peacefulwarfare
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Switch choice
I'm considering switching from the Catalyst 6500 switches we use on our campus network to Catalyst 3750-E switches. But, I'm not sure if its a good move. The 3750 switches appear to be able to handle our traffic levels. We use them at the access layer of our network. The way we use the 6500's has changed. Our bandwidth requirements between devices directly connected to the 6500's has reduced. So the high backplane bandwidth of the 6500 seems no longer needed. We basically use them now to aggregate the access layer connections (SX and LH/LX connections) and provide 10Gigabit links between sections of the campus. Both of which we could do on the 3750's now. We don't really use the blade feature of the 6500's either. We do plan to use virtualization in our network. But the 3750's appear to hande that as well. I could go to the Catalyst 4500's but again, the blade feature really doesn't benefit us. Opinions welcome.
ASKER
The switches are on a lease that is ending soon. We have a choice of buying them at FMV or replacing them. If we replace them in a new lease, it would be cheaper to go with 3750's. The 3750-E's can take different modules so we could move between different fiber connections if necessary.
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ASKER
Thanks Will!
anytime
Is it the cost of running (support/electricity) higher? Are there any advantages to going with the 3750-E that you wouldn't get from the 6500's? Would you cycle the 6500's to another location that would proof more useful?
Sounds like a downgrade to me.