routers

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Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 9000E

Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniSwitch 9000E fulfills the role of the campus core and aggregation chassis complementing the OmniSwitch 10K. Possessing a capable feature set with a competitive price, the OS9000E possesses appeal for many enterprises today. (12/6/2011)

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Cisco Catalyst 6500

Cisco’s Catalyst 6500 switch remains a stalwart LAN platform, satisfying enterprise needs due to its flexibility and continued investment from Cisco. Rarely does a technology platform age as gracefully as the 6500, and customers appreciate this. (12/6/2011)

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Enterasys S-Series

The Enterasys S-Series remains competitive in the mid-range modular and small-medium data center market with good density, flexible chassis options and Enterasys’ strong policy management capabilities. (12/6/2011)

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Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 8800 Series (8900 Modules)

Extreme’s BlackDiamond 8800 with 8900 series modules remains the fastest LAN box from Extreme today, however the vendor however the vendor's X Series will take the crown once shipped. (7/6/2011)

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Hewlett-Packard HP A12500 Switch Series

The HP A12500 Switch Series (formerly H3C S12500) data center modular switch offers impressive performance and density as well as data center software features, but some customers are still nervous about HP’s product plans since the close of the 3Com acquisition. (8/5/2010)

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Juniper Networks EX8200 line

The Juniper EX8200 provides solid performance along with a robust feature set that complements the rest of the portfolio with performance and scale as the high end routing chassis capable of core or aggregation deployments. (12/6/2011)

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Top

• Current Analysis Perspective
• Product Strengths & Weaknesses
• Product Point and Counterpoint
• Product Buying Criteria
• Product Metrics

Enterprise High Capacity Switch Router 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.

Enterprise High Capacity Switch Router 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